Detailed view for the Book: Cymbeline

Title:

Cymbeline
 

Authors:

Genres:

Classic
Romance
Theatrical

Editions:

# Date Publisher Binding Cover
1 1623-00-00  

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Blurb: 
Posthumous, a man of low birth but exceeding personal merit, has secretly married Imogen, daughter of King Cymbeline. Cymbeline, angered at this subversion of his will, banishes Posthumous from the kingdom. Iachimo (or "Little Iago"), a soldier in the Roman army, makes a bet with Posthumous that he can tempt Imogen to commit adultery (as in Othello). The falsely besmirched Imogen, warned by Postumous" faithful servant Pisanio, fakes her death to weather the reverberations of this trick, and makes her way to Milford Haven on the West Coast of Britain (as Hero does in Much Ado About Nothing). There she befriends "Morgan and "Cadwell," who, unbeknownst to her, are really Belarius and Polydore, her own brothers. Two witches swore false oaths charging that Belarius had conspired with the ancient Romans, which led Cymbeline to banish him thirty years before the action of the play. Belarius kidnapped Cymbeline"s young sons in retaliation, to hinder him from having heirs to the throne. The sons were raised by the nurse Euriphile, whom they called mother and took her for such. Some have taken the convoluted plot as evidence of the play"s parodic origins. At the play"s resolution, virtually the entire cast comes forth one at a time to add a piece to the puzzle. Cornelius arrives to dazzle everyone with news that the Queen is dead, reporting that with her last bloody breath she confessed her wicked deeds: she never loved old Cymbeline, she had Imogen poisoned by Pisanio (without Pisanio"s knowledge), and she was ambitious to poison Cymbeline so Cloten could assume the throne. Cymbeline concludes with an oration to the gods, declares peace and friendship betwixt Britain and Rome, and great feasting in Lud"s Town, concluding "Never was a war did cease, / Ere bloody hands were washed, with such a peace."