1439600 1623 Shakespeare. Cymbeline. Title Plus Four Leaves.
10213.
Cymbeline. From the First Folio. 1623.
First Printing. Title Page plus Four Leaves. Tragedies 369-370, 385-388, 391-392.
The title leaf consisting of the title page and one other, comprises all of Act One, Scene One as it appears in modern texts and lays bare most of the elements of the primary plot. Cymbeline has been characterized as a sort of “fantasy romance” and has possibly the most intricately convoluted structure of any in the canon. It opens with two gentlemen discussing present conditions at the court of King Cymbeline who ruled during the time of Augustus?
We learn that the king’s daughter, princess Imogen, has gone against the wishes of her father and that this has greatly upset the queen (her stepmother) and therefore Cymbeline as well. Imogen has secretly married a gentleman named Posthumous Leonatus rather than Cloten, the son of the queen (whose name is never mentioned). The two gentlemen further reveal that Posthumous is a man of many virtues and is a perfect mate for the saintly Imogen as opposed to Cloten whom they characterize as a clod and dullard who is “too bad for bad report”.
Since Imogen is the king’s only child (his two boys having been stolen twenty years before and never yet found) the queen’s chances of succession are now nil. Cymbeline banishes Posthumous and virtually imprisons Imogen, leaving her in the care of her scheming stepmother.
The queen deceitfully tells Imogen and Posthumous that she ill plead their case to the king leading Imogen to whisper “how far this tyrant can tickle where she wounds”. Before parting, Imogen and Posthumous exchange gifts: she giving him a ring which had been her mother’s, he placing a bracelet on her wrist and saying
“For my sake wear this/It is a manacle of love. I’ll plsce it upon this fairest prisoner.”
Their parting scene is lovely and somewhat reminiscent of Shakespeare’s much earlier play “Romeo and Juliet.”
Cymbeline bursts in upon them and threatens Posthumous:
“Thou basest thing avoid hence, from my sight!/ if after this command thou frought the court/with thou unworthiness, thou diest! Away!/ Thou’rt poison to my blood.”
The queen enters and while soothing Cymbeline, has Imogen “penned away”. Just then Pisanio, servant to Posthumous, enters and says that Cloten had drawn his sword on Posthumous, but Posthumous rather easily fended him off. It is not the last encounter of the two and as the play unfolds we are taken to a fairy-land of intrigue culminating in a lengthy final scene in which no fewer that twenty-two plot points are neatly resolved. Though the play is now considered a “romance” its placement in the first folio is among the tragedies. Incidentally, the final leaf of Cymbeline,being the final leaf of the entire folio is considered the rarest, since it was most easily lost through wear and tear.
(385-388)
Since Imogen has rejected him, Cloten decides he will revenge himself by dressing in Posthumus’ clothing, killing Posthumus, raping Imogen and bringing her back to court.
Imogen, disguised as a boy Fidele, and totally exhausted, stumbles into a cave inhabited by Belarius and his two sons, Arviragus and Guiderius, happily take (him/her) in and accept Fidele as a new friend that for some reason they feel very close to (we learn later that the two boys are actually the long-lost sons of Cymbeline and that therefore Fidele (Imogen) is their sister. Fidele also finds herself strongly drawn to the boys “I’d change my sex to be companion with them.”
Meantime, in Rome, a senator announces that the army readying to attack Britain to demand tribute which Cymbeline has refused, will be led by Caius Lucius.
Cloten, dressed in Posthumus’ garments arrives at the spot at which Imogen was to meet Posthumus. His plan is to behead Posthumus and rape Imogen. Meanwhile, Imogen still exhausted and not feeling well, takes a potion she has been given, thinking it is a restorative. Instead, it places her into a deathlike sleep. Outside the cave, the two boys encounter Posthumus who insults them. Cloten and Guiderius engage in battle and exit. Belarius, their ‘father’ enters saying that the stranger they encountered was the Queen’s son, Cloten. As though on cue, Guiderius reenters carrying the head of Cloten, which all realize will place them in grave danger from the Queen.
Alone, Belarius muses about the fact that the boys bear themselves so regally, though unaware of their true heritage.
(391-392)
Cymbeline laments that the Romans are invading and he is stripped of his daughter, his queen and her son, Cloten. Pisanio, who had been Posthumus’ servant but spared Imogen from his wrath, tells us in an aside that he best serves Cymbeline by withholding certain truths from him. Arviragus and Guiderius persuade their father that he should put his ill feelings toward Cymbeline aside and join him in the fight against the Romans. Aside, their father says that should their blood be spilled, their secret will be out and reveal them to be true princes (sons of Cymbeline).
Posthumus, in Britain as part of the Roman army, laments the (purported) fact that Imogen is dead and decides to join the Britons as a lowly soldier in their forces. In a series of battles, Posthumus defeats Iachimo whose treachery caused Posthumus to order the death of Imogen. He then joins Arviragus, Guiderius and their father and succeeds in rescuing Cymbeline. On the Roman side, Caius Lucius then urges his aide Fidele (Imogen) to flee. Posthumus, still harboring a death wish, rejoins the Roman army whereupon he is captured by the Britons and Cymbeline himself, not recognizing him, packs him off to jail.
** if what is written here as synopsis seems obscure, opaque and convoluted, I can only assure you the play is more so. In the final two scenes no fewer that twenty-four loose ends are tied up as in a comedy, yet it is classified in the folio as tragedy. Best bet is to watch a performance, as many of the difficulties are resolved visually.
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