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Character
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CYMBELINE |
King Cymbeline (d. c.
A.D. 40) is the title character of Cymbeline, the king of Britain and
father of Imogen. Though Cymbeline is the title character, he is not the
dominant character. The title of the play suggests the land he rules,
rather than him personally. He is a typical king of fairy-tale and
romantic literature. He loses his prosperity when he follows evil
advisers, and then recovers it in a traditional happy ending through the
workings of a benevolent fate. Influenced by his vicious Queen and her son
Cloten, he proceeds unjustly against his innocent daughter and her
husband, Posthumus. He loses Imogen as he once lost his sons, by another
unjust action, the banishment of Belarius twenty years earlier. Moreover,
still under the influence of his wife and stepson, he commits Britain to a
foolish war against Rome. However, fate intervenes, and Cymbeline is
eventually freed from evil. The Romans are miraculously defeated by the
king's long-lost sons, and Cymbeline recovers his family and survives to
be merciful to his enemies at the play's close.
Cymbeline is a
passive figure whose competence as a ruler can only be restored by a happy
ending brought about by chance, rather than by himself. On the other hand,
his crimes are equally not his own; he is only unintentionally cruel, and
though wrongheaded, he is quite willing to admit his folly and accept the
mercy of providence. He is a figure from traditional lore who is necessary
to the plot but does not contribute to it. His character is not fully
developed, and what we see is a feeble store of anger in early scenes, a
dumbfounded confusion later on, and a mild exaltation at the end.
The historical
Cymbeline, generally called Cunobelinus, was a powerful ruler among the
Celtic tribes of south-east England, but Shakespeare's figure bears
virtually no resemblance to him. Shakespeare's source, Holinshed’s
Chronicles, was rather vague and inaccurate regarding Cunobelinus' reign,
but the playwright did not follow his source particularly closely in any
case. The most striking difference is that Rome's invasion—a successful
one that established Roman rule in Britain—came several years after
Cunobelinus' death. Cunobelinus was among the most successful of England's
tribal kings in terms of conquering his neighbors, but little else is
known of his reign. |
CLOTEN |
Cloten is the uncouth
son of the Queen and the rejected suitor of Imoegen who then plans to rape
her and kill her husband, Posthumus. Cloten is a comic villain for the
most part. He is a stupid and vainglorious man who inspires bemused
contempt, though he has his threatening moments and reminds us of the
potential for tragedy that underlies the fairy-tale ambience of much of
the play. He is finally killed when he happens, entirely by chance, on the
lost prince Guiderius, who handily beheads him and then remarks, 'This
Cloten was a fool, an empty purse' (4.2.113). His function is that of a
fairy-tale villain whose fate is to be defeated by the hand of
providence.
Cloten's personality
and function vary considerably in the course of the play. In Acts 1-2
Cloten is quite simply a boor; a braggart who is mocked by his own
companions and by Imogen's Lady. Imogen tells him he is not worth the 'mean'st
garment' of Posthumus (2.3.132), and complains that she is 'sprited with a
fool' (2.3.138). In Act 3 Cloten takes on a different, less inane, air as
he blusters patriotically and helps to commit Britain to a foolish war
against Rome. Finally, in Act 4 he is the villain who schemes to kill
Posthumus in front of Imogen before he rapes her, and who crassly insults
Guiderius for his supposed inferiority.
Such changes make it
hard to precisely characterize Cloten's function in the play, and this
problem offers a hint of Shakespeare's trouble with the Romances, a new
genre in which Cymbeline was an experiment. The irregularities in
Cloten's personality are similar to those of the play as a whole, and they
betray the playwright's difficulty in melding the realistic characters to
which he was accustomed with the ethereal figures required by the
romances. Cloten seems to be a compound of several types of writing,
created as Shakespeare struggled with the task of generating a new type of
character, a villain who must convincingly represent evil without being so
real as to intrude on a world of fantasy. Though a faulty character,
Cloten foreshadows a much more successful figure of this kind, Caliban of
The Tempest.
Some scholars have
speculated that portions of Cloten's role may have been considerably
modified by the actor who played the character, probably Robert Armin.
Armin wrote plays and was famous for improvisation, so he was capable of
creating additional dialogue. Moreover, in addition to his Shakespearean
roles, he specialized in playing a character type of his own devising, a
mentally limited Clown who may be reflected in some of Cloten's
doltishness. Cloten's speeches are in both prose and verse, and this
theory suggests that the prose passages were written—or at least altered
in performance, before publication—by Armin. However, though some such
alteration could have contaminated the text—if it was based on a
Prompt-Book—this idea cannot be proven. More probably the evidence
reflects the difficulties mentioned above. |
POSTHUMUS LEONATUS |
Posthumus is the
husband of Imogen. Banished from Britain for secretly marrying the
daughter of King Cymbeline, Posthumus goes to Rome. There, he boasts of
Imogen's virtues and wagers the diamond ring she has given him that the
courtier Iachimo cannot seduce her. Iachimo is unsuccessful, but he
deceives Posthumus, who foolishly believes him and vows revenge on Imogen.
By letter, he instructs his servant, Pisanio, to murder her. Once he has
established the situation that faces Imogen in Acts 3-4, Posthumus
disappears from the play until, near the end, he reappears, stricken with
guilt over the murder he believes has been committed. He seeks death in
battle and fights for Britain against Rome, but he is not killed. He then
seeks death as a Roman prisoner of war, but while in captivity he dreams
of his family and the god Jupiter, who promises that his story shall end
happily. Unaware of this when he awakes, Posthumus appears before the king
as a Roman captive, but he reveals himself when lachimo confesses his
deception. Posthumus, in his turn, confesses to Imogen's murder before he
discovers that she is alive and he is reunited with her. In the aura of
reconciliation that closes the play, the king accepts Posthumus as a
son-in-law.
In the course of the
play, Posthumus' qualities vary enormously from the ideal to the seriously
Hawed. In this respect he offers clues to the difficulties Shakespeare
faced when he wrote the Romances, a new genre of plays in which Cymbeline
was an experiment. The playwright faced the problem of integrating
realistic settings and characters, which he was accustomed to creating,
with the ethereal, almost abstract characters of fairy tale and
traditional romantic literature on which the romances were based.
Posthumus, like other characters in Cymbeline, demonstrates that he was
not always successful.
As the play opens,
Posthumus is praised by a Gentleman who declares, 'I do not think / so
fair an outward, and such stuff within / Endows a man, but he'
(1.1.22-24); here, he is simply a traditional romantic prince and a proper
mate for Imogen. However, once on his own in Rome he is ludicrously
immature, intent on an inflated idea of masculine honour. In 1.5, he,
Iachimo, and the Frenchman almost seem to offer a satire on dueling. His
wholly unnecessary defense of Imogen's chastity is no less ridiculous than
his readiness to disbelieve in it later, and his response is ignoble when
he instructs his servant to murder Imogen in revenge. Nevertheless, he is
once again the traditional princely hero when he helps the king's
long-lost sons, Guiderius and Arviragus, defeat the Romans, and it is
certainly to his credit that he comes to regret his earlier actions and
feel guilt. However, the basic problem with his character is most evident
here. His elaborate attempts at suicide detract from our appreciation of
his real personal distress. On one hand, it is difficult to accept
Posthumus as a real figure like the victimized Othello, while on the
other, he does not provide a bold allegorical representation of human
error, like, say, Leontes, of The Winter's Tale. Shakespeare had
not yet learned to permit the symbolic to dominate, and Posthumus' human
reality interferes with his value as an archetype of jealousy. This makes
him a somewhat ridiculous and unsympathetic figure.
The name Posthumus
indicates that its owner was born after his father's death. It is so rare
today that it seems intended to convey some extra meaning, perhaps
comical. However, though unusual (like the phenomenon it commemorates),
the name was regularly given in Shakespeare's day (see, e.g., Thomas
Posthumous Hoby). |
BELARIUS |
Belarius is the
foster-father of Guiderius and Arviragus. Belarius was unjustly exiled
from the court of King Cymbeline many years before the time of the play,
and, in revenge, had kidnapped the king's infant sons. He has since raised
them in the wilds of Wales. When the Roman army invades Britain, Belarius
helps his foster-sons save the British army and the three are honored by
the king. However, because Guiderius has killed Prince Cloten, he is
threatened with the death sentence prescribed for commoners who kill a
prince. Belarius, to save the young man's life, reveals the truth. Though
he has exposed himself to capital punishment because he had kidnapped the
heir to the throne, Belarius is forgiven by the king in the play's final
sequence of mercies and reconciliations. Belarius is a good man, unjustly
persecuted, who only recovers his position by accident. He thus embodies
an important theme of the play, that man is helpless without the aid of
providence. Belarius has taken the name Morgan, but he is designated
Belarius in speech headings and stage directions. |
GUIDERIUS |
Guiderius, like
Arviragus, is a simple fairy-tale I figure—a lost prince who is restored
to his rightful | position—and his personality is mostly seen in courage
and high spirits. However, Shakespeare takes care to distinguish the
brothers from each other. As the future heir to the throne, Guiderius is
more forceful and dynamic than his reflective brother Arviragus. When they
discuss Imogen's virtues, Guiderius proves more practical when he mentions
her cooking, while Arviragus praises her singing. When they believe her
dead, Guiderius cuts short his brother's 'wench-like words' (4.2.23.) and
says, 'Let us bury him, / And not protract with admiration • what / Is now
due debt. To th'grave!' (4.2.230-233). ; At his most striking, Guiderius
kills Cloten, earlier in the same scene, with soldierly aplomb. He
brandishes his victim's head while he remarks, 'This Cloten was a fool, an
empty purse' (4.2.113). Later, he declares he will throw the head into the
creek 'to tell the fishes he's the queen's son' (4.2.153). In 5.5 he
manfully acknowledges that he has killed Cloten despite the threat of
capital punishment for killing a prince (he is not yet known to be a
prince himself). His 'I have spoke it, and I did it' (5.5.290) has a
kingly simplicity and force. Belarius has given Guiderius the name
Polydore, and this name is occasionally used in dialogue, but he is
designated as Guiderius in speech headings and stage directions. |
ARVIRAGUS |
Arviragus is one of
the two kidnapped sons of King Cymbeline. Arviragus and his older brother
Guiderius have been raised to be woodsmen and hunters in the wilds of
Wales by their foster-father Belarius, who kidnapped them in infancy when
he was unjustly exiled by Cymbeline. When their sister Imogen, disguised
as a young man, happens onto their cave, the boys immediately love 'him',
although they don't know that they are siblings. Like Guiderius, Arviragus
is inherently noble and desires to prove himself in the greater world of
kingly courts and warfare. When the Romans invade Britain, the brothers
have their chance. After they save the British army they are honored by
the king, and then, in the extraordinary sequence of revelations and
reconciliations in 5.5, they are reunited with their father.
Both Arviragus and
Guiderius are simple fairy-tale figures—lost princes who are eventually
discovered and restored to their rightful positions—and they have the
princely attributes of courage, sincerity, and high spirits. However,
Shakespeare takes care to distinguish them from each other. Arviragus is
the more reflective of the two; he also speaks some of the play's best
poetry. He responds more strongly to Imogen's beauty, and when Guiderius
praises her cooking, the more esthetic Arviragus emphasizes her singing.
When they believe her dead, Arviragus expresses their grief in a lyrical
passage (4.2.218-229) that compares her beauty to the flowers. Arviragus
also offers an intellectually grounded, if simple, denunciation of money,
in 3.7.26-28. Belarius has given Arviragus the name Cadwal, and this name
is occasionally used in dialogue, but he is designated as Arviragus in
speech headings and stage directions. |
PHILARIO |
Philario Posthumus' host in Rome. In 1.5
the gentlemanly Philario attempts to defuse the argument that leads to
Posthumus' fatal wager with Iachimo. In 2.4 when lachimo claims to have
won the bet by seducing Imogen, Philario tries to convince the enraged
Posthumus not to believe him. He has no success in either endeavor. He
thus represents human virtue, a force that promises good in the world but
that proves useless in the face of evil. As such, he reinforces the play's
theme that humankind is dependent on providence more than on its own
efforts. |
IACHIMO |
Iachimo is the
villain who pretends to have seduced Posthumus' new wife, Imogen. He thus
provokes the murderous jealousy in Posthumus that stimulates much of the
action of the play. Motivated only by an irresponsible pleasure in
mischief, lachimo wagers that he can seduce Imogen. When he fails, he
resorts to trickery. He secretes himself in her bedroom, steals her
bracelet, and then poses as her lover. He flaunts his knowledge of her
intimate surroundings and declares the bracelet a gift. His plan
accomplished in 2.4, lachimo pockets the diamond ring he has won from
Posthumus and disappears from the play until very near its close, when he
returns to Britain as a member of the Roman army. He proves unsuccessful
in combat, and he supposes that his guilt for blackening Imogen's name has
weakened him as a warrior. Captured, he confesses to his crime when the
disguised Imogen recognizes on his hand the ring he has won. In the aura
of reconciliation that closes the play, he is forgiven by Posthumus.
Commentators have
often compared lachimo to Shakespeare's most extraordinary villain, Iago,
whose lies are similar in content. His name, the diminutive of lago,
suggests a similarly evil temperament, but Iachimo is a very different
sort of villain. He is closer to the likeable Autolycus, the vagabond
thief of The Winter's Tale. Iachimo is essentially a stock comic
figure, the unscrupulous Italian. He has no intention of destroying
anyone's life, as lago does; he barely has any intention at all. He is
more like a con man than a rapist, though he compares himself to the
genuinely fearful Tarquin. However, he does so just as he has comically
emerged like a jack-in-the-box, from a trunk, in 2.2, and such a ludicrous
villain assures us that Imogen will not be permanently damaged. This
aspect of lachimo is important to the play's generally optimistic tone. We
are never in doubt that the world of romance is dominant; lachimo is
merely an instrument of fate, which controls the adventures of Posthumus
and Imogen. Even in the humiliation of his final exposure, lachimo remains
comic. Our awareness of his harmlessness is reinforced as he shamelessly
embroiders the truth, apparently hoping to make himself seem a pleasingly
audacious young gentleman. Both boastful and apologetic, he seems an
entirely appropriate object of mercy—an immature fool. Unlike the other
villains of the piece, the Queen and Cloten, mercy is granted to him. |
CAIUS LUCIUS |
Lucius is the
ambassador from Rome to the Britain of King Cymbeline, later the commander
of the invading Roman army and the employer of the disguised Imogen. In
3.1 Lucius informs Cymbeline that Rome demands tribute from Britain. When
he receives the king's refusal he transmits his government's declaration
of war. However, he adds that he regrets this, for he appreciates the
hospitality he has received in Britain. His gentlemanly nature is again
evident in 3.5, when he departs from the king's court, and we understand
why Pisanio recommends that the disguised Imogen become a page for Lucius.
He calls the Roman 'honourable, and . . . most holy' (3.4.178-179). In 4.2
Lucius readily offers employ- ment and protection to Imogen. He believes
that she is a young man, Fidele, and he takes particular care of 'him'
when the Romans are defeated in battle in 5.2. Finally, in 5.5 Lucius
nobly faces death at the hands of the victorious Cymbeline, before he
receives mercy in the play's final aura of reconciliation.
Lucius is a noble
person who is unable to influence the course of events in the play. He is
contrasted with assorted weak, but not evil, figures like Posthumus and
the king, and thus he offers a positive image of humanity's need for the
intervention of providence. The ancient tradition that a soldier named
Lucius was the first Roman converted to Christianity may be reflected in
Shakespeare's choice of name for this positive character. Two of
Shakespeare's other characters named Lucius are also rightminded and in
the military, so these may well be conscious references to the ancient
convert, who was still fairly well known in the 17th century. |
PISANIO |
Pisanio is the
faithful servant of Posthumus. When his master is exiled for having
married Imogen, King Cymbeline’s daughter, Pisanio remains at court to
serve her. He embodies a wellknown figure of folklore and literature: the
faithful servant who serves his master best by disobeying him. When
Posthumus is deceived by Iachimo and believes that Imogen has betrayed
him, he orders Pisanio to murder her. Instead, the servant helps Imogen
escape and provides her with a disguise as a page, in which she has
further adventures. However, for all his steadfastness and common sense,
Pisanio cannot provide further assistance. He loses contact with both
Posthumus and Imogen and finds himself under suspicion at court. Fearful
and confused, he resigns himself to whatever fate may bring. 'The heavens
still must work' and 'Fortune brings in some boats that are not steer'd*
(4.3.41, 46), he says. He thus states neatly the play's central lesson:
that humanity is dependent on providence. |
CORNELIUS |
Cornelius is a
physician to the Queen of Britain. In 1.6 Cornelius has provided the Queen
with a poison—for experimental purposes, she says—but he informs us in an
aside that he distrusts her and has substituted a sleeping potion. Imogen
later takes this and is mistaken for dead. Later, in the play's final
scene, he recounts the dying Queen's confession (5.5.31-61) and explains
again about the poison (5.5.243-258). Cornelius' function is to further
the plot and highlight the Queen's evilness. |
Captains |
Captain is an officer
in the Roman army. In 4.2 the Captain reports to Lucius that the army has
landed in Wales. His six terse lines serve to convey information that
moves the plot to a new stage.
Captain officers in
the British army. In 5.3 after the British victory over the Romans that is
described by Posthumus earlier in the scene, the Captains discover
Posthumus in his Roman uniform and take him prisoner. They turn him over
to King Cymbeline in a Dumbshow that ends the scene. With only a few lines
between them, the Captains' function is to further the plot. However, they
also inform the audience that in addition to the heroes Belarius,
Guiderius, and Arviragus—already described by Posthumus—there was a
fourth. This leads us to guess that this man was Posthumus himself, which
proves to be the case. |
Frenchman |
Frenchman is a friend
of the Roman gentleman Philario. In 1.5 Posthumus arrives in Rome. He has
been exiled from Britain because he married the king's daughter, Imogen,
and he meets the Frenchman and Iachimo at Philano's home. The Frenchman
has known Posthumus in the past, and he recollects a duel the Briton once
fought over the virtues of a woman. This triggers the fateful wager
between Posthumus and lachimo over Imogen's chastity. The Frenchman is a
pawn of plot development, and represents the world of gentlemanly duels
inhabited by Posthumus and Iachimo. |
Lords |
Lord are any noblemen
at the court of King Cymbeline. In 1.3 and 2.1 two of the noblemen are
featured as followers of the uncouth Prince Cloten; the First Lord is
attentive and flattering, but the Second Lord mocks the obnoxious prince
behind his back, which helps to characterize the play's comic villain. In
Acts 3-5, the Lords play a smaller part as often-silent figures who swell
the scene at Cymbeline's court. A single Lord appears in 5.3 as a soldier
who has fled from the battle against the Romans. Though this could
possibly be a different person, Posthumus' disdain for him would be
appropriate if he were one of Cloten's followers. In any case, this Lord
serves to receive information as Posthumus tells him—and the audience—of
the battle's outcome. |
Gentlemen |
Gentleman are any
noblemen at King Cymbeline’s court. In 1.1 the First Gentleman tells the
Second Gentleman about the marriage of the king's daughter, Imogen, to
Posthumus, a poor but noble youth who has been banished from Britain
because the king had wanted Imogen to marry the boorish Cloten. He adds
that Imogen is the king's only child, other than two lost sons, kidnapped
20 years earlier and never recovered. The First Gentleman's excitement is
clear in his hurried speech. This stirs interest in the audience, though
his companion merely punctuates his monologue with brief questions. The
episode, which fills the whole of the play's first scene, establishes the
basic situation of the plot. |
Gaolers (Jailers) |
Gaoler are the
keepers of the captured Posthumus, who is believed to be a Roman prisoner
of war. In 5.4 the First Gaoler is a Clown who interrupts the action with
humorous remarks on life and death (the Second Gaoler speaks only half a
line). He provides comic relief as the plot becomes most troubling. He
offers a sardonic philosophy of death as a relief from life, a view that
encapsulates Posthumus' depressed state.
The placement of this
character is significant. The Gaoler (after a mute appearance in 5.3, and
a brief one at the opening of 5.4) arrives to summon Posthumus to his
execution, at 5.4.152. This is after Posthumus has had his vision of
Sicilius Leonatus and Jupiter—which we recognize as the climax of the
play. Thus, the Gaoler's comic approach to the tragic potential of life
comes only after an assurance that the play will have a happy ending.
The Gaoler resembles
such predecessors as the Porter of Macbeth and the Grave-digger of Hamlet.
Some scholars believe that the Gaoler's part was written to be performed
by the same actor who played Cloten—probably Robert Armin. This
hypothetical idea is based on the clownishness of the two characters and
the possibility of one person playing both, since Cloten dies early in Act
4. |
QUEEN |
Queen is the wife
King Cymbeline and stepmother of his daughter Imogen The Queen, one of
several villains in the play, The most purely vicious of them. She had
planned that Imogen marry her son, the oafish Cloten, but Imogen eloped
with Posthumus instead. Posthumus is exiled, and the Queen directs her
malice towards Imogen and Pisanio, Posthumus' servant who has stayed with
Imogen. She is the archetypal wicked stepmother, and her villainy is clear
from her initial appearance, in 1.2, when she pretends to protect Imogen
but reveals her malice in an aside. Imogen is undeceived and notes the
Queen's 'dissembling courtesv' (1 2 15); thus, the Queen's wickedness is
immediately established. In 1.6 the Queen collects poison from the
physician Cornelius and offers it to Pisanio as health-giving potion in
the hope that he will take it and die. However, Cornelius -will not trust
one other malice' (1.6.35), and has substituted a sleeping potion for the
poison. The Queen is ultimately ineffective, but her evil intent is a
prominent element of the first half of the play.
Once her nature is
well established, the Queen plays a lesser role. At the play's close we
learn of her death from an illness caused by her despair at Cloten s
sudden disappearance. Her final confession of sins-including an intent to
poison the king himself-prepares for the final sequence of reconciliations
in 5.5 The Queen has only been forestalled by the whim of fortune: Cloten
has been killed by a chance encounter that is the result of a long series
of events that began with the exile of Posthumus. She has therein
fulfilled the villain's role in this play, which is to be defeated by the
intervention of providence. |
IMOGEN |
Imogen is the
daughter of King Cymbeline and wife of Posthumus. Imogen, the central
character of the play, loses the love other husband through no fault other
own, is exposed to great danger and wanders in the wilderness, and then is
finally restored to happiness. She embodies the play's lesson that while
humanity may exhibit courage and an undefeatable spirit of love, our
happiness nevertheless depends on providence. Imogen has long been among
the favorite heroines in Shakespeare. The Victorian poet Swinburne
extravagantly called her 'the woman best beloved in all the world of song
and all the tide of time'. However, her great charm is also evidence of a
failure on the playwright's part as he struggled with a new/genre, the
Romances.
Imogen is subjected
to a harrowing sequence of misfortunes. Her father banishes Posthumus to
Italy, and she faces the unwanted courtship of both the boorish Cloten and
the oily Iachimo, the latter of whom malevolently convinces Posthumus that
she has been unfaithful. Posthumus thereupon arranges for her murder in
the wilds of Wales. A faithful servant, Pisanio, warns her and provides
her with a disguise as a young man, but she finds herself stranded in the
wilderness. After several adventurous episodes during which she comes to
believe Posthumus is dead and is herself believed to be dead by others,
she returns to her father's court in the guise of a Roman prisoner of war.
In the final scene's sequence of reconciliations her identity is revealed,
and she is reunited with both husband and father.
Though Imogen has
always enchanted audiences, her resourcefulness and charm suggest one who
battles against destiny rather than the helpless victim of fate. In the
literature on which Shakespeare's romances were based, the traditional
character type corresponding to Imogen was the fairy-tale princess who is
adored for her beauty and passive calm, an object of intrigue but not a
participant in it. She represents humanity's helplessness and inspires
pity in her plight, rather than admiration for her pluck. Imogen is
intermittently presented in terms of this ideal. To Pisanio, she is 'more
goddess-like than wife-like* (3.2.8), and lachimo compares her to 'th'Arabian
bird' (1.7.17), the fabled Phoenix who cannot die. She sometimes seems to
be a helpless puppet of the plot, as when she immediately accepts
lachimo's transparently false excuse for having proposed adultery with a
humble 'You make amends' (1.7.168). Moreover, she adopts a purely
conventional morality when she refuses to sleep with Posthumus even after
they are married, presumably because she awaits her father's approval of
the match.
However, Imogen has
another set of qualities as well. In her spunk, her sharp wit, and her
willingness to pursue her lover—as well as in her male disguise—Imogen is
typical of Shakespeare's earlier comic heroines. In Cymbeline the
playwright approached a new sort of character but could not divorce
himself from habits of characterization that he had used earlier. This
happened with several of the characters in the play. Imogen is a
transitional figure; Shakespeare would soon create female characters whose
ethereal serenity would fulfil the romantic ideal. In Imogen he produced
an uneasy conjunction of ideal womanhood—seen in Hermione of The
Winter's Tale and Miranda of The Tempest—and boyish pluck, such
as had enlivened Rosalind of As You Like It, and Viola of
Twelfth Night, among others. Imogen, for all her charming virtues,
presents an image slightly contrary to the general tone of the play and
thus in part contributes to its weakness. |
HELEN |
Lady in waiting attending to Imogen who
appears only briefly early in the play. |
Tribune |
Tribunes are Roman
officials. In 3.8 the Tribunes are informed by a Senator of the emperor's
orders: They are to recruit an armed force from among the gentry of Rome
that will be sent against King Cymbeline. Only the First Tribune speaks;
he asks two brief questions and tersely accepts the orders. These two
figures serve as recipients of information intended principally for the
audience. |
Soothsayer |
Soothsayer is a
priestly fortune-teller who serves the Roman army In 4.2 the Soothsayer
tells of his dream of Jove's bird the Roman eagle' (4.2.348), which he
interprets as an omen of victory for the forthcoming battle against King
Cymbeline’s British forces. Though he is mistaken—the Britons win—this
reference may be recalled by the audience when Jupiter (or Jove) appears
to Posthumus, in 5.4. In 5.5 the Soothsayer, who is now a prisoner of war,
interprets the text that Jupiter get behind. He offers an interpretation
that formulates the play's symbolic values of reunion and renewal. The
Soothsayer's name, Philarmonus (5 5 434), suggests the joyful conclusion
that he foretells. |
Messengers |
Also, any servants of
King Cymbeline, in 3.5 an Attendant is sent to find Imogen and returns to
report briefly that her chambers are locked and silent. This informs the
court of what the audience already knows—that Imogen has fled. The
Attendant serves merely as an instrument of communication. Also, a number
of Attendants mutely swell the king's retinue when he is informed of the
approaching Roman army, in 4.3; their function is purely decorative.
Messenger is a
servant of King Cymbeline. In 2.3 the Messenger announces the arrival of
an ambassador, and m 5.4 he summons Posthumus from his pending execution
to an audience with the king. The Messenger's function is to advance the
plot. |
Apparitions |
Mother the deceased parent of
Posthumus who appears to him as an apparition, in 5.4. The Mother appears
with other ghosts: her husband, Sicilius Leonatus, and her two sons. Led
by Sicilius, they plead with Jupiter for mercy on Posthumus. The Mother's
part in this ritualistic solicitation is small; she points out that she
died when she gave birth to Posthumus and left him an orphan; because of
this, he deserves pity. She is a supernatural presence in an episode whose
function is to create an air of eerie romance.
Sicilius Leonatus is the
deceased father of Posthumus, who appears as a ghost in 5.4. The spirit of
Sicilius is accompanied by those of his wife, Posthumus' Mother, and his
two elder sons. Sicilius leads them as they plead to Jupiter on behalf of
Posthumus. Sicilius observes that he died before Posthumus was born, a
circumstance that earns pity for his son. A brother and other
siblings also appear in this vision. |
Jupiter |
Jupiter is the Roman
king of the gods, appears to the desperate Posthumus in a vision where he
assures the spirit of Posthumus' father, Sicilius Leonatus, that the young
man will be restored to good fortune. He then departs, and leaves a tablet
with a cryptic message (5.4.138-145) that is interpreted later by the
Soothsayer as an allegory of reunion and renewal. Posthumus does not
realize that his chaotic drift towards tragedy has ended with the god's
appearance, and he is still intent on death. However, the audience is
aware that he shall be 'happier much by his affliction made' (5.4.108), as
the god puts it. Thus, Jupiter embodies the play's moral: that humanity
depends on providence for happiness.
Jupiter's style is
very formal. He speaks in rhyming verse and old-fashioned language unlike
anything else in the play. This signifies his supernatural nature. In
performance, his lines are sometimes sung. The stage direction at his
entrance reads, Jupiter descends in thunder and lightning, sitting upon an
eagle . . .' (5.4.- 92); this makes it clear that either the Blackfriars
Theatre or the Globe, or both, were equipped with a mechanical apparatus
that permitted characters to enter a scene from above by being lowered
from the ceiling. As in the present case, this permitted a literal deus ex
machina, or 'god from the machine', the phrase for a surprise appearance
by a god who resolves the situation of a play. The machine was originally
a cranelike device used in ancient Greek theatre to lower actors
portraying deities as though they were descending from heaven.
Some scholars believe
Jupiter may have been intended as an allegorical representation of King
James I, newly crowned as the first joint monarch of England and Scotland.
In this light, the cryptic tablet reads as a tribute to the two countries. |
Musicians |
Musicians are
players who serenade Imogen for Cloten. One of the Musicians sings the
song, 'Hark, hark, the lark' (2.3.19-25), but otherwise they do not speak
and leave as soon as they have completed their performance. The episode
offers a musical diversion that is appropriate to a comedy. It also
relieves the sense of menace from the previous scene—Iachimo’s trespass in
Imogen's bedchamber—and from the approach of Cloten. Additionally, it
provides time for Imogen to change her costume from nightclothes to
daytime garb. |
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