What is the storyline of Cymbeline?
What is the storyline of Cymbeline?
Cymbeline is the King of Britain. He marries an unpleasant woman who has an arrogant son called Cloten. Cymbeline arranges the marriage of his beautiful daughter, Imogen, to Cloten but she defies him and marries the poor but worthy Posthumus Leonatus in secret. Cymbeline banishes Posthumus, who goes to Rome.
Is Cymbeline a comedy or tragedy?
Although it is listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance or even a comedy. Like Othello and The Winter’s Tale, it deals with the themes of innocence and jealousy. While the precise date of composition remains unknown, the play was certainly produced as early as 1611.
Why is Cymbeline a tragicomedy?
Tragicomedy. Cymbeline is often called a “problem play” because it defies traditional categories of genre. Many Shakespeare critics settle on calling it a “tragicomedy” since the first three acts of the play feel like mini-tragedy, while the play’s second half feels like a comedy.
What happens to Imogen in Cymbeline?
Posthumus plots to kill his wife, but the designated killer reveals the plot to Imogen and advises her to hide; she escapes to the woods dressed as a man and falls in with a family who help her. Taking a drug, she falls into a coma and is presumed dead by the family, who cover her body and sing a song over her.
What happens at the end of Cymbeline?
In the final scene, Cymbeline and his lost children all reunite, Imogen and Posthumus make up, Cymbeline forgives Belarius for stealing his sons, and Posthumus tells Iachimo that the pretend cheating on his wife is just water under the bridge.
What does the name Cymbeline mean?
Sun lord
Origin:Greek. Meaning:Sun lord; Sun hound.
Does Cymbeline have happy endings?
Cymbeline, overcome with happiness, forgives Belarius and welcomes him back to court; meanwhile, Iachimo offers his life to Posthumus as payment for his sins, but Posthumus graciously forgives him.
What does Shakespeare blend in the play Cymbeline?
concerned to blend Shakespeare’s two primary historical interests, the Roman and the British,” in which “the heritage of ancient Rome falls on Britain” (129; 166).
What is the significance of the character Iachimo in the plot development of Cymbeline?
Cunning, clever, and dishonest, Iachimo is a force to be reckoned with. He easily finds Posthumus’s weakness (his secret fear about his wife’s faithfulness) and exploits it for all it’s worth.
Is Cymbeline male or female?
In Shakespeare’s original version, however, Cymbeline is a male monarch. If Shakespeare’s Cymbeline is a little known play, the historical figure is even more of an unknown monarch. Many of Shakespeare’s plays are based on existing sources or history, and Cymbeline, too, is loosely based on Cunobeline, a Celtic King.
Is Cymbeline a girl name?
The name Cymbeline is boy’s name of Greek origin meaning “sun lord or sun hound”. The title of a Shakespeare play based on legends featuring the early Celtic King Cunobelinus, whose name derives from the Gaulish sun god Belenus.
Is Pericles a comedy or tragedy?
Genre classification: Pericles is generally regarded as a Comedy, or a tragicomedy. Main characters in Pericles: There is a host of minor characters but the drama centres on the three main protagonists, Pericles, the Prince of Tyre.
What is the mood of Cymbeline?
Cymbeline is a comedy with a bittersweet mood. Like Shakespeare’s other late comedies, it is often called a romance or a tragicomedy.
Was Cymbeline a real person?
What does the name Iolanthe mean?
violet
Iolanthe is a feminine given name, derived from Koinē Greek: Ἰόλη iólē “violet” and ἄνθος anthos “flower”.
What is Pericles Shakespeare about?
Pericles, Prince of Tyre leaves home to escape death only to win a jousting contest and marry a princess. Once he can return home, his family sails with him, but a storm separates them, so Pericles returns alone. Years later, Pericles finds his daughter and reunites with the wife he had thought was dead.
Is Pericles a romance?
Pericles is the first of Shakespeare’s romances, an extraordinary new genre for him, different from anything the great playwright had created before. And living inside the romance, adding to its magic, stiffening its creative sinews, and giving it a much wider range of motifs and miracles, was the fairy tale.
What is the story of Iolanthe?
Synopsis. The beloved fairy Iolanthe, who arranged the fairies’ songs and dances, committed the capital crime (under fairy law) of marrying a mortal man. The Queen of the fairies commuted Iolanthe’s sentence of death to banishment for life on the condition that she left her husband and never communicated with him again …