History Theatre / Cymbeline

We learn that Cymbeline's Queen has convinced him to stop paying tribute to Rome, so Rome is about to attack. Due to circumstances[[note]]The Queen, who is evil, gives Imogen a potion that is supposed to be poison but Imogen thinks it's medicine but it turns out to just be a sleeping potion; while she's sleeping, Imogen's brothers kill the Queen's son, who has the hots for Imogen and was out looking for her, and when she wakes up she thinks he's Posthumus. ''Whew!''[[/note]], Imogen believes Posthumus is dead, and Posthumus regrets murdering her; she mourns, and he tries to kill himself by first fighting for Britain against Rome, then switching into Roman garb when the Britons win. Jupiter, the god, shows up to say he'll protect Posthumus. The next day, Posthumus is brought out as a prisoner, and one by one the cast shows up to explain the plot. Everyone lives happily ever after, except the Queen, who dies; with her dead, Cymbeline decides to start paying tribute to Rome again.

Cymbeline is king of a city in Britain, during the time of TheRomanEmpire. His daughter, Imogen, is in love with Posthumus, a poor nobleman. They marry, which infuriates Cymbeline, and so he banishes Posthumus to Italy. In Italy, Posthumus meets Jachimo (or Iachimo), who makes a bet. He says he can seduce Imogen, and prove that all women are naturally unfaithful. Jachimo goes to Britain, but failing to seduce Imogen by traditional means, resorts to trickery. Hiding himself in a chest in her room, he watches her sleep and collects details from her room. He also steals a bracelet, which was a gift from Posthumus.

In March 2015, a film adaptation was released, directed by Michael Almereyda (who previously directed the 2000 film adaptation of ''Theater/{{Hamlet}}''). Creator/EdHarris played the title role, with Milla Jovovich, Creator/EthanHawke, Penn Badgely, Anton Yelchin, Dakota Johnson, and John Leguizamo in supporting roles. The film is a SettingUpdate, portraying Cymbeline as the leader of a modern-day biker gang at odds with a corrupt police force.

* GenreSavvy: Posthumus' friends and Pisanio easily deduce Imogen's supposed infidelity is NotWhatItLooksLike.

* CruelMercy: Posthumous to Iachimo after TheReveal:

In March 2015, Ed Harris will lead an all-star cast in what seems to be a modernized adaptation titled ''Anarchy''.

* {{Introdump}}: By the time he wrote this play, Shakespeare really couldn't be bothered to find an elegant way to do backstory. Good luck following the dialogue between the two gentlemen at the beginning of Act One.

* {{Introdump}}: By the time he wrote this play, Shakespeare really couldn't be bothered to find an elegant way to do backstory. Good luck following the dialogue between the two gentlemen at the beginning of Act One. And when they're done, say goodbye to them, because you're never meeting them again.

* {{Introdump}}: By the time he wrote this play, Shakespeare really couldn't be bothered to find an elegant way to do backstory. Good luck following the dialogue between the two lords at the beginning of Act One.

We learn that Cymebline's Queen has convinced him to stop paying tribute to Rome, so Rome is about to attack. Due to circumstances[[note]]The Queen, who is evil, gives Imogen a potion that is supposed to be poison but Imogen thinks it's medicine but it turns out to just be a sleeping potion; while she's sleeping, Imogen's brothers kill the Queen's son, who has the hots for Imogen and was out looking for her, and when she wakes up she thinks he's Posthumus. ''Whew!''[[/note]], Imogen believes Posthumus is dead, and Posthumus regrets murdering her; she mourns, and he tries to kill himself by first fighting for Britain against Rome, then switching into Roman garb when the Britons win. Jupiter, the god, shows up to say he'll protect Posthumus. The next day, Posthumus is brought out as a prisoner, and one by one the cast shows up to explain the plot. Everyone lives happily ever after, except the Queen, who dies; with her dead, Cymbeline decides to start paying tribute to Rome again.

* PoorMansSubstitute: As noted above, people tend to see the characters as inferior versions of Shakespearean characters/types developed more deeply in other plays: Iachimo - Iago; Postumus - Othello; the Queen - someone like Lady Macbeth or [[Theatre/KingLear Goneril and Regan]]; Cymbeline - Theatre/KingLear; Imogen - your standard crossdressing heroine. On the other hand, you really do get a bunch of Shakespearean plays for the price of one.

* AndAnotherThing: The entire last act of the show. In the space of a few dozen lines, Iachimo's treachery is revealed, Posthumous reveals who he is and claims to have killed Imogen, Imogen reveals who she is and that she is alive, the Queen is revealed to have been behind everything, Guiderius admits to having killed Cloten, and the princes are revealed to be royalty.

We learn that Cymebline's Queen has convinced him to stop paying tribute to Rome, so Rome is about to attack. Due to circumstances, [[hottip:*:The Queen, who is evil, gives Imogen a potion that is supposed to be poison but Imogen thinks it's medicine but it turns out to just be a sleeping potion; while she's sleeping, Imogen's brothers kill the Queen's son, who has the hots for Imogen and was out looking for her, and when she wakes up she thinks he's Posthumus. ''Whew!'']] Imogen believes Posthumus is dead, and Posthumus regrets murdering her; she mourns, and he tries to kill himself by first fighting for Britain against Rome, then switching into Roman garb when the Britons win. Jupiter, the god, shows up to say he'll protect Posthumus. The next day, Posthumus is brought out as a prisoner, and one by one the cast shows up to explain the plot. Everyone lives happily ever after, except the Queen, who dies; with her dead, Cymbeline decides to start paying tribute to Rome again.

* CrazyJealousGuy: Posthumus, in typical Shakespearean tradition (see also {{Othello}} and [[Theatre/TheWintersTale Leontes]]).

* CrazyJealousGuy: Posthumus, in typical Shakespearean tradition (see also {{Othello}} and [[TheWintersTale Leontes]]).

* AnachronismStew: Among other things, while the play is set in Roman times during the reign of [[IClaudius Claudius]], Iachimo is pretty much a (stock evil) Renaissance Italian and his scenes with Postumus feel "contemporary" (for the time of Shakespeare).

** WickedStepmother: Lampshaded in that one of the Queen's first lines is declaring that she is not like the wicked stepmothers of the tales. [[spoiler:She totally is.]]

Cymbeline is king of a city in Britain, during the time of {{the Roman Empire}}. His daughter, Imogen, is in love with Posthumus, a poor nobleman. They marry, which infuriates Cymbeline, and so he banishes Posthumus to Italy. In Italy, Posthumus meets Jachimo (or Iachimo), who makes a bet. He says he can seduce Imogen, and prove that all women are naturally unfaithful. Jachimo goes to Britain, but failing to seduce Imogen by traditional means, resorts to trickery. Hiding himself in a chest in her room, he watches her sleep and collects details from her room. He also steals a bracelet, which was a gift from Posthumus.

Jachimo returns to Italy, hands Posthumus the bracelet, and provides details on Imogen's room and her naked body. Posthumus sends word to his servant Pisanio in Britian to kill his wife for her infidelity. Pisanio does not believe Imogen has cheated, so he convinces her to disguise herself as a boy and find her husband, so she can tell him her side of the story; Pisanio, meanwhile, will tell Posthumus she's dead. Imogen goes off to find her husband, but gets lost in Wales; she meets an exiled nobleman and his two sons. Unbeknownst to them but knownst to the nobleman, they are actually Cymbeline's sons (and Imogen's brothers); the nobleman kidnapped them in revenge for being exiled.

* {{Expy}}: Iachimo essentially means "little Iago"; some have argued he's supposed to be a toned-down version of ''{{Othello}}'''s infamous villain.

* PoorMansSubstitute: As noted above, people tend to see the characters as inferior versions of Shakespearean characters/types developed more deeply in other plays: Iachimo - Iago; Postumus - Othello; the Queen - someone like Lady Macbeth or [[KingLear Goneril and Regan]]; Cymbeline - KingLear; Imogen - your standard crossdressing heroine. On the other hand, you really do get a bunch of Shakespearean plays for the price of one.

''Cymbeline'', a tragicomedy by WilliamShakespeare, is one the Bard's more obscure plays. Borrowed, barely, from Celtic lore, it tells the story of a king who rebels against Rome because of his evil wife. For unrelated reasons, his daughter spends most of the play cross-dressing and looking for her banished husband. Actually, [[SecondaryCharacterTitle it's more about the latter than the former]].

Cymbeline is king of a city in Britain, during the time of the Roman Empire. His daughter, Imogen, is in love with Posthumus, a poor nobleman. They marry, which infuriates Cymbeline, and so he banishes Posthumus to Italy. In Italy, Posthumus meets Jachimo (or Iachimo), who makes a bet. He says he can seduce Imogen, and prove that all women are naturally unfaithful. Jachimo goes to Britain, but failing to seduce Imogen by traditional means, resorts to trickery. Hiding himself in a chest in her room, he watches her sleep and collects details from her room. He also steals a bracelet, which was a gift from Posthumus.

* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Iachimo, which is part of why he gets reprieved. Notably, in the Boccaccio story the play is based on, the equivalent character is [[CruelAndUnusualDeath covered in honey and put in a cage and gets stung to death by insects]]. In particular, the whole "hiding in the chest" idea is vaguely ridiculous, making him a literal Jack-in-the-box, as is the Peeping Tom aspect, even though his reason for doing so isn't funny.

* HoYay: Guiderius gets a number of lines to Imogen expressing his love (fraternal, as he always insists afterwards) for Fidele, the boy that Imogen is disguised as.
--> "Were you a woman, youth, I would woo hard to be your groom. I'd bid for you as I'd buy."

* PoorMansSubstitute: As noted above, people tend to see the characters as inferior versions of Shakespearean characters/types developed more deeply in other plays: Iachimo - Iago; Postumus - Othello; the Queen - someone like Lady Macbeth or [[KingLear Goneril and Regan]]; Cymbeline - KingLear; Imogen - your standard crossdressing heroine.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Most of the evidence of the Queen's treachery is offered in the last act of the play, a deathbed confession relayed by someone who previously in the show states hatred of the Queen.