Book Report

For those of you who care about such things, this is my book report on Cymbeline. A great read! But it will be better onstage at YCTC this summer!!

William Shakespeare is the author of thirty-eight plays, some more widely known than others. Tragedy, comedy, history, and romance are all topics covered by the famous Bard of Avon. The romances are probably the least recognized works. Nevertheless, that is where the fantastical Cymbeline resides.
Set in medieval England, this play has the ornate décor of a British court, as well as the rough and tumble nature of the woods. Being one of Shakespeare’s later plays, the plot is strong and the language is beautiful. The reader is faced with bandits, kings, an evil step-mother, and all manner of classic fairy tale characters.
Meet Cymbeline, king of Britain. Currently Cymbeline’s main concerns are not matters of state. His two sons, Guiderius and Aviragus, were stolen from him many years ago. His beloved daughter, Princess Innogen, is in love with a commoner called Posthumous Leonatus. Cymbeline has exiled Posthumous, hoping his daughter would forget the impoverished man and fall in love with one of her rich suitors.
Innogen, however, will have none of it. By many scholars revered as the ideal woman, Innogen is fiercely loyal to Posthumous. Before his departure, she gives him a ring, and he gives her a bracelet. They write frequently, renewing declarations of love with every letter.
After Posthumous’ exile, he flees to Italy. There he falls in with Filario, Giacomo, and a few others. Giacomo, jealous of Posthumous’ love, places a bet against Innogen’s honor. He says that he believes he himself could draw her from her devotion. Posthumous has such faith in his lover that he bets the ring she gave him. He knows she will not be swayed by Giacomo.
Giacomo too discovers this when he goes to the court of Cymbeline. Innogen talks only of her love for Posthumous. She is most insulted when Giacomo tries to come on to her. She sends him away. Driven mad by his pride and jealousy, Giacomo returns to Italy crowing of his success. Posthumous, in a fit of anger and sorrow, orders his manservant Pisanio to take Innogen in to the woods and kill her. This is where the plot begins the spiraling journey usually characterized in Shakespeare’s comedies, not the romances.
Pisanio at the last moment balks at the idea of killing Innogen. Instead, he gives her a man’s clothing and tells her that her only hope of surviving and setting things right with her love is to masquerade as a man. Innogen, still in shock that her lord would have her killed consents to Pisanio’s plan and adopts the alias of Fidele, a young man.
Posthumous is not the only one who wishes Innogen’s death. Cloten, son of the wicked, scheming Queen, and Innogen’s step-brother, feels he was grievously insulted by the princess. He hears of her trip to the woods, and sets out to follow her. He resolves to kill her, a plan his mother has attempted to put into play for quite some time. This would have the double effect of eliminating the one to insult him, and making him Cymbeline’s only heir…at least the only heir whose whereabouts were known currently.
In the woods Innogen, now known as Fidele, comes upon a group of bandits who are in fact her lost brothers and their captor, a man called Belarius. Belarius was exiled from Cymbeline’s court and took the sons, Guiderius and Aviragus, as revenge on the monarch. Innogen does not realize the identity of the men and nor do her brothers, but Belarius does. Still desiring revenge, he decides to let the drama play out as it will.
After several long and complicated twists in the plot, the characters are restored to their rightful places. Innogen reveals herself to her father and Posthumous who, by this time, has realized that she was never disloyal to him and feels immense guilt at having ordered her death. Belarius feels himself sufficiently revenged, and returns Cymbeline’s sons to him. A typical Shakespearean ending, everything is revealed in the end and social order is restored.
Of the romances, Cymbeline is the one with the most variance. There are many elements of the comedy, but there is death, which adds tragedy. King Cymbeline is loosely based on a historical figure, so there is the tiny element of a history as well. The verse is beautiful and flowing, the prose is rich in description and detail. This is truly one of the more striking of the romances.
Scholars have gathered from textual references such as Jupiter who “descends in thunder and lightning” and the mention of throwing a thunderbolt, that this particular piece was written for the technology and audience of the Blackfriar’s playhouse. The Blackfriar’s was a rarely used indoor theatre. A thrust stage and the traditional levels of seating, as well as the universal lighting in the playhouse were the ideal conditions of any Shakespeare play. What may have made the Blackfriar’s unique for this performance especially was the presence of a roof, and thus, the heavens. In theatre, the heavens are an above stage opening where objects can be flown in and out.
As far as Shakespeare’s play go, Cymbeline is definitely one that should be read. The plot is entertaining with many interesting and memorable characters. It has the tenderness of a love story, the fantastical happy ending of a fairy tale, and many more effects uniquely its own. This is a wonderful piece that will make the reader gasp and then laugh at the absurdity. It is simply a must read…or see.