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Last updated: Fri, Jul 31, 2015

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Cymbeline -

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Act and scene list

Characters in the Play
Entire Play Cymbeline, which takes place in ancient Britain, is filled with hidden identities, extraordinary schemes, and violent acts. Long ago, the two sons of King Cymbeline were abducted, leaving Cymbeline with a daughter, Imogen. Cymbeline’s stepson, Cloten, is now his heir, and Cymbeline expects Imogen to marry him. She secretly marries Posthumus Leonatus instead.Banished from court, Posthumus makes a foolish bet on Imogen’s chastity, which leads to false evidence that she has betrayed him. He plots to have her killed, and starts by sending her on a journey. Meanwhile, still angry about Imogen’s marriage, Cloten plans to find and rape her. Imogen—now disguised as a boy, “Fidele”—unwittingly encounters her brothers, who have grown up in a mountain cave unaware of their princely origins. The brothers kill Cloten, but Imogen, horrified, believes they have slain Posthumus.Cymbeline, meanwhile, refuses to pay a tribute to the Romans, who invade Britain. After the Romans are repelled in battle, Cymbeline agrees to the tribute, his sons are restored, and Imogen and Posthumus are reconciled.
Act 1, scene 1 At the court of King Cymbeline, the princess, Imogen, has secretly married a gentleman named Posthumus Leonatus. Imogen is the king’s only heir, since his two sons were stolen long ago, and the king had intended her to marry Cloten, the son of his present queen. The furious Cymbeline banishes Posthumus and, in effect, imprisons Imogen.
Act 1, scene 2 An encounter between Cloten and Posthumus, reported in 1.1, is here discussed by Cloten and two lords.
Act 1, scene 3 Posthumus’s servant, Pisanio, describes to the grieving Imogen the departure of Posthumus toward Rome.
Act 1, scene 4 Posthumus arrives in Rome, where an Italian gentleman, Iachimo, maneuvers him into placing a bet on Imogen’s chastity. Posthumus bets the diamond ring given him by Imogen that Iachimo cannot seduce her.
Act 1, scene 5 The queen obtains a box that she is told contains poison. (The audience is told that the box actually contains a sleeping potion that mimics death.) The queen gives the box of supposed poison to Pisanio, telling him it is a helpful medicine. Her hope is that with Posthumus’s servant Pisanio dead, Imogen will be less likely to cling to her love for Posthumus.
Act 1, scene 6 Iachimo arrives in Britain and begins his attempt to seduce Imogen by telling her that Posthumus is betraying her with prostitutes. She turns on Iachimo in fury when he advises her to take revenge on Posthumus by becoming Iachimo’s lover. Iachimo then claims he slandered Posthumus only to test her. She forgives the slander and agrees to keep in her bedroom that night Iachimo’s trunk that he says is filled with jewels and precious ornaments.
Act 2, scene 1 Cloten and two lords discuss the arrival of Iachimo. The Second Lord, in soliloquy, expresses the hope that Imogen will remain safe and that she and Posthumus will one day rule in Britain.
Act 2, scene 2 As Imogen sleeps, the trunk that she is keeping for Iachimo opens, and Iachimo emerges. Before climbing back into it, he examines the room and Imogen’s sleeping body, and he steals Posthumus’s bracelet from her wrist.
Act 2, scene 3 Cloten serenades Imogen in an attempt to win her love. Imogen enrages Cloten by saying that he is not as dear as Posthumus’s “meanest garment.” Cloten vows revenge. In the meantime, Imogen realizes that her bracelet is lost.
Act 2, scene 4 Iachimo returns to Rome with his proofs of Imogen’s unfaithfulness: descriptions of her bedroom and of private marks on her body, and, most damaging, the bracelet that Posthumus had given her. Posthumus, enraged with jealousy, relinquishes his diamond ring to Iachimo and swears to take revenge on Imogen.
Act 2, scene 5 Posthumus, in soliloquy, attacks women as the embodiment of all that is vicious.
Act 3, scene 1 Caius Lucius arrives as ambassador from Augustus Caesar, demanding that Cymbeline pay the tribute Britain owes to Rome. With the encouragement of the queen and Cloten, Cymbeline refuses. Caius Lucius pronounces war between Rome and Britain.
Act 3, scene 2 Pisanio receives two letters from Posthumus—one in which Pisanio is instructed to kill Imogen, and another written to Imogen, telling her to leave the court and travel with Pisanio to Milford Haven, where Posthumus claims to be waiting for her. Imogen makes excited plans for the journey.
Act 3, scene 3 Three men enter as if from a cave, the two younger men protesting the limitations of their mountain lives. When they exit to pursue game for food, the older man reveals that they are actually the two lost princes, whom he stole in infancy in protest against unjust treatment he had received from Cymbeline. Belarius (who now calls himself Morgan) has given Welsh names to Guiderius and Arviragus. They have no idea of their heritage, thinking Morgan their father.
Act 3, scene 4 On the journey to Milford Haven, Pisanio reveals to Imogen that he is supposed to kill her. She is so distraught at Posthumus’s lack of faith in her that she encourages Pisanio to stab her immediately. Instead, he proposes that she disguise herself as a boy and serve Caius Lucius, who is soon to land at Milford Haven. When she agrees to this plan, he gives her the box containing what he thinks is a restorative medicine.
Act 3, scene 5 When Imogen’s absence from court is discovered, Cloten forces Pisanio to tell him where she is. Pisanio shows him the letter instructing Imogen to go to Milford Haven to meet Posthumus. Cloten demands that Pisanio provide him with Posthumus’s clothing, so that, dressed in Posthumus’s garments, he may take revenge on Imogen by killing Posthumus, raping Imogen, and then dragging her back to court.
Act 3, scene 6 Imogen, disguised as a boy named Fidele, stumbles, exhausted and famished, into the cave of Belarius and the two young mountaineers. They welcome the “boy.”
Act 3, scene 7 A Roman senator announces that the Roman army attacking Britain will be under the control of Caius Lucius and that it will be augmented by Roman gentry.
Act 4, scene 1 Cloten, dressed in Posthumus’s garments, arrives at the spot where he plans to cut off Posthumus’s head and rape Imogen.
Act 4, scene 2 Imogen, not feeling well, takes the potion given her by Pisanio, thinking it is a restorative; the potion puts her into a deathlike trance. Cloten confronts Belarius and his two “sons” and, in the ensuing fight with Guiderius, is killed and his head cut off. The body of “Fidele” is discovered and mourned, and the headless body of Cloten placed beside it. When Imogen wakes, she thinks the body is that of Posthumus. As she grieves, Caius Lucius enters; she tells him that the body is that of her former master and asks to become Caius’s page. He welcomes “Fidele” into his service.
Act 4, scene 3 Cymbeline finds himself alone in the face of the Roman attack, with Imogen and Cloten both missing and the queen desperately ill.
Act 4, scene 4 The young princes persuade Belarius that the three of them should join with the Britons against Rome.
Act 5, scene 1 Posthumus, in Britain as part of the Roman army, repents Imogen’s (reported) murder and decides to seek death by joining the British army in the disguise of a poor soldier.
Act 5, scene 2 In a series of battles, Posthumus (disguised as a peasant) defeats and disarms Iachimo; the Britons flee and Cymbeline is captured by the Romans; Belarius and the two princes enter and, with the help of Posthumus, rescue Cymbeline. Caius Lucius urges “Fidele” to flee.
Act 5, scene 3 Posthumus, still seeking death and failing to find it as a poor British soldier, reverts to his earlier role as a Roman. He is captured by the victorious Britons. Without recognizing him, Cymbeline sends him to jail.
Act 5, scene 4 Posthumus, in chains, falls asleep and is visited by the ghosts of his dead family and by the god Jupiter, who assures the ghosts that Posthumus will eventually be fine. Jupiter also leaves a written message for Posthumus predicting the future—a message that Posthumus, on waking, cannot interpret. A messenger brings word that Posthumus is to be brought to the victorious Cymbeline.
Act 5, scene 5 Cymbeline knights Belarius and the two young men in gratitude for their valor, and sends in search of the poor soldier who aided in his rescue. The doctor enters to tell the king that his queen has died, confessing her hatred of Cymbeline and her plans to kill Imogen. Caius Lucius is brought in and told that he and his army will be killed; he begs the life of Fidele, which Cymbeline grants, along with whatever gift the boy might ask. Instead of asking for Caius Lucius’s life, Fidele asks to interrogate Iachimo as to where he got the diamond ring he is wearing.As Iachimo tells the story of how he had slandered Imogen, Posthumus comes forward, reveals who he is, and in his grief calls Imogen’s name. She runs to him, but he pushes her away and she falls. Pisanio tells Posthumus that the boy is Imogen. As Posthumus and Imogen embrace and Imogen is reunited with her father, Pisanio explains to Cymbeline about Cloten’s journey to Milford Haven. Guiderius finishes the story by telling how he killed Cloten and cut off his head. Cymbeline has Guiderius arrested.Belarius, to save Guiderius’s life, confesses to Cymbeline that the young men are the two lost princes. Cymbeline welcomes his new family, Imogen is reintroduced to her brothers, and Cymbeline not only pardons Caius Lucius but also grants a pardon to all and promises to pay Rome the tribute he had earlier refused.

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Act 1, scene 1

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