About the work
A late work of Shakespeare's that sits between tragedy, comedy and romance, probably written in 1609/10. A performance is documented for April 1611 at the Globe Theatre, recorded in the diary of the astrologer Simon Forman. The play was first printed in the First Folio of 1623, where it is still classed as a tragedy.
Plot
King Cymbeline banishes his daughter Imogen for secretly marrying the low-born Posthumus instead of Cloten, the queen's favoured suitor. In exile in Italy, the courtier Iachimo wagers with Posthumus over Imogen's fidelity, tricks his way into her bedchamber and presents Posthumus with false evidence of her infidelity. Believing her unfaithful, Posthumus orders her death; Imogen escapes disguised as a boy, is reunited with the brothers she believed lost, and the deception finally unravels in a sweeping recognition scene that also restores peace between Britain and Rome.
Cultural significance
The play is a characteristic example of Shakespeare's late romances, moving between deception, loss and reconciliation. Its celebrated fourth-act dirge later influenced Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs Dalloway.