Questions on
Shakespeare’s Romance Plays
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Cymbeline. (The Norton Shakespeare: Romances and Poems, 3rd ed. 220-301.)
ACT 1
1. In Act 1, Scene 1, what story does the First Gentleman tell the Second about the reason for the bad feeling at King Cymbeline’s court? What has his daughter and heir, Imogen, done to vex him? Moreover, what disharmony has arisen at court between the King and his courtiers? What does this disagreement have to do with differences regarding the true nature and worth of Posthumus Leonatus?
2. In Act 1, Scene 1, Cymbeline’s Queen speaks with Imogen and her husband Posthumus Leonatus. What does she appear to be up to—what is she promising to the couple? Are her words to be taken as sincere, or grounded in the desire to deceive? Explain.
3. In Act 1, Scene 1, Imogen clashes with her father the King when he arrives. By what arguments does he try to get her to see things his way regarding her marriage, and how does she respond? Also, if you are familiar with King Lear, how does the disagreement between Cymbeline and Imogen compare to that of King Lear and Cordelia? What additional similarities and/or differences can you find between the current play’s opening scene and the beginning of King Lear?
4. In Act 1, Scene 2, what is the purpose for us, the audience, of the First and Second Lords’ mockery of Cloten, who has drawn his sword against Posthumus Leonatus and not come off very well in the encounter? How do the Lords cue us in on what actually happened between the two men? How does Cloten, by contrast, perceive the encounter?
5. In Act 1, Scene 3, how does Imogen reveal by her words and attitude her genuine love for Posthumous Leonatus? In responding, attend to the metaphors and other figures or devices she employs. How does Posthumus, too, according to Pisanio, convey his affection for her even as he departs on the ship taking him to Rome?
6. In Act 1, Scene 4, at Philario’s house in Rome, how does Posthumus’ “ring wager” come about? What are the terms of the wager between Giacomo and Posthumus? Why does such a bet seem unfair and even absurd to our modern sensibilities? Yet, on what grounds might a medieval or early modern man have defended it? What assumptions about women underlie the placing of the wager between Posthumus and Giacomo?
7. In Act 1, Scene 5, how does the Queen try to advance her plot against Imogen’s match with Posthumus? What does she ask of the doctor, Cornelius, and how does he respond in word and deed? What is the Queen’s use for Pisanio at this point?
8. In Act 1, Scene 6, how does Giacomo attempt to traduce Imogen? What virtues does she demonstrate in responding as she does? Based on all you have seen of Imogen thus far in Act 1, what seems to be the guiding principle by which she speaks and acts? Why does Giacomo’s plot almost backfire, and how does he recover the situation on the fly, as he speaks with Imogen?
ACT 2
9. In Act 2, Scenes 1 and 3, what anxieties and ambitions does Cloten manifest in his conversations with the Lords, with Cymbeline and the Queen, and finally with Imogen? How does he understand his own situation at Court and with regard to Imogen, whose affections he covets?
10. In Act 2, Scene 2, what details does Giacomo gather in order to convince Posthumus that Imogen has been unfaithful? What significance do the Italian’s classical allusions (to Tarquin, Tereus and Philomela) add to this wicked scene?
11. In Act 2, Scene 4, Giacomo lays out his “evidence” against Imogen’s chastity. What is that so-called evidence? What makes the pitch effective as a piece of rhetoric? What weakness in Posthumus does Giacomo shape his unveiling of the evidence to exploit?
12. In Act 2, Scene 5, now that Posthumus is alone, what specific complaints against Imogen does he set forth for his own (and our) consideration? Through such complaints, what general view of women does Posthumus proclaim? To judge from what Posthumus says in his anguish, why was it so easy for Giacomo to dupe him with the flimsy “evidence” he presented in the previous scene?
ACT 3
13. In Act 3, Scene 1, what attitudes do Cymbeline, the Queen, and Cloten express towards Augustus Caesar’s demand that the Britons pay tribute? How can we best characterize the diplomatic relations between Cymbeline and Caesar’s Rome through ambassador Lucius? It would help to add brief background on relations between the Romans and the Britons around the time frame Shakespeare’s play refers to. (See, for example, the Brittanica.com or Worldhistory.org entries on “Roman Britain.”)
14. In Act 3, Scenes 2 and 4, how does Imogen react first to the news that Posthumus is in Wales (Cambria) at Milford-Haven and then to the knowledge that he believes she has been false to him? What is Pisanio’s plan to redeem the situation, or at least to avoid the worst that might happen? How does Imogen react when she hears this plan?
15. In Act 3, Scene 3, we meet Belarius and the two young men he has raised, Guiderius and his younger brother Arviragus. What is Belarius’s story—why was he banished from Cymbeline’s court? What sort of life do he and the two young men lead, and in what setting? In what ways do their perspectives on this unusual situation differ? How does this new “Belarius subplot” relate to the play’s main plot?
16. In Act 3, Scene 5, how does Cymbeline react to the news that his daughter Imogen has fled the court? What more do we learn about the Queen and Cloten’s respective plans in this scene? In particular, what is Cloten’s rationale for the attempt he plans to make against Imogen, and the murder of Posthumus he intends? How does he justify these actions to himself?
17. In Act 3, Scene 6, how do Belarius, Guiderius and Arviragus receive and treat Imogen, disguised as “Fidele”? What seems to be the basis for the young men’s instant love for the disguised Imogen? How does the reception offered to “Fidele” deepen the contrast already established between the rural life these three men lead and the life others lead at the court of Cymbeline?
ACT 4
18. In Act 4, Scene 1, how does Cloten detail the plot he has devised to kill Posthumus and rape Imogen? What comparisons does he make between himself and Posthumus, and why does he think he comes off as superior to the man who has won Imogen’s love? What factors does Cloten identify as working against his own suit for Imogen?
19. In Act 4, Scene 2, what does Belarius apparently think of Guiderius’s courageous deed in killing Cloten—what concerns him most? What do Arviragus and Guiderius think of this deed? According to Belarius in his private thoughts, how have Guiderius and Arviragus both shown their quality as young aristocrats? To what extent does the play (up to this section and indeed the whole of 4.2) validate the idea that noble birth portends innate goodness?
20. In Act 4, Scene 2, what happens to Imogen as “Fidele” when she drinks the potion that Pisanio gave her? How do the young men react to “Fidele’s” supposed death, and what sort of funeral do they offer him, along with Cloten, since Belarius insists on decent rites for the Queen’s son? When Imogen awakens after the funeral rites to find a headless body next to her, what confusions set in that the rest of the play’s unfolding will have to resolve?
21. In Act 4, Scene 2, how does Imogen-as-Fidele’s behavior impress the Roman ambassador Lucius? What offer does Lucius extend to him/her, and how does he “package” this offer in terms that make sense in the context of a comic play or a romance play?
22. In Act 4, Scene 3, what problems rapidly drag Cymbeline into a state near despair? How do matters stand with the Queen, with the King’s knowledge of the whereabouts of Imogen and Cloten, and the status of the war with the Romans? How does Pisanio, now alone, assess his own knowledge or lack thereof regarding Posthumus, Imogen, and Cloten?
23. In Act 4, Scene 4, now that the fighting between the Britons and the Romans is drawing near to the rural home of Belarius, Arviragus, and Guiderius, what counsel does Belarius offer regarding their safety? What counter-perspective do the young men offer Belarius? Why does he end up agreeing with them?
ACT 5
24. In Act 5, Scenes 1-3, what role do Belarius, Arviragus and Guiderius play in saving Cymbeline and Britain from defeat by the Romans? What motivates Posthumus to join with these three against the Roman army? What self-critique does he offer in the process of making this decision?
25. In Act 5, Scene 4, Posthumus’ departed parents and brothers appear to him in a dream. What is the dream about, and what is its significance for Posthumus? How do the ghosts (“shades”) who appear to Posthumus in his sleep address Jupiter, and how does the god respond to their address? What does Posthumus learn, or in what way does he benefit, from this strange dream? What wider meaning might the dream hold for the present war between Rome and Britain?
26. In Act 5, Scene 5, by what means are the respective identities of Imogen and Posthumus finally revealed to Cymbeline and the others at court? What semi-comic plot device involving Giacomo does Shakespeare employ to accomplish this revelation? (Why is the term “semi-comic” appropriate—why might Shakespeare’s staging of Giacomo’s confession provoke laughter even though its purpose is serious?)
27. In Act 5, Scene 5, what further difficulty does the revelation of Posthumus and Imogen’s identities lead to with respect to Belarius and Guiderius, and how is the new problem resolved? What about the fate of Lucius the virtuous Roman, and the devious Giacomo—what happens to them?
28. Act 5, Scene 5 concludes with Cymbeline’s commands to praise the gods and reaffirm a strong friendship between Britain and the Romans. If you are familiar with Shakespeare’s bleak tragedy King Lear, contrast the ending of that playwith the concluding scene of Cymbeline: what makes it possible for the latter play (a romance) to end with forgiveness, concord, and security while the tragedy King Lear ends in crushed hopes and death? What assumptions are operative in Cymbeline that are not viable in King Lear?
29. If you aren’t familiar with King Lear, apply the previous question to Cymbeline in its own right, which will still allow you to address the “romance” quality of that play. Consider, too, how the Soothsayer expounds Posthumus’s dream—how does he apply the dream to clarify the play’s concluding events?
Edition. Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors. The Norton Shakespeare: Romances and Poems + Digital Edition. 3rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93862-3.
Copyright © 2012, revised 2025 Alfred J. Drake
Document Timestamp: 10/10/2025 9:40 AM