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As the romantic counterpart to Imogen, Posthumus is the ostensible hero of this play. The other characters frequently speak of him in superlative terms, repeatedly affirming his nobility and honorable bearing. Orphaned at birth and brought up as a ward of Cymbeline’s court, Posthumus betrays his adoptive father by marrying Imogen in secret and against his wishes. It is this act that casts him into exile at the play’s beginning and sends him to Italy. There, we quickly see that Posthumus is perhaps less inherently noble than the hype has led us to believe. Not only is he drawn into a boyish wager about his wife’s chastity, but he also seems all too eager to believe her infidelity based on meager evidence. Like a more foolish version of Othello, he orders his servant to kill his wife before disappearing for the play for a long time.
Like the male heroes of other Shakespeare plays featuring strong heroines, Posthumus doesn’t at all seem worthy of the virtuous Imogen. It isn’t until his eventual return in the final act of the play that he undergoes the rehabilitation necessary to reunite him with his beloved. Devastated by what he believes to be Imogen’s murder, Posthumus gets swept up in the war. As an exile living in Italy, he is conscripted into the Roman army. When he arrives on the battlefield, however, he makes his first step toward redemption by changing uniforms and fighting bravely for the British. This patriotic act signals his fidelity to the land where he grew up, preparing the way for his salvation and reconciliation. In one of the most bizarre scenes in all of Shakespeare, Posthumus, recently arrested and imprisoned, falls asleep in his cell and is visited by the ghosts of his dead father, mother, and brothers. He is thus reunited with his deceased kin. They pray on his behalf to the god Jupiter, who descends and delivers a prophetic oracle that ties Posthumus’s fate to Britain’s. Thus, when Britain wins the war, the stage is set for Posthumus to be reconciled with the king and reunite—legitimately this time—with Imogen.
