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Cymbeline is one of Shakespeare’s final plays. Composed and performed around 1609–1610, probably on the indoor Blackfriars stage rather than at the more famous Globe, it joins Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest in the list of genre-defying later plays that are usually referred to as romances or tragicomedies. The happy ending of each of these productions distinguishes them from earlier histories and tragedies, but each play emphasizes the danger and power of evil in the world, and death, while never victorious in the end, looms as an ever-present force in the stories. Indeed, the plot of Cymbeline bears a striking resemblance at various points to several of the great tragedies: the Imogen–Cymbeline relationship suggests Lear and Cordelia in King Lear. Meanwhile, Iachimo plays a role similar to that of Iago in Othello, and the sleeping potion taken by Imogen reminds us of a similar device in Romeo and Juliet. In Cymbeline, however, disaster may threaten but it never strikes. Only the wicked characters die, and the end of the play treats us to a joyous reconciliation.
There is no obvious single source for Cymbeline. The titular king and his sons, Guiderius and Arviragus, are quasi-historical figures. Cymbeline, specifically, is based on an ancient king of Roman Britain, whose name is recorded as Cunobeline in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain. Shakespeare, however, likely read about this king in Holinshed’s Chronicles—the same source he used for most of his history plays, as well as Macbeth and King Lear. Though the Cunobeline was a real king who ruled from roughly 9 to 40 CE, Shakespeare’s treatment is entirely fictional and thus should be considered more legendary than historical. In typical fashion, Shakespeare didn’t stick to just one source, but rather mixed narratives of varied origins. Thus, the Iachimo plot, in which a seduction is attempted on a virtuous wife, may have its roots in the celebrated Decameron, a collection of stories by the Renaissance author Giovanni Boccaccio. And the scenes in the Welsh wilderness, especially Imogen’s death-like slumber, likely owe a debt to contemporary fairy tales. However, much of the plot and most of the characters can be attributed directly to Shakespeare’s imagination.
