Cymbeline

by Shakespeare

First published 1623

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3.6(12,297)

Imogen, daughter of the British king Cymbeline, secretly marries Posthumus Leonatus against her father’s wishes. Banished to Rome, Posthumus is drawn into a wager over Imogen’s fidelity, while the queen plots to secure the succession for her own son and Cymbeline’s refusal to pay tribute threatens war with Rome.

Disguise, false evidence and long-lost princes carry the story through Wales and into battle before the divided royal family is reunited. Shakespeare loosely combines the historical Cunobeline and Augustan Rome with romance conventions, using an imagined ancient Britain to explore political allegiance, marital trust and the restoration of dynastic order.