Day 112: What I Learned: Cymbeline

Penguin Shakespeare

Cymbeline is a lot of stories wrapped up into one. It's like Snow White meets, like, five other Shakespeare plays. It starts out with a king, Cymbeline (wait, Cymbeline's not a girl?) worried about his empire, hoping to marry his daughter off to the son of his second wife (who plays up the whole "wicked stepmother" angle to a tee, manipulating the situation to her son's advantage as much as she can, but then devolving into pettiness and even poison because, well, why not?). The daughter, Imogen (not Cymbeline, even though it totally sounds like a girl's name), is already in love and married to her father's ally, Posthumus Leonatus (a name given to him after his father, Leonatus, died...hence "posthumously"...ugh) and so they have the whole "star-crossed lovers" thing going on, which results in them being separated and Posthumus (okay, had Shakespeare just given up when he wrote that name?) being subjected to all kinds of doubts about his bride's fidelity. This results in hilarious death threats.

In the beginning, Cymbeline is a combination of Othello, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, and maybe a little of The Merchant of Venice. Plus, of course, fairy tales like Snow White or Cinderella. Imogen even has to disguise herself as a man and takes poison from her stepmother...sort of.

Then BOOM! Beheading! What the what? I did NOT see that coming.

After that the whole play gets messy. Not "bloody" messy so much as muddled. There's a war, long lost sons, death threats both made and revoked, a dead queen (but nobody liked her apparently) and a supposed "happy ending" except that it's weird that anyone would be happy after all of that. 

Oh and there are ghosts and an appearance by the god Jupiter. But that does lead to the play's best moment, when Jupiter says, "Mount, eagle, to my palace crystalline" and then ascends (to his crystal palace I assume) and shortly after everyone on stage says in unison, "Thanks Jupiter!" 

That's Saturday morning cartoon gold right there.

via

Day 108: How long would it be if they weren't speaking so fast? 12 hours?

Hey! Want to watch the 3-hour BBC Cymbeline? No? Of course you don't! But just in case, here it is:

I only made it about five minutes in. How does it end?

Day 107: I am not comforted by the fact that Cymbeline is a "problem play"

Cymbeline wordle from SCC English

Is "problem play" code for "rape" and "murder" but don't worry, the hero's fine? Because I'm a little nervous that it is.

Here's a great article about the subject (I'm almost afraid to read it):

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Cymbeline?

Day 106: New Play Tuesday! Cymbeline

Scene ii Act IV from Cymbeline by William Shakespeare 1564-1616, by Henry Singleton (via)

Please let there be no rape in it. Please let there be no rape in it.

This painting is not filling me with hope.