Cymbeline has me thinking. First, I had to train myself to see Cymbeline as an English King, and not the fairy that name conjures up for me for some reason. Then, it took a bit to get the other characters straight in my head. But now, reading full steam ahead, I am stirred up by the image of these men sitting around in groups, discussing the virtue of women. Do they honor them or own them? I wonder. Do they not discuss their own honor? Are they not concerned with their own fidelity? Or is that a moot point…
Are men not to be true? Only brave? What takes more courage than fidelity?
I read the early pages with a growing sense of dread, sensing the plot would lead to a tragic, anguished end. The tension caused by misunderstanding and intrigue is palpable. It’s like watching a train wreck; you know it’s coming, you know it will be horrible, but you cannot look away. I had a sick feeling, reading this.
It would seem the gentlemen’s egos are the cause of the destruction of the women they supposedly love.
“Men’s vows are women’s traitors!” Imogen declares.
And she is wise when she says,
“And thou Posthumus,
Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men;
Goodly and gallant shall be false and perjured
From thy great fail.”
His foolish mistakes cast doubt on his gender, isn’t that how it goes? Perhaps unfair, but true.
The other important theme–slander.
The power of the tongue, taken straight from scripture.
Pg. 665
“The paper hath cut her throat already.
No, tis slander,
Whose edge is sharper than the sword, whose tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile, whose breath
Rides on the posting winds and doth belie
All corners of the world. Kings, queens, and states,
Maids, matrons, nay, the secrets of the grave
This slander enters.”
Note Shakespeare’s clever verb–Outvenoms. Wish I’d thought of that one.
Parallel scenes: Interesting use of tapestries, echoes Lucrece. But in Imogen’s bedchamber is a tapestry of Cleopatra’s barge scene, of all things–symbol of the elevation of woman.
Iachimo refers to Tarquin as he watches the sleeping Imogen. And again we see the ‘cinque spotted mole, like the crimson drops I’ the bottom of a cowslip.”
Iachimo doesn’t rape her, but his words have the same effect, he destroys her character and reputation.
He sees that she has been reading the tale of Tereus, another rape story in which Philomela, her tongue being cut out, wove the tale of her own rape into a tapestry. Story within story within story.
The Boar appears again on pg. 662, likened to Iachimo, echoes of Tarquin.
Pisanio’s statement jumped out at me as being more than mere words: pg. 667
“Well then, here’s the point:
You must forget to be a woman…”
It’s almost as if Shakespeare is acknowledging that to be woman is to be vulnerable. To have any power, Imogen must put off the tender part of herself. She must become coarse and querrelous, hard hearted. Or is it that she needs to learn to tap into another part of herself, ‘the secret world inside’ as Nick wrote about in his blog? I’m not sure where this is leading since I haven’t finished the play, but I’ll guess that in the end Imogen and Postumus will gain a better understanding of each other, and then, of course this being a tragedy, they will die. Is that what Postumus’ name hints at? That recognition will come, after death? Stay tuned…
And wow, Nathan, nice translation of Goethe, that took some work. Interesting speculation too.
JenniferThornburg--wecrytodreamagain 