35:38 Cymbeline

Day 35 of 38:38
Cymbeline

Shakespeare seems to be doing a lot with redemption and jealousy in these late plays. (Redemption also figures into The Tempest.) But you can especially see links between The Winter's Tale and Cymbeline. Both have irrationally jealous husbands who lose their faithful wives, only to regret their anger, and be reunited at the end of the play. But the different is, the end of Cymbeline feels much more hopeful to me. I think this is because Hermione is far more silent at the end of the play than Imogen is.

What I love about Cymbeline is its sheer randomness. Though I was correct when I supposed after Pericles this play would seem much more coherent. It does. But I hate it when I see a production and the director has cut Jove descending from the skies. The play is wacky, just go with it!

As far as redemption goes, I also find Cymbeline easier to be swallowed than Pericles. Both of them are plays where a lot of bad things happen and then the ending is joyful. But in Cymbeline the bad things are results of the silly actions of the characters, where as in Pericles they are just random acts. The characters in Cymbeline realize how stupid they've been and I suppose for me that makes the ending more believably enjoyable. Also, Shakespeare gives us hints of the redemption to come. The end of 4.2, Lucius "Some falls are means the happier to arise." The end of 4.3, Pisanio "Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered."

What I don't love about Cymbeline is its clunky exposition. Oy, that first scene. And then again, when we meet Belarius and the boys and he has that long soliloquy telling the audience exactly who they all are. A little too obvious.

PS. My single edition calls this play "The Tragedy of Cymbeline." To me, this is just further proof that we should banish all genre categories when it comes to the plays of Shakespeare. I guess if you are going off the definition of in comedy no one dies and in tragedy people die, sure, Cymbeline is a tragedy and Measure for Measure is a comedy. But I think this definition is inane. Plus, no one we care about in Cymbeline dies. Generally in tragedies we expect the hero to die. Not so with this play. (This whole question of genre has been floating around in my head since SAA. I had a brief discussion there about whether any one still thinks of the "problem plays" as "problem plays" or whether this designation has gone out of style. If not, it should. And frankly, thinking about it since then, I think all the designations are pointless. Think about today -- if you buy a complete or volume of collected works for any current playwright, they are never categorized into any sort of genre classification. Anyway, I have a lot more thoughts on this subject, but that's another posting -- or an article.)

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Favorite Female Character:
Imogen
Favorite Male Character:
Iachimo

Laugh out loud:
Posthumus The stone's too hard to come by.
Iachimo Not a whit,
Your lady being so easy.

"That's what she said!":
Cloten If you can penetrate her with your fingering, so; we'll try with tongue too.

How insulting:
Imogen His meanest garment
That ever hath but clipped his body, is dearer
In my respect than all the hairs above thee,
Were they all made such men.

Shakey loves his meta:
Posthumus Shall's have a play of this? Thou scornful page,
There lies thy part.

Oh, misogyny:
Posthumus Could I find out
The woman's part in me! For there's no motion
That tends to vice in man but I affirm
It is the woman's part; be it lying, not it,
The woman's; flattering, hers; deceiving, hers;
Lust and rank thoughts, hers, hers; revenges, hers;
Ambitions, covetings, change of prides, disdain,
Nice longings, slanders, mutability,
All faults that may be named, nay, that hell knows,
Why, hers, in part, or all; but rather, all;
For even to vice
They are not constant, but are changing still
One vice but of a minute old for one
Not half so old as that.

Boys are silly:
2nd Lord That such a crafty devil as is his mother
Should yield the world this ass! a woman that
Bears all down with her brain, and this her son
Cannot take two from twenty for his heart
And leave eighteen.

Imogen Men's vows are women's traitors!

Favorite Moment/Line:
In performance especially, I love the moment when Iachimo pops out of the trunk.