Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Instant PDF downloads. $24.99 Gender is a set of interpersonal relationships and social practices that evolve in the presence of other people, in social spaces, and over time. Vol. Its also ironic that she should use the word usurps in my fool usurps my body, because far from Albany having taken wrongful possession of her body (which at this point he is thoroughly repulsed by anyway), Goneril is the one who has shown the desire and power to usurp her fathers authority. In the public sphere, too, it is not unlikely that
You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. His daughter, and the heir ofs kingdom, whomHe purposed to his wifes sole sona widowThat late he marriedhath referrd herselfUnto a poor but worthy gentleman: shes wedded;Her husband banishd; she imprisond: all Is outward sorrow; though I think the kingBe touchd at very heart. CYMBELINE: The king of Britain and Imogen's father. ", In George Bernard Shaw's rewrite of the last act of Cymbeline, Cymbeline Refinished, Imogen becomes a much more assertive figure in line with Shaw's feminist views. A beautiful girl with blue eyes, she is obedient and generally docile, but has an iron backbone and will not be moved against her own desire and integrity. IMOGEN, Daughter to Cymbeline by a former Queen. and character of her beauty are placed before us. He was once a wise and well-respected king who was kind-hearted but led astray and was easily manipulated by his evil Queen. Struggling with distance learning? With his first wife, he had three children: his daughter Imogen, and sons Arviragus and Guiderius. Taking a drug, she falls into a coma and is presumed dead by the family, who cover her body and sing a song over her. She's the one who notices the ring on Iachimo's finger that solves the puzzle in the end. She is also chaste, and puts off her husband from the marriage bed their marriage may not even be consummated. The Nuttall Encyclopdia. This power imbalance forebodes what will happen later in the play, when Imogen must self-exile to escape wrongful persecution from Posthumus, and is only rescued by the mercy of Belarius and his sons, as well as that of the Roman ambassador Caius Lucius, before her husband finally accepts the error and blindness of his judgment. The heavens still must work.Wherein I am false I am honest; not true, to be true.These present wars shall find I love my country,Even to the note o the king, or Ill fall in them.All other doubts, by time let them be cleard:Fortune brings in some boats that are not steerd. Thus we cannot with any certainty conclude that he himself was the object of the passion which had revived his faith in a woman's power of complete and unconditional absorption in love for one man, and for him alone. He wants a fair exchange: his own life for, Because Posthumus is without equal, the First Brother asks who else could have caught, had a special connection to Posthumus. along with the man of her choice, Imogen is doomed to death by her cruelly-deceived husband, whom alone she adores; and through it all she preserves her love
Shakespeare probably took the name from the Matter of Britain character Innogen as found in Holinshed's Chronicles (1577), and had used the name once before for a non-speaking 'ghost character' in early editions of Much Ado About Nothing (1600), as the wife of the character Leonato (Imogen in Cymbeline is paired with a character with the similar epithet "Leonatus"). Show Guides. Even when her name is slandered, she stays calm and collected; and when Iachimo opens his nasty trap, it's Imogen who says to Posthumus, "Peace, my lord, hear, hear" (5.5.265-266). It's her actions, actually, that stop the war between Rome and Britain. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. Imogen. What false Italian,As poisonous-tongued as handed, hath prevaildOn thy too ready hearing? SparkNotes PLUS What was the lastThat he spake to thee? {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help). Evangeline Maria O'Connor. It is a complex and multi-layered play that defies easy categorization.Some critics see it as a romance, others as a tragedy, and still, others as a history play. Wheres thy drum?France spreads his banners in our noiseless land;With plumed helm thy slayer begins threats;Whiles thou, a moral fool, sitst still, and criestAlack, why does he so?. Upgrade to PRO to read our character analysis for Imogen (or Innogen) . They explain that, in addition to forces fighting in Gallia, soldiers will need to be recruited from among the Roman gentry for the upcoming war. Wise, beautiful, and resourceful, she incurs her father's displeasure when she chooses to marry the lowborn Posthumus instead of Cymbeline's oafish stepson, Cloten. Download or read book Myth, Emblem, and Music in Shakespeare's Cymbeline written by Peggy Muoz Simonds and published by University of Delaware Press. Even a poet has scant enough opportunities of observing love. How Cymbeline Compares to Shakespeare's Other Plays. Posthumus's Family of Ghosts: Sicilius Leontus, Mother, Leonati Brothers. Instant downloads of all 1715 LitChart PDFs King Cymbeline of Britain banishes his daughter Imogen's husband, who then makes a bet on Imogen's fidelity. Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership. She was said to have been a Greek princess, the daughter of King Pandrasus, and to have become Britain's first Queen consort as the wife of Brutus of Troy, the purported first king of Britain who was said to have lived around the 12th century BC.Her sons Locrinus, Camber, and Albanactus went . We first find out about Lears unequal love in Goneril and Regans tete-a-tete after Cordelias banishment, when she comments . Cymbeline's daughter, the British princess. I have enough:To the trunk again, and shut the spring of it. Had Goneril simply been power hungry, she wouldnt have to be concerned about the undesirable optics resulting from the behavioural excesses and loose negligence of a stubborn, old king. Again, this possibly foreshadows the pestering influences that will soon surround Imogen, including Clotens pursuits, Iachimos seduction, and even Posthumus own misunderstanding of his wife. Reasonably distraught, Imogen launches into an anguished speech of the most poetic register: True honest men being heard, like false Aeneas,Were in his time thought false, and Sinons weepingDid scandal many a holy tear, took pityFrom most true wretchedness: so thou, Posthumus,Wilt lay the leaven on all proper men;Goodly and gallant shall be false and perjuredFrom thy great fall. You will never find a better woman than me, Imogen declares (and rightly so, as the play goes on to show). Upon kissing Edmund and hearing his pledge to be faithful to her in the ranks of death (which hell soon renege on when the tides turn), Goneril exclaims out of his earshot . A clever and dishonest Italian gentleman. The name Cymbeline is inspired by the early Celtic King Cunobelinus. Complete your free account to request a guide. She stands up for herself to her dad and notices the Queen is a "dissembling courtesy" (read: faker) right away (1.1.98). Note the anacoluthic rhythm in Imogens response here, which is quite distinct from the lyrical enjambment in those speeches where she laments Posthumus departure. Imogen. It is not often that women love men of his mental habit and stature with
In the first place, had the experience been his
", A character in Anthony Trollope's Barchester Towers mentions Imogen: "Imogen was true, but how was she rewarded? She is extraordinarily courageous, and has excellent instincts, knowing exactly whom to trust even when she cannot explain why, and also knowing that her stepmother means her no good. Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more! The simile that compares our court as being like a riotous inn like a tavern or a brothel/Than a graced palace seems to suggest that the chaotic situation is too dire for nothing to be said, while the alliterative plosives in Men so disordered, so deboshed and bold conveys a level of brashness on the part of Lears retinue that Goneril now newly installed in power finds unacceptable. The negative connotations in Gonerils diction rash, imperfections and unruly waywardness reveal her wariness of Lears unpredictable behaviour and her disapproval (in principle) of their fathers banishment of Cordelia. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." Themes of Cymbeline by Angela M. Risi Scholars have teased out many themes from Shakespeare's most bizarre play, Cymbeline, such as love, lies and deceit, society and class, mortality, supernatural intervention, suffering, women and femininity, and patriotism. How dare you ghosts Accuse the thunderer, whose bolt, you know,Sky-planted batters all rebelling coasts?Poor shadows of Elysium, hence, and restUpon your never-withering banks of flowers:Be not with mortal accidents opprest;No care of yours it is; you know tis ours.Whom best I love I cross; to make my gift,The more delayd, delighted. POSTHUMUS LEONATUS, a Gentleman, Husband to Imogen. The shame itself doth speakFor instant remedy: be then desiredBy her, that else will take the thing she begs,A little to disquantity your train;And the remainder, that shall still depend,To be such men as may besort your age,And know themselves and you. Posthumus has asserted that, Pisanio can hardly believe that Posthumus is ordering him to kill, Pisanio hands Posthumus second letter to, her fair skin. (LogOut/ "Playing Imogen," the actress Harriet Walter remarks, "one spends quite a lot of time 'asleep.' " 1 The villain Iachimo steals from a trunk in the bedroom of the sleeping Imogen and breathlessly inventories the attractions of the furniture and of the princess's exposed body. We'll sum it up for you: Imogen is the whole package. Yea, bloody cloth, Ill keep thee, for I wishdThou shouldst be colourd thus. 'It must be, if you say it. Everything is done to
on 50-99 accounts. He makes a wager with Posthumus that he can seduce Imogen, and when his attempt at seduction fails, resorts to trickery to make Posthumus believe that he has succeeded. Cymbeline is a play by William Shakespeare, first performed in 1611. Arviragus then enters, carrying a limp, Belarius returns and lays Clotens body next to, son Cloten missing, she has developed a fever, and shows signs of madness. The Tribunes (Roman officials elected by the plebeians, or lower social class) discuss the invasion with the, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Innogen is a character in the Historia Regum Britanniae and subsequent medieval British pseudo-history. The heavens hold firmThe walls of thy dear honour, keep unshakedThat temple, thy fair mind, that thou mayst stand,To enjoy thy banishd lord and this great land! Posthumus stays at his home during his exile from Britain. If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Summary. Who's Who in Shakespeare By Peter Quennell, Hamish Johnson, p. 107. own, he would scarcely left London so soon. No more, you petty spirits of region low,Offend our hearing; hush! PDF downloads of all 1715 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. ", John Keats, a great admirer of Shakespeare, in a famous letter to Richard Woodhouse, contrasts Imogen to one of Shakespeare's most notoriously immoral characters, Iago, in order to describe the character of the poet: "The poetical character has no selfit is everything and nothingit has no character and enjoys light and shade; it lives in gusto, be it foul or fair, high or low, rich or poor, mean or elevatedit has as much delight in conceiving an Iago as an Imogen. With his first wife, he had three children: his daughter, Imogen is the British princess. This is a character who, while virtuous almost to a fault, is able to lean on sheer strength of character and depend not on the crutches of pity, as when she asks Iachimo, "what wreck discern you in me/Deserves your pity?" Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account. what a strange infectionIs falln into thy ear! Shes not just a spurned and wronged wife she also gets to cross-dress as a boy and fight on the battlefield. Strange very strange! Imogen is Cymbeline's daughter and the heir to his throne. Save for the superlative of questiondst every sail, which lays bare her ardent desire to see Posthumus again, the analogy of a paper lost with offerd mercy raises questions about the power dynamics of their marriage if she were to lose her husbands note, she claims, it would be equivalent to a defeated person rejecting his victors mercy. Cymbeline is King of Britain; his first wife died, and he married a wicked queen. that I should murder her?Upon the love and truth and vows which I Have made to thy command? Unfortunately for them all, he is quite unable to woo said Princess, as . Why, I must die;And if I do not by thy hand, thou artNo servant of thy mastersThus may poor foolsBelieve false teachers: though those thatare betraydDo feel the treason sharply, yet the traitorStands in worse case of woe.And thou, Posthumus, thou that didst set upMy disobedience gainst the king my fatherAnd make me put into contempt the suitsOf princely fellows, shalt hereafter findIt is no act of common passage, butA strain of rareness: and I grieve myselfTo think, when thou shalt be disedged by herThat now thou tirest on, how thy memoryWill then be pangd by me. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Every teacher of literature should use these translations. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. I do beseech youTo understand my purposes aright:As you are old and reverend, you should be wise.Here do you keep a hundred knights and squires;Men so disorderd, so deboshd and bold,That this our court, infected with their manners,Shows like a riotous inn: epicurism and lustMake it more like a tavern or a brothelThan a graced palace. Just about everyone recognizes Imogen's beauty. of adultery? Before his departure, Posthumus gives Imogen a . https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Imogen_(Cymbeline)&oldid=1132852610, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the Nuttall Encyclopedia, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Nuttall Encyclopedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 10 January 2023, at 22:33. She was described by William Hazlitt as "perhaps the most tender and the most artless " of all Shakespeare's women. Posthumus. that no one was hurt because Posthumus merely played with Cloten rather than fighting back. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Contact us IMOGENIll follow, sir. The language, while sometimes rich, is often clumsy, and the mediocrity of certain scenes (notably that witnessing the bizarre appearance of Jupiter in V.iv), have led a number of critics to suggest that the Bard collaborated with a less talented . . Her spunky personality is endearing per se, but the circumstances in which shes placed often casts this spunkiness in a somewhat problematic light. She sees Cordelia as a rival because Lears affections have always been biased towards his youngest daughter; she takes matters into her own deadly hands because Albany (to her) is too weak and indecisive; she falls for Edmund because she cant find the masculine strength she desires in her husband. Besides her father, Goneril is similarly disappointed with her husband, the Duke of Albany. Did he simply fall back on his own experiences, his own inward sensations, his knowledge of his own heart, and, transposing his feelings from the major to the minor key, place them on a woman's lips? No more. For many, this only reinforces the rawness of her portrayal, and ergo makes her more likeable. Twenty years prior to the plays action, Most often referred to as Lucius throughout the play, he is the Roman ambassador to Britain who prizes honor and truth. Still, she makes sure that she gets to rant before she dies, as she calls Posthumus a false teacher who has set up/My disobedience against the king my father/And me put into contempt the suits/Of princely fellows. The Course Hero audiobook of The Tempest includes: a chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis; . The store will not work correctly in the case when cookies are disabled. Thrown into a concoction with Gonerils rottenness as the primary ingredient, these triggers accelerate the tragic course of the play. While she mourns the banishment of her husband and moans about having a "foolish suitor" (Cloten), she doesn't wallow in self-pity (1.6.2). and supports his boast with seemingly incontrovertible proofs. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. Continue to start your free trial. But Philario still clings to hope: he tells Posthumus to take the ring back. She can be extremely headstrong, whether in keeping to her room or galloping off to meet Posthumus, disguising herself as a boy named Fidele, or entering in service to her fathers enemy. The King's acceptance of the Imogen/Posthumus marriage is a sign of individual peace and social integration. She is delighted to discover that the two young men she befriended in the cave are actually her brothers, and that she will therefore not inherit the throne. Posthumus takes this as final confirmation that Iachimo has stained, that his mother appeared to his father like the chaste Diana, and so too did, a letter from his master, Pisanio feels dismayed by its contents. Imogen's attendant. That she would ask for order and restraint to be maintained at court is perhaps a reflection that she cares about more than just grabbing power, but also about preserving the dignity of the court. Youve successfully purchased a group discount. Unlike her husband, Imogen trusts in her marriage vows and won't break them. This is especially evident in her rebuke of Clotens advances in Act 2 Scene 3. She stands up for herself to her dad and notices the Queen is a "dissembling courtesy" (read: faker) right away (1.1.98). J.D. Specifically, the juxtaposition of Goneril and Imogen makes for an intriguing comparison vis-a-vis Lady Macbeth and Desdemona, because Goneril is what Lady Macbeth would have been had the latter been completely un-pitiable, and Imogen would likely have ended up like Desdemona had she been less fortunate. Following my previous post on Lady Macbeth and Desdemona, in which I suggest that neither character is as bad or good as popular opinion would have us believe, Id like us to push the moral spectrum further towards each end by looking at Goneril (King Lear) and Imogen (Cymbeline) characters that most would agree are just as evil or virtuous as they seem. LitCharts Teacher Editions. What shocks the virtuous philosopher delights the chameleon poet A poet is the most unpoetical of anything in existence because he has no identity, he is continually filling some other body. Some of the themes found in Cymbeline mirror Shakespeare's other late romances, such as The Winter's Tale and The Tempest. Imogen in her bed-chamber where Iachimo witnesses the mole under her breast. In Cymbeline (1610), on the other hand, Imogen's loyalty, bravery and intelligence command natural admiration. ", Imogen is also alluded to in Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "The Antique Ring": "Or, who knows, but it is the very ring which Posthumus received from Imogen? Struggling with distance learning? another?You gentle gods, give me but this I have,And sear up my embracements from a nextWith bonds of death!for my sake wear this;It is a manacle of love; Ill place itUpon this fairest prisoner. PDF downloads of all 1715 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. This book was released on 1992 with total page 412 pages. THE SOLILOQUIES OF SHAKESPEARE 4 es x9 ealUpO T1008 a 7 a i Ms i ee a * ' - 4 ; os 72> Me a a. , o a : , oe rr e ae a tee ae THE SOLILOQUIES OF SHAKESPEARE A . Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. Meanwhile, Cloten learns of the "meeting" between Imogen and Posthumus . creating and saving your own notes as you read. the essence of Imogen's nature that we feel as if we had known and loved her before she was married to Posthumus, and that her conjugal virtues are a charm super-added, like the colour laid upon a beautiful groundwork. Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account. One of Cymbeline's twin sons. Be content; Your low-laid son our godhead will uplift:His comforts thrive, his trials well are spent.Our Jovial star reignd at his birth, and inOur temple was he married. But more importantly, it is precisely these imperfections ones inability to hold it in all the time, or ones emotional authenticity at the expense of tact which renders a female character like Imogen so likeable. When he fails, Iachimo hides in her bedchamber and uncovers her body while she sleeps, observing details of a mole on her breast which he then describes to Posthumus as proof that he had slept with her. An orphaned gentleman, he is adopted and raised by Cymbeline, and he marries Imogen in secret, against her father's will. QUEEN, Wife to Cymbeline. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. (Anacoluthon is the technique for a change in sentence construction, which breaks up an initial sentence to introduce a sudden interpolated thought.). Unlike the Macbeths, who for the most part are committed partners-in-crime, Goneril and Albany are shown to be incompatible from the get-go. The best they ever get is to share a title with a guy ( Romeo and Juliet, Antony . Cordelias poignancy is compounded in contrast with Goneril and Regans malice, while Imogens goodness is highlighted by the Queens treachery and Iachimos skulduggery. Oscar Wilde alludes to Imogen in The Picture of Dorian Gray when Dorian describes Sibyl Vane, the actress he is infatuated with. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." Disloyal! We have an image of the most luxuriant loveliness, combined with exceeding delicacy, and even fragility of person; of the most refined elegance and the most exquisite modesty. As in Cleopatra and Cressida we had woman determined solely by her sex, so in Imogen we have an embodiment of the highest possible characteristics of womanhood untainted health of soul, unshaken fortitude, constancy that withstands all trials, inexhaustible forbearance, unclouded intelligence, love that never wavers, and unquenchable radiance of spirit. Characters often pray to the gods throughout the play for protection and favor. For instance, when Posthumus departs Britain on Cymbelines banishment order, Imogen does not hold back from openly expressing the depth of her melancholy and her burning desire for their reunion. It is true that the conjugal tenderness of Imogen is at once the chief subject of the drama and the pervading charm of her character; but it is not true, I think, that she is merely interesting from her tenderness and constancy to her husband. No, be assured you shall not find me, daughter,After the slander of most stepmothers,Evil-eyed unto you: youre my prisoner, butYour gaoler shall deliver you the keysThat lock up your restraint. Brandes: William Shakespeare. O Pisanio!Every good servant does not all commands:No bond but to do just ones. The frequent caesurae punctuating her lines show that Imogen is quick to lose composure (That I, which know my heart, do here pronounce,/By the very truth of it, I care not for you, Am so near the lack of charity /To accuse myself I hate you;), which in turn triggers the rage and humiliation that her pursuer feels. He had, then, observed or encountered such a love encountered it at this point of his life? Cymbeline. Love is a rare thing, much rarer than the world pretends, and when it exists, it is apt to be sparing
As always, Shakespeare brings the characters to life with powerful dialogue and some deep and meaningful quotes. Shop eBooks and audiobooks at Rakuten Kobo. 134Burns' View on Love and Friendship To consolidate power, he wants her to marry his stepson Cloten, but headstrong Imogen is unwilling to be an instrument of her father's political machinations.She follows her own conscience, evidenced in her marrying the suitor of her choosing: the low-born but . The paternalistic Cymbeline reminds us of both Brabantio and King Lear, whose daughters, like Imogen, behave in supposedly disobedient ways. An Italian gentleman. Horrified at Posthumuss accusations against her and desire to see her dead, she still loves him and forgives him when he repents; nevertheless, waking out of a drugged sleep she is incapable of recognizing that it is not his headless body that she wakes up next to, but Clotens. IMOGENWhy did you throw your wedded lady from you?Think that you are upon a rock; and nowThrow me again.Embracing himPOSTHUMUS LEONATUSHang there like a fruit, my soul,Till the tree die! In any case, it is a work that rewards close study and analysis, and that continues to captivate audiences today. Refine any search. This split between Imogens strength as a woman who will speak her mind and her powerlessness in the face of a mans wrath is striking, but also adds to the pathos we feel towards a female character who has all the potential to vanquish men, and yet is constrained by her time and place to comply with cruel, senseless commands doled out in a whim. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Musicals; . And this likeability effect is not something that the portrayal of a flawless, virtuous or pure woman can ever achieve. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. To what end?Why should I write this down, that's riveted, Screw'd to my memory? SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. Imogen is the British princess. Again, we feel her exasperation, this time not as a daughter, but as a wife who feels like shes married to an unmanly man. 131On the Development of Shylock's Character. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. This British princess is just about as perfect as they come: she's wise, beautiful, resourceful, andmost importantlyshe's honest. At the beginning of Act One, two gentlemen fill the audience in on the play's back-story. She, like Marina, is cast into the snake-pit of the world. In Imogen we find the fullest, deepest love that Shakespeare has ever placed in a woman's breast, and that although Cymbeline follows close upon plays which were filled to the brim with contempt for womankind. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. Wherefore write you notWhat monsters her accuser? (LogOut/ The final dance, a hunched-shoulder take on the traditional Globe jig, is worth the ticket alone. Nonetheless, because Goneril is a practitioner of realpolitik, she will react in ways most beneficial to her interest, and if this is facilitated by circumstances created by others weaknesses, then tough. 'Tis mine; and this will witness outwardly,As strongly as the conscience does within,To the madding of her lord. Cloten is Cymbeline's stepson, the Queen's son by her first marriage, and a remarkably stupid man. Wed love to have you back! nothing. Ultimately, none of the verbal hysterics will deter her from pursuing the extreme course of action die as ordained by her husband, and this perverse obedience somewhat undercuts the feministic energy that she exudes in so much of the play. Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan! You'll be billed after your free trial ends. You married ones, If each of you should take this course, how manyMust murder wives much better than themselvesFor wrying but a little! Of course her husband thinks she's hot, but even cynical Iachimo calls her a rare "Arabian bird" (1.6.20) and "most rich" (1.6.18). He thinks his father is Morgan, who in fact kidnapped his brother and he when they were infants. Introduction to Posthumus
Guiderius. It's only right that Imogen gets a happy ending: after she's suffered through the whole play, we're rooting for her to succeed. Social Class in Cymbeline and The Tempest. Imogen is princess of Britain, and the virtuous wife of the exiled Posthumus, whose praise of her moral purity incites Posthumus's acquaintance Iachimo to bet Posthumus that he can seduce her. In the face of Clotens annoying pursuit, Imogen lets her emotions rip, as she struggles to blurt out all at once her extreme hatred for the profane fellow. Read free previews and reviews from booklovers. When we think of Goneril, what is the first thing that comes to mind? I, her? From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Purchasing She wonders where, By himself onstage, Cloten explains that he admires, his plan to the audience: disguised as Posthumus, Cloten will go to Milford Haven, rape, only pretend to be loyal to Cloten, but will really stay true to Posthumus and. An early description of Cymbeline by Simon Forman in 1611 consistently spells Imogen's name as "Innogen", leading scholars to conclude that the spelling of the character's name as "Imogen" in the 1623 First Folio appears to have been a result of "scribal or compositorial error". So why isn't the play called Imogen, then? 2023 Shmoop University Inc | All Rights Reserved | Privacy | Legal.