The Oxford Shakespeare: Cymbeline - Hardcover

Shakespeare, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198129270 ISBN 13: 9780198129271

Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1998

Synopsis

This is the first full-scale edition of Cymbeline for thirty-seven years. During that time, there has been considerable interest in Shakespeare's late work in the theatre, and several notable productions have demonstrated the powerful impact of Cymbeline. Based firmly on Roger Warren's extensive experience of the play in rehearsal and performance, this edition shows how Shakespeare draws upon a wide range of sources to create a self-sufficient dramatic universe, combining virtuoso theatrical and poetic means to present a story of a marriage imperilled by mistrust and painfully rebuilt through the physical and spiritual journeys undertaken by the heroine and hero, set in a context of international conflict. A full and detailed commentary pays close attention to the play's complex, evocative language.

About this title

Review

One of Shakespeare's most perplexing and unclassifiable late plays, Cymbeline is often labelled a "Romance", due to its themes of pastoralism, exile and familial reconciliation which critics notice recur throughout Shakespeare's last plays, from Pericles to The Tempest. Set in ancient Roman Britain at the court of the British king Cymbeline, the main action of the play revolves around the relationship between Cymbeline's daughter, Imogen, and Posthumous Leonatus. Attempting to marry Imogen off to Cloten, the grotesque son of Cymbeline's second wife, the king banishes Posthumous in a rage when he discovers he has secretly married Imogen. As the personal relationships in the play deteriorate, on the public stage Rome prepares to invade Britain due to Cymbeline's failure to pay tribute to his imperial master. As the play builds to its militaristic climax, Posthumous returns to Britain, where he eventually contrives a reunion with Imogen and Cymbeline's long-lost sons, who unite in their attempt to resist the might of Rome.

The ending of the play, with its series of mystical riddles, unlikely coincidences and extraordinary reunions has baffled critics for centuries. Some read it as a heavy-handed political allegory of Jacobean national union under the new sovereign of the time, King James I, whilst others see in it Shakespeare pushing theatrical realism to its furthermost limits, with its decapitated bodies, complex staging and unlikely mistaken identities. Cymbeline remains a puzzling, enigmatic play. --Jerry Brotton

Review

?First published in the 1930s, these works, published here in economical paperback editions . . . are still considered definitive.?-Stages

About this edition

• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0198129270
• ISBN 13: 9780198129271
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 296
• Editor: Warren Roger