Summary
Imogen questions Pisanio about his last sight of Posthumus and hopes he will write. Posthumus's final words were about Imogen as he unwillingly sailed away from her. Imogen regrets that she did not have time to say all that she had wanted to her husband - her worries that Posthumus would be tempted away from her by Italian women, and her desire that he should think of her at certain pre-arranged time - before Cymbeline came in and interrupted them.
A lady enters and tells Imogen that the Queen wishes to see her.
Analysis
The love between the young couple is reinforced by Pisanio's account of Posthumus's actions on leaving.
The language of the seasons and nature's cycles runs through all the Romance plays. Here, Imogen likens her father's interruption of her meeting with Posthumus to the "tyrannous breathing of the north" that "shakes all our buds from growing" (lines 36-7). The young lovers embody the regenerative and life-giving warm spring season (the previous scene, Act 1, scene 3, line 31, already implied that Imogen was like the sun), whereas Cymbeline represents the chill north wind that prevents the growth of their love.
|
|
|---|
Cymbeline: Novel Summary: Act 1 Scene 4
Novel Author(s)
Our Networks