Synopsis

Cymbeline is King of Britain; his first wife died, and he married a wicked Queen. His daughter, Innogen, is in love with Posthumus, but her stepmother wants Innogen to marry Cloten, her son. When Innogen balks and secretly marries Posthumus, Cymbeline has Posthumus banished. Before his departure, Posthumus gives Innogen a bracelet, and she gives him a ring.

Posthumus arrives in Rome, where he brags of his wife’s beauty and fidelity. When Iachimo questions this, he and Posthumus wager that Iachimo can’t seduce Innogen. Iachimo hastens to Britain, where he is rebuffed several times by Innogen. Meanwhile, the malicious Queen has arranged for her physician to create a poison for Pisanio, a servant and friend of Posthumus. The physician, distrustful of the wicked Queen, prepares a sleeping potion instead. This is given to Pisanio.

Iachimo hides in a chest carried into Innogen’s room, then steals her bracelet while she sleeps. He also takes note of a mole not easily seen. Armed with detail and her bracelet, Iachimo tells Posthumus that he has won the bet, whereupon Posthumus gives up the ring that Innogen gave him. Posthumus, furious with Innogen, sends a letter to Britain instructing Pisanio to kill her. Pisanio instead warns Innogen, who flees the court disguised as a page. Pisano also gives the potion, which he believes is a “sovereign restorative,” to Innogen. While this is happening, Cymbeline angers Lucius, a Roman ambassador, and Rome declares war on Britain.

Innogen gets lost in the wilderness and encounters Belarius, a banished noble who kidnapped Cymbeline’s two sons (Guiderius and Arviragus) as infants twenty years before. Innogen is invited to stay with them. Cloten, however, soon
appears; disguised in Posthumus’s clothes, he is on the hunt for Innogen and Posthumus. There he encounters Guiderius, who slays Cloten after being insulted. He then cuts off Cloten’s head and tosses it into the river.

Meanwhile, Innogen has been feeling ill and has taken the Queen’s potion, which has made her seem dead. Belarius and the sons lay her beside Cloten’s dead body, which, being disguised, is mistaken by Innogen for Posthumus when she awakens, and she promptly faints. When she recovers, the despairing Innogen accepts service as a page with Lucius, who happens by as she comes to.

At the court of Cymbeline, the Queen has begun to go mad from the disappearance of Cloten. Posthumus has returned with the invading armies, but disguises himself as a Briton with the hope of dying in battle against the invaders. However, with the aid of Posthumus, Belarius, and the two brothers, the Britons win a glorious battle. Posthumus is later captured and thrown into prison, mistaken for a Roman. Iachimo, Lucius, and Innogen are captured and brought to Cymbeline. The Queen, her condition worsening, confesses her evil doings on her deathbed before expiring.

In the ensuing confessions that follow, Iachimo confesses to stealing the bracelet and lying, Posthumus reveals his own identity, Pisanio admits his part in helping Innogen escape, Belarius admits to kidnapping the two boys, and Posthumus and Innogen are reunited and allowed to stay married. Finally, Cymbeline releases his prisoners and comes to peaceful terms with Rome.

Why 'Innogen'?