Cymbeline pt.1 // A Jacobean play by Shakespeare // Shaketember 2024
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- Опубликовано: 26 ноя 2024
- Welcome to Shaketember 2024! Thank you for joining me. Whether you’re interested to know a bit more about Cymbeline and find out if it’s worth reading, or maybe you’ve read it already and can’t wait to have a discussion, I’m really glad you’re here.
In this video, I’m going to give a rough storyline of the first three Acts of Cymbeline and will come back in two weeks’ time with Cymbeline part 2, to discuss characters and themes in a bit more detail. So if you haven’t started reading it already, you have about two weeks in between. I’ll do the same thing for King Lear, which is the second play I chose for this year. I’ll talk about the storyline of Act 1 of King Lear next Saturday and discuss a couple of themes that have caught my attention, on the last Saturday. I’ll not spoil the ending of either story in part 1 videos.
Jason is discussing Titus Andronicus this week:
• Varieties of Villainy ...
Kelly’s video this week is on one of my favourite non-fiction on Shakespeare: 1606 The Year of Lear:
• The Year of Lear: Shak...
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Thank you, Nicole. You always help me see the plays more clearly. I looked forward to your next video.
That's great to hear - very glad it's helpful! Thank you :)
This play reminds me of fairy tales too. Having an evil stepmother and a servant unable to follow the order to kill a princess.
Ah yes I haven't thought of the servant bit. That is very fairy tale like!
I've been enjoying Cymbeline so much with my buddy reader, Jo. I knew nothing about it before starting. Your video is so helpful. Thank you!
That's amazing to hear! Glad you're enjoying Cymbeline!
Brilliant video. Thanks Nicole. Looking forward to part 2 😊
Thank you!
I didn't know much about this play before I watched this video. Thank you!
Pleasure :)
I love your game of “what does it remind you of”! 😂
There are definitely similarities with King Lear. And Romeo and Juliet and Othello…. The king manipulated by his wife reminded me of Macbeth. Though not a king, Macbeth’s ambition is largly the result of his wife’s prompting.
Glad you liked it :)
Agree about Macbeth!
I just watched this year! And quite enjoyed it
Oh great you had an opportunity to watch it - I feel like it's not put on stage very often :)
I read this for the first time (I think) this month as an audiobook, but I really felt like I knew it already because there are so many similarities to other plays as you say - I wasn't quick enough to do all the time-stamped comments but we made a lot of the same connections. I feel like with it being a late play, perhaps he just shook up a cocktail of successful tropes from previous plays (rebellious daughters, cross dressing, people thought to be dead that aren't, evil murderous step-parents, jealous lovers...) and Cymbeline was what came out.
Had no idea about the Jacobean plays and the link to referring to Britain over England - that's subtle and fascinating. Thanks for a very interesting video.
Glad to hear you made the same connections!
Yes - would love to know what was going on in Shakespeare's head!
Pleasure!
@@adayofsmallthings I definitely don't think it's one of his best, particularly compared to the other late ones which are masterpieces. It would be so interesting to know what he thought of it and how much time went into it compared to Lear, say.
Brilliant.
Thank you!
Glad you posted when you did! Just started Cymbelne after reading Titus Andronicus.
I guess Cymbeline is a mix, a "best of Shakespeare" play. The plot appears to have three lines at once, which seems to get wrapped up somehow.
I am interested in seeing how Will pulls this one out of his hat!!
And also how it compares to The Tempest.
Hope you're having fun reading Cymbeline! Yes it feels like a mixture of many of his early plays. Would have loved to know what was going on in his head when he wrote this one!
That was fun playing the guessing game 😉, I matched with you on most of them Nicole. This really does seem to have elements of so many plays, As You Like It, Othello, All’s’ Well That Ends Well, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet etc. Hearing about the references in the Iachimo bedroom scene made it even more creepy so thank you for enlarging on those. I was laughing at Colten initially but by the end of Act III you realize he’s not just an idiot but an evil brute - although the Queen could no doubt beat him in the evil stakes! I must admit I don’t rate Posthumous highly, not only for agreeing to Iachimo’s challenge in the first place, but believing so easily that he succeeded and deciding Imogen should be killed! Pilario has far more faith in her as Pisano does when Imogen believes that Posthumous has been unfaithful to her. Looking forward to your next video and the discussion of both a good servant and whether this is a tragedy, these videos really enlarge my understanding.
Hi Jo, thanks for the message and I agree with you on many points! I hope you don’t mind me reading your comment out in the next video :)
Not at all. 👍
Brilliant video, so detailed and well explained! I was definitely playing my own game of "what play does this remind me of?" too while I was reading Cymbeline. 😅
Glad to hear you felt the same.
Thank you!
I got a copy of Cymbeline for Shaketember and I've read the first three acts thus far. Imogen is great! Love your comparative approach to talking about this play relative to other Shakespeare plays. It's reminiscent of Marjorie Garber's approach in her Shakespeare After All.
Thank you, I hope it's helpful. Garber's essays are wonderful!
Glad to hear you enjoy the play so far!
@@adayofsmallthings Nicolle, I've found your vlogs to be very useful when it comes to Shakespeare. I never would have thought about reading Cymbeline if not for your vlog and Shaketember2024. But it's been great, though I confess to becoming confused at times about whether scenes were in Italy or "Briton." Oh...and Posthumus' discourse on the battle(s) was mostly incomprehensible to me (grin).
@@larrymarshall9454 That's lovely to hear - so glad you got to read a new Shakespeare's play this month!
Yes it's quite complicated and confusing. Ooh I'll go have a look at that discourse again :)
Finished Cymbeline today. It has its moments, all belonging to Imogen.
The play is miles ahead of Titus Andronicus, which is a blood soaked pot boiler and crowd pleaser.
Cymbeline is a transition play to The Winters Tale and The Tempest. Maybe an "off ramp" to the final plays.
I have decided to honor Shaketember by not reading the dramas I've already consumed, but the narrative poems I haven't.
I'll give the Sonnets another read through, because I can't get enough poetry!
Glad to hear you covered both Cymbeline and Titus Andronicus already!
Did you read the long narrative poem the Rape of Lucrece? It would fit well with Cymbeline.
@@adayofsmallthings I have read none of the narrative poems, so I will start with them .
Then the Sonnets will require more attention, I'm a different person since my last encounter with them.
Have you ever read Nothing Like the Sun by Anthony Burgess? I have some issues with Burgess, but NLS is a great novel about Shakespeare.
@@donaldkelly3983 No I haven't! Checking it out now!
@@donaldkelly3983 looks fascinating - thanks for sharing!
This is fun. I’ve never used the time stamp. 2:24 Egeus didn’t want Hermia to marry the man she loved. Oh Cornelia! Yes that’s a good match.
Oh yes Hermia and her father that's very similar too!
7:41 Thank you for explaining that. So confusing.
pleasure :)
4:02 Romeo being exciled!
The scene in the chamber is very creepy. It seems to feature in a lot of illustrations. 17:13
Thanks for these really interesting insights! I'm enjoying reading Cymbeline - found the BBC version hard going though. || Leaving the city a but like _A Midsummer Night's Dream_?
Yes the scene in the chamber is very creepy indeed! And yes - it seems to be a favourite among illustrators!
@@royreadsanything Pleasure!
The BBC one featuring Helen Mirren? I know... How does the more recent RSC one look in comparison?
@adayofsmallthings Hopefully we'll watch RSC next week. I thought the BBC Helen Mirren production was rather subdued, almost lugubrious. And they cut a great Imogen speech! which is a shame as she is unconscious a lot of the time. 💤
@@royreadsanything hahaha yes she does sleep a lot.
Let me know please how the RSC one is like!