King Cymbeline And Antigone

Cymbeline, written by William Shakespeare and directed by Robert Kauzlaric, tells the story of the British king Cymbeline’s daughter Imogen going against her father’s demands by marrying a poor gentleman named Posthumus instead of her stepbrother Cloten. After Posthumus is exiled by Cymbeline, an Italian man named Iachimo convinces Posthumus that he slept with Imogen, causing Posthumus to send his servant to kill her. After faking her death and dressing as a man, Imogen meets Belaruis, an exiled noblemen, and his two sons, Guiderius and Arviragus, who Belaruis kidnapped from Cymbeline as revenge. Soon, Imogen mistakenly thinks Posthumus has passed, but in the end, they’re reunited and King Cymbeline forgives Belaruis. While watching this play …show more content…
This was the first Shakespeare play I’ve seen without knowing the plot and I’ve never heard of this play. I thought that it would be best for me to go into the experience without knowing the plot, so I could go into it without expectation and be surprised. I now regret this decision. To understand this play, I would have needed to read this play multiple times and analyze it in class like we’ve done with Antigone. I underestimated how difficult it would be to understand this type of English while listening. There were multiple times where the audience around me would laugh, but I didn’t understand what was going on so I didn’t find it funny. From my basic understanding of the plot though, I thought it was one dimensional and very similar to Romeo and Juliet with the “star crossed lovers being separated and thinking the other is dead” aspect. While I tried to grasp the basic story, I noticed how the play would just from one story to another, and it took a while for me and my friend to realize a connection between them. I was confused about how Iachimo related to the story, and why there were Romans featured in the story. I think that the play takes a while to show a connection between characters, and by the time the connection was made, I was too bored and tired to get …show more content…
I did, however, appreciate the step brother Cloten and Pisanio. I felt that Cloten stood out in the play, being very energetic and actually had a personality, unlike his one dimensional family members. His selfish personality and constant hilarious commentary made the play worth watching for a while, until he died. Pisano, Posthumus’ servant, was refreshing as well, because she was animated and had witty comebacks for characters that she spoke with. The few moments featuring her helped me keep up with the play, especially because she introduced the characters in the beginning. For me personally to enjoy a story, I need to form a connection with a character, whether it's loving them or hating them. I value character development and find that regardless of how amazing the plot might be, I’ll probably lack interest if the characters are bland. Unfortunately, only two minor characters were able to peak my interest, so I was unenthused throughout the rest of the