#imogen cymbeline

[pumpkinz-art]

have i shared this yet

[illustratus]

Imogen in Cymbeline - (The Tragedy of Cymbeline, King of Britain) by Henry Courtney Selous

[artemlegere]

Imogen Found in the Cave of Belarius

Artist: George Dawe (English, 1781-1829)

Date: Exhibited in 1809

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: TATE Britain

Description

George Dawe depicts a scene from Shakespeare’s play Cymbeline. Imogen – the heroine and daughter of Cymbeline, the ancient king of Britain – escapes court and disguises herself as a young man. Here, Dawe shows the moment when the character Belarius (left) and Imogen’s two long-lost brothers (right) discover her in a cave. They believe she is dead, but she has actually just drunk a sleeping potion. Dawe mainly painted portraits, but here ventures into ‘history painting’ (images of biblical, mythological, literary or historical subjects). This was regarded as the highest genre of painting at the time and indicates Dawe’s ambitions as an artist. With its high-minded literary theme and dramatic lighting, this painting was meant to stand out when it was first exhibited at the British Institution in 1809.

[britneyshakespeare]

Shakespeare at the end of one of his romances: And the lost princess... is returned Me, every single time: [gasps] Oh my God the lost princess is returned

[withasideofshakespeare]

Follow up:

[mysterious-secret-garden]

N.M. Price - Imogen sleeping (from Shakespeare's 'Cymbeline').

[creatediana]

I ponder what she'd want from me— I know one part is wit, which I possess, debatably; I stole her store of it. But what else of my character? To be an Imogen the men would have me—artless, pure, beneath a father's pen. I don't think I'd be so unwise to be cast in her play, to move before that woman's eyes as I do anyway— But they are drooped. She is long-dead and so are many more. I pluck hairs from her resting bed and other corpses for my wicked, hoary majesties, my poems, mortal, light— look all around these lines. The breeze breathes dust through storied sight. Look for romantic ingenues, and you may painted find their flesh embalmed, with added hues that never crossed a mind. My eyes come not from Cymbeline— the eagle plucked them out. I found some pearls, incarnadine dyed in my husband's doubt. I ponder—do I do enough for women with my arts? Stroll through their graves, unpack their stuff, dissect their carrion hearts, decayed and crumbling in my palms— do I do right by them? Past undegrading them with balms, I paste on pomp and gem.

—"Do It for Her (Self-Aggrandizing Self-Portrait as Imogen)" - a poem written 2/16/2024

[crawlingbetweenearthandheaven]

they had pointless on at the gym and a woman called imogen had to name a shakespeare play’s title containing letter “d” or “l” and she did not choose CYMBELINE. a silly little fool!

[loonfromq]

i love all these new shakespeare productions that just make everything gay. coolest thing ever

[caedmonofwhitby]

Imogen Found in the Cave of Belarius, 1809

George Dawe (1781–1829)

Oil on canvas

Tate

[shipcestuous-two]

has Cymbeline (the Shakespeare play) come up before? Princess Imogen secretly marries her love Posthumus Leonatus, an orphan who was adopted and raised within the king's family. meanwhile, her stepmother plots to marry her to the mom's shitty son from a prev relationship, Cloten (I's stepbrother). lots of stuff happens, including Cloten trying to kill Posthumus so he can abduct/marry Imogen (he dies--good). ask 1/2 bc there's more deets

Cymbeline 2/2: Cloten was killed by one of 2 friends Imogen made along the way, Guiderius and Arviragus. Well, it turns out they're long-lost sons of the king, making them Imogen's biological brothers! This is great for Imogen, bc since she isn't the only bio successor to her dad, she's free to be with her true love (and adoptive brother) Posthumus. And her cruel stepmother is outed for being, well, cruel. all's well that ends well? (3/3 bc i'm an idiot) I neglected to mention that there's an undertone with Guiderius and Arviragus's relationship with their sister when they meet her, not knowing they're siblings. Imogen is disguised as a boy named Fidele (bc this is Shakespeare and we can't have Shakespeare without gender fuckery and queer undertones) and her brothers are so intrigued by "him" in a way that's easily read as homoerotic. I lowkey ship them and Posthumus in a weird messy polycule, even if it doesn't make sense

I'm not familiar with Cymbeline. It's really keeping it in the family, isn't?

Thanks for the deets, Anon!

[the-noisiest-pumpkin]

cmon tumblr please tell me at least ONE of you has also had posthumus/iachimo thoughts

[posthumus]

one sand another / not more resembles that sweet rosy lad / who died, and was fidele.

imogen sketches!!! she has bewitched me body and soul.....

[britneyshakespeare]

i know on a lot of levels cymbeline is not shakespeare's best play but i literally cannot get over it. cannot get over the magic of the plot and the characters. cannot get over imogen, the most central character of the play by far. the true heroine. there is no obvious second most significant character in the play to me. there's posthumus and iachamo and cloten and her brothers who are by far more significant than the titular king even is. it's about imogen baby it's always about imogen

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

part one:

-once again rsc ALWAYS pops off with the music

-also i want that white tutu thing

-the exposition characters!

-also i guess there’s some gender swapping going on!

-tragic backstory: unlocked

-imogen (i think) is so pretty omg

-BABYNAPPING

-foreshadowing is a literary device wherein—

-“you’re my prisoner” and that’s supposed to make her feel better?

-awwwwwwwwww

-yeah i don’t trust you man

-cockblocked by mom

-“moooooooooom STOOOOOOOOP”

-ma’am you want her to marry her STEPBROTHER???

-pisanio cool

-second lord is just here to shit talk and i respect him

-i love imogen and pisanio

-party time!!!

-omg this line dance

-multilingual shakespeare!

-philario is just here

-i need the director’s cut that’s just “posthumus does shenanigans across western europe” before this scene

-iachimo you little shit

-this just turned into così fan tutte

-ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME POSTHUMUS

-FUCKIN CALLED IT I KNEW HE WAS SKETCHY

-round of applause for this random servant saving the day! (also love the freeze frame)

-imogen deserves better

-we love a good duologue

-this is like scarpia and tosca in that one scene in act 1 of tosca

-TELL! HIM! OFF!

-IACHIMO LEAVE HER THE FUCK ALONE

-somehow he managed to “save” it

-ooh just noticed the graffiti

-second lord continues to talk shit. iconic minor character

-cloten is just. there and stupid and angry

-SECOND LORD MONOLOGUE FUCK YEAH

-she’s a bookworm!

-and she dog ears her books, which…not my thing unless in a pinch but i respect it

-BITCH WHAT

-YOU’RE FUCKING CHEATING

-shut UP about tarquin shut UP about tarquin

-THIS IS SO FUCKING CREEPY WHAT THE FUCK

-“hold on i gotta take NOTES”

-not the bracelet 😭

-iachimo you are SO GROSSSSSSSSS

-GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF HER

-✨symbolic reading✨

-this suddenly turned into mackers

-is cloten basically gaston

-oh my LORD

-this is SO FUNNY I’M DYING

-you are HOPELESS

-IMOGEN PULLED THE COVERS OVER HER HEAD TO BLOCK THEM OUT LMAOOOOOOOO

-okay but cloten genuinely is a good singer

-doesn’t make him any less of an asshole but

-AND SHE PUT THE PILLOW OVER HER HEAD TOO

-the “getting the stepsiblings to hook up” thing is still…what

-once again: imogen is telling ALL THE DUDES OFF AND I FUCKIN LOVE HER FOR IT

-so about that imogen

-oh great douchecanoe is back

-shut the FUCK up you did NOT proceed by imogen’s will

-iachimo channel your energy into being an interior designer challenge

-posthumus WHY are you trusting this man

-thank you philario

-and we oop

-PLEASE KILL HIM

-“i now believe that all women suck”

-posthumus you fucking tenor (derogatory)

-LATIN SHAKESPEARE!!!

-“britain’s a world unto itself”—everyone who voted for brexit (joke)

-“Why tribute? Why should we pay tribute? If Caesar can hide the sun from us with a blanket or put the moon in his pocket, we will pay him tribute for light; else, sir, no more tribute, pray you now.” does…cloten actually have good political opinions/commentary?

-oh this map is really cool

-this is so not even cymbeline’s play

-YEAH PISANIO

-you’re gonna make this adorable butch cinnamon roll murder her bestie? 🥺

-SHE’S SO PRECIOUS

-new characters have entered the chat

-they’re like little trolls <3

-foreshadowing is a literary device wherein— (because the foreshadowing is now happening)

-dude you did babynapping even if you ARE a seemingly fun dad

-backpackers!

-oh NOOOOOOOOOOO

-poor both of them

-IMOGEN 😭

-ah yes, faking one’s death, the most common of convoluted shakespearean solutions

-AND DRESSING UP AS A MAN!!!!!!!! ANOTHER CLASSIC OF CONVOLUTED SHAKESPEAREAN SOLUTIONS

-THE POTION FROM ACT ONE

-bye bye besties

and that’s intermission! i’m having a lot of fun so far—rest later :)

alright nerds let’s watch cymbeline

[socialshakespeare]

Shakespeare Tourney, Round 1

(summaries from shakespeare.org.uk; further summaries and propaganda encouraged)

Cymbeline: Imogen's fidelity is questioned, everyone puts on some sort of disguise, revelations abound at the end, and only one person dies.

Titus Andronicus: Tamora plans false incrimination, rape, murder, and mutilation. Titus plans murder and cannibalism. This is not a happy play.