Cymbeline, King of Britain Characters

Meet the Cast

Imogen

This British princess is just about as perfect as they come: she's wise, beautiful, resourceful, and—most importantly—she's honest. She stands up for herself to her dad and notices the Queen is...

Cymbeline

Once a wise and graceful king, Cymbeline seems to be a kind-hearted guy led astray by an evil Queen. Let's just say that Cymbeline may be king, but he's definitely not the king of good judgment. We...

Posthumus

Posthumus isn't your average knight in shining armor. He was taken in and raised by Cymbeline as a kid after his parents died (hence his name: he was a "posthumous" baby), and then he married Imoge...

Cloten

The Queen's got high hopes for her son Cloten: she wants him to marry Imogen and inherit Cymbeline's crown. But when that doesn't work out, she figures she'll just kill off Imogen and give her son...

Pisanio

Pisanio plays musical chairs when it comes to whose servant he is. He's technically Posthumus's man, but he gets passed along to Imogen and the Queen throughout the course of the play. That doesn't...

Iachimo

Cunning, clever, and dishonest, Iachimo is a force to be reckoned with. He easily finds Posthumus's weakness (his secret fear about his wife's faithfulness) and exploits it for all it's worth. How...

Arviragus and Guiderius

Kidnapped at birth and raised by a man claiming to be their father, Arviragus and Guiderius (a.k.a. Cadwal and Polydore) sound like a book deal waiting to happen. With that history, they could be a...

Belarius

Belarius, a.k.a. Morgan, is not a particularly good guy, but he's not a particularly bad one, either. When we first meet him, we learn that he's the one who—shhh—stole the Cymbeline's two sons...

The Queen

Beautiful, deceitful, and manipulative, the Queen will stop at nothing to see her son become king. You've heard the rumors about all stepmothers being evil. It turns out, so has she. The Queen tell...

Cornelius

Is there a doctor in the house? Well, there's Cornelius, but he's not necessarily going to give you the medicine you ask for. When the Queen asks him for a potion that can kill, he serves one up......

Gaolers

These jailers might only appear in one scene, but they provide some much-needed comic relief. Their discussion with Posthumus about whether he is ready for death steals the scene. Just like the Por...

Jupiter

Jupiter, or Zeus as his Greek pals call him, is the most powerful guy on Mount Olympus: he's the king of the gods. Everybody—gods and mortals alike—has to do what he says. Cross Zeus the wrong...

Lucius

We might expect Lucius to be dragged through the mud by the British characters—he's the Roman ambassador and general, after all. He's the one who insists that Britain pay the tribute, and he's th...

Philario

This Roman does Posthumus a solid honor by letting him stay at his pad while he's in Rome. It turns out that Posthumus's dad knew Philario, so Philario's the guy Posthumus turns to when he arrives...

Posthumus's Family of Ghosts: Sicilius Leontus, Mother, Leonati Brothers

Being dead never stopped Posthumus's family: these trusty ghosts show up to save the day when Posthumus is locked away and all hope seems lost. But these are much more than your average ghosts: the...