How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #1
IMOGEN
Dissembling courtesy! How fine this tyrant
Can tickle where she wounds! (1.1.98-99)
Don't say you weren't warned: Imogen tells us upfront that the Queen is up to no good. It's a shame her dad can't see his wife's deception. Everyone else seems to detect it within seconds of meeting her. Imogen knows her stepmother is wicked, even if she pretends not to be. Why can't Cymbeline himself see this? Is he blinded by love (or lust)?
Quote #2
CORNELIUS
I do not like her. She doth think she has
Strange lingering poisons. I do know her spirit,
And will not trust one of her malice with
A drug of such damned nature.
[…]
She is fooled
With a most false effect, and I the truer
So to be false with her. (1.5.40-43; 49-51)
The Queen is so confident about her smarts and her ability to lie and manipulate that she fails to consider the possibility that the doctor might outsmart her and foil her evil plans. Hey, Cornelius went to med school: he knows the Queen is lying about why she needs a potion. But he also knows he can't trust anyone with that information. He'll just have to lie low and watch out.
Quote #3
IACHIMO
Be not angry,
Most mighty princess, that I have adventured
To try your taking a false report, which hath
Honored with confirmation your great judgment
In the election of a sir so rare,
Which you know cannot err. The love I bear him
Made me to fan you thus, but the gods made you,
Unlike all others, chaffless. (1.7.198-205)
Irony alert: Iachimo weasels his way into Imogen's trust by lying to her and then lying some more. Even as he blabbers on about trust, we know he's lying. This two-faced villain won't lose a bet, even if it means lying his face off. He even seems to enjoy lying, maybe because he thinks it shows how much smarter he is than everyone else. Do you think he actually is that much smarter than everyone else?