Cymbeline, King of Britain Suffering

The two gents kick things off for us by describing the king's suffering over the past twenty years. Maybe Shakespeare's trying to rack up some sympathy points before we meet the guy himself and we see him doing some seriously stupid crap.

Imogen is crying, and no one can stop her. We can't blame her: her husband has just been banished. Here, the Queen makes it clear that Imogen isn't letting go of her hubby so easily: she's prepared to suffer through it, and that's not good news for the Queen, who wants Imogen to marry her nasty son Cloten.

We feel bad for Imogen: she doesn't have anyone in her corner. But why does she suffer so much? Is she the only truly good character in the play? Or does she cause some pain of her own?

Give it up for the minor characters: the two lords have a lot of say about how ridiculous Cloten is. They help us understand these characters, and they make us have more sympathy for Imogen. It seems that everyone can see how bad she has it except for Cymbeline himself. Why are the lords able to see through things, while characters directly involved with the plot have a hard time understanding what's actually going on?

Okay, okay. For the sake of fairness, we also have to think about Posthumus's side of things. Sure, he creates a lot of heartache for our main gal, but he also thinks she's been unfaithful. Does that excuse him when he orders her killed? Uhh, we don't think so. But it does mean he's hurting about the whole Iachimo trick, and hurting hard.

Telling his sons about the dangers of the city, Belarius sheds some light on why he left in the first place. It turns out he was wronged, too, and that the city is full of falseness and dishonesty. Why are things like this in the city but not in the country? What makes city people—or the people at Cymbeline's court—so dishonest?

Things go from bad to worse for Imogen when Pisanio shows her the letter from Posthumus instructing him to kill her. Hasn't she suffered enough? But it turns out that this is the push she needs to do something about all the lies and deceit that are going around town about her.

When his daughter leaves for Milford, Cymbeline loses control; he can't believe she would stray at a time like this, and he's going to make her pay. Why is Cymbeline so hard on Imogen here? Sure, he's being duped by the Queen, and he doesn't know everything, but still. We guess he's suffering in a lot of ways, too. It must be hard to try to please your subjects, your wife, and your daughter, too, especially when all their interests conflict. What's a king to do?

Not many people accept their suffering like Lucius does. He knows he's in for a rough time after invading and losing, but he doesn't care. Bring on the pain—he'll take it like a Roman: stoically, without complaining.

When Cornelius announces the Queen's death, he doesn't hold back. He knows she was wicked, and he spells it out for everyone. We're also interested in the way he attributes a lot of the suffering that's gone down in this play to the dead Queen. She could dish it out, but she just couldn't take it.