Two gentlemen discuss the King's anger at his daughter Imogen's secret marriage to the poor but worthy Posthumus, whom the King wanted banished. The Queen and Posthumus enter; she offers support while warning of the King's rage. Imogen arrives and exchanges tender farewells with Posthumus before Cymbeline storms in, furious at their disobedience. He banishes Posthumus immediately, leaving Imogen devastated but defiant in her love.
This opening scene establishes the central conflict through overheard conversation, a technique that lets us absorb the situation's stakes before meeting the principals. The two gentlemen frame Posthumus as an exceptional man—'a creature such as to seek through the regions of the earth for one his like, there would be something failing'—whose only fault is poverty. This immediate elevation of his character matters because Cymbeline's and the Queen's opposition to the marriage will later be revealed as rooted not in Posthumus's unworthiness but in court politics and class prejudice. The scene's structure creates sympathy for both the lovers and establishes a world where virtue and merit are less valued than rank.
Imogen's first appearance reveals her as eloquent, passionate, and unafraid to defy her father. Her declaration that she 'chose an eagle and avoided a puttock' (meaning she rejected the Queen's son Cloten for the superior Posthumus) shows her capacity for moral judgment. Yet the scene also reveals her vulnerability—she is a princess trapped between filial duty and marital love, and her father's authority proves absolute. Cymbeline's rage, while understandable as a king's concern for his heir's marriage, is also tyrannical; he treats Imogen as property and Posthumus as an interloper. This imbalance sets up the play's exploration of how rigid paternal power and male jealousy can corrupt even innocent love.
Is she sole child to the king?
Is she the only child of the king?
Second Gentleman · Act 1, Scene 1
The First Gentleman has just introduced Imogen as the heir to Britain, and the Second Gentleman asks this innocent question that unlocks the play's central mystery. The answer—no, the king had two sons who were stolen twenty years ago—sets in motion the question of identity and legitimacy that haunts every character. What seems like a casual aside is the thread that will unravel the entire plot.
O disloyal thing, That shouldst repair my youth, thou heap'st A year's age on me.
Oh, treacherous woman, You were supposed to make my youth better, but instead You've added a year to my age.
Cymbeline · Act 1, Scene 1
Cymbeline has just learned that his daughter married in secret, and his rage explodes into this accusation that she has betrayed not just his will but his life itself. The image of her aging him shows how fully a father's sense of authority and continuity has been shattered. This sets up the king's vulnerability to the Queen and Cloten throughout the play.
He that hath miss’d the princess is a thing Too bad for bad report: and he that hath her-- I mean, that married her, alack, good man! And therefore banish’d--is a creature such As, to seek through the regions of the earth For one his like, there would be something failing In him that should compare. I do not think So fair an outward and such stuff within Endows a man but he.
Whoever missed out on marrying the princess is someone Too pathetic for even bad gossip: and the man who married her-- I mean, the one who’s now banished--is a person so rare That if you searched the entire world for someone like him, You’d find that something would be missing in anyone who could compare. I don’t believe Anyone else could have such an outward appearance and such qualities inside.
First Gentleman · Act 1, Scene 1
Two gentlemen open the play by discussing the scandal of Imogen's secret marriage to the low-born Posthumus instead of the royal Cloten. The First Gentleman insists that any man who lost her has lost something irreplaceable, and any man who won her has won a treasure no comparison could match. His praise establishes Imogen not as a prize to be judged but as a person of such rarity that she remakes the value of anything near her.
Original Shakespeare alongside modern English. Synced read-along narration in the app.
