Sep 16, 2019
In the infancy of the British
Empire as Scotland, England, and Ireland were unified for the first
time in history under James I, William Shakespeare writes the
play Cymbeline. While the actual date he wrote it is unknown,
the first performance of Cymbeline is thought to be in 1610, just
three years before Shakespeare’s daughter, Susanna, is falsely
accused of adultery in a very public trial, at which she won, and
proved her innocence. The play Cymbeline famously applies what’s known as the calumny
narrative, which is when a woman is accused of something unchaste
and then is proven innocent, revealing that the charges were
slanderous. Just like his daughter Susanna, the character of
Innogen in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline is innocent, despite the ordeal of being
falsely accused. While the play is not a representation of
Shakespeare’s own experience since it was written before his
daughter’s trial, the themes in Shakespeare’s
Cymbeline
bring to light a controversial side
of England’s history by challenging what we often consider to have
been status quo for 16th century England. But just how much of the
play’s narrative is reflective of real life, and can we really tell
what life was like in the early 17th century England just from the
performances of these characters on stage?
Our
guest this week, Valerie Wayne, points out in her introduction to
the Arden Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, that Shakespeare’s personal experience
reflects what happens in the play, and that parallels to historical
accounts of England’s past monarch’s,along with political
commentary about James’ unification ideas, resonate throughout the
performance to paint a puzzle for us in posterity that, when
examined more closely, can function as a glimpse into Shakespeare’s
life, his opinions about women, and the turmoil at home
politically, at the turn of the 17th century.