The cast of Cymbeline
The people who make Cymbeline move — what they want, who they love, who they hate, and how each one fits the story. Tap any name to read more.
Imogen
Princess of Britain; tragic heroine caught between filial duty, marital love, and masculine evil · almost fourteen
Cymbeline
Aging King of Britain, manipulated by his queen and deceived by courtiers, who must learn wisdom through loss and redemption · Elderly
Cloten
Brutish stepson of the king; would-be suitor to the princess, scheming and cowardly · Young man
Iachimo
Skilled seducer and master of deception; the play's primary architect of tragedy
Posthumus Leonatus
Tragic husband whose jealousy nearly destroys the innocent · Young man, around twenty
Belarius
Exiled nobleman and foster father; secret preserver of the royal heirs · elderly
Pisanio
Loyal servant torn between duty to master and mistress; moral anchor of the play
Guiderius
Righteous warrior; elder foster-son to Belarius and unacknowledged prince of Britain · young man, late teens or early twenties
Arviragus
One of Cymbeline's lost sons, raised in the Welsh wilderness; noble, martial, and emotionally acute · young man (early twenties, likely)
The Queen
Scheming stepmother and architect of the tragedy; Cymbeline's second wife · middle-aged
Caius Lucius
Roman general and ambassador; voice of imperial authority and measured justice
Second Lord
Cynical courtier and silent observer of Cloten's folly
First Lord
Cloten's courtier and observer; comic mirror to princely folly
Philario
Posthumus's Roman host and voice of reason
Cornelius
Court physician and reluctant confidant to the Queen's dark schemes
First Gentleman
Courtier and expositor of the British court's affairs
First Gaoler
Prison keeper and philosophical wit
Second Gentleman
Attendant and conversational foil in the opening exposition
Lady
Imogen's attendant and messenger
A Frenchman
Italian courtier and witness to Posthumus's boasting
Sicilius Leonatus
Shade of Posthumus's father; petitioner to Jupiter for his son's redemption · deceased (appears as ghost)
A British Lord
Messenger and witness to the final battle
Soothsayer
Roman diviner and interpreter of omens; revealer of hidden truths
Hear every line of Cymbeline, narrated.
