Stuff that happens in the play
- King Cymbeline of Britain, under the influence of his Queen, banishes Posthumus Leonatus, husband to Imogen, the king’s daughter. Posthumus flees to Rome, while Imogen is romantically besieged by her stepbrother, Cloten.
- In Rome, Iachomo makes a bet with Posthumus that he can tempt Imogen into adultery. Iachomo departs for Britain.
- Meanwhile, Caius Lucius, an ambassador from Rome, arrives at the British court demanding that Cymbeline pay a monetary tribute to Caesar. Cymbeline refuses; and Caius Lucius, therefore, declares war between Rome and Britain.
- Iachomo returns to Rome, having failed to seduce Imogen, but he tells Posthumus otherwise. Posthumus, overtaken by jealousy, sends a letter to his servant, Pisanio, telling him to lure Imogen into the Welsh wilderness and kill her.
- Imogen believes that Posthumus has secretly returned to Wales to meet her, so she disguises herself as a boy and sets off for Wales in pursuit of him. Cloten follows in pursuit of her.
- In Wales, Cymbeline’s kidnapped sons, Guiderius and Arviragus, have been living with their abductor, Belarius. They have no idea of their noble birth or their right to Britain’s throne.
- Imogen meets the Welshman and becomes the housewife of their cave. Cloten arrives in Wales, encounters Guiderius, and loses his head in a quarrel between them.
- Imogen, who has taken a potion that the Queen gave to Pisanio, is thought by the Welshman to be dead and is laid next to the headless body of Cloten. She awakes to find the body, which she mistakes for Posthumus’s. Both are found by Caius Lucius and his men on their way to a battle against the Britons. Caius Lucius takes Imogen as his page.
- Posthumus returns with the Roman troops, but, in his remorse, chooses to fight on the side of the British. He and Iachomo encounter each other in the battle and Iachomo confesses his lie. Posthumus defeats Iachomo in the fight, but does not kill him.
- Posthumus, imprisoned for being a Roman soldier, is visited in his sleep by the ghosts of his parents and his brothers; the Roman god, Jupiter, descends to help him.
- Reunions, confessions, and revelations ensue.
