Posthumus: The Husband Who Fails the Test
First appears: Act 1, Scene 1
Posthumus is a good man who does a terrible thing. He makes a bet with Iachimo about Imogen's faithfulness, loses it through trickery, and immediately orders his wife's murder. The speed of that decision (one false report and he wants her dead) is the play's most unsettling moment.
He repents almost immediately. When he believes Imogen is dead, his grief and self-loathing are genuine. He fights on the British side in disguise, half-hoping to die.
The play restores him at the end, but Shakespeare does not completely erase what he did. His credulity is a flaw, and the flaw nearly killed his wife.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“Yea, bloody cloth, I'll keep thee, for I wish'd Thou shouldst be colour'd thus.”
Posthumus Leonatus — Act 5, Scene 1
Themes
Other Characters in Cymbeline
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