Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Green Space, Wager's, and Bodies as Evidence

Rather than in the plays we've read up until now, Cymbeline spends almost a third of its time in green space. There, as I think Brian has pointed out, some of the most virtuous although deviant characters live. It is in this green space where the character of princeliness is learned, where true valor is proved, and so on. Is Shakespeare using the notions of green space in a different way than his contemporaries; perhaps less as a temporary readjustment of norms and conventions than as a real and permanent standard against which most if not all virtue can be measured?

Also, how are we to read Posthumous' wagering on Imogen's purity and chastity? Initially, he describes her as beyond material measure, a constant motif in the play (baseness, luster, common garments, gold, diamonds, etc.) yet he reduces her to such materiality by allowing a wager to be placed between her and her honor. Is this significant for a reading of the play and for a characterization of Posthumous?

Lastly, - continuing some of the discussion on the proofs regarding Imogen's supposed adultery - why does Iachimo continue to offer evidence to Posthumous long after the latter has admitted defeat? Is this just to torture Posthumous or is the evidence regarding Imogen's body, and thus all bodies, the end all of judicial and moral investigation and control in the play? I guess I'm asking about the general tactics of the various investigations in Cymbeline and how they might provide us with some reading of the play.

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