Words by which to Live and Die

Cloten is an abuser of language.  He swears, vows, and makes oaths too often, and is quick to the sword when someone attempts to control his language: "...and then a whoreson jackanapes must take me up for swearing, as if I borrowed mine oaths of him, and might not spend them at my pleasure" (II.i.3-6).  This is just one of the many duals that Cloten attempts and fails.  In scene iii of the same act, he swears that he loves Imogen and is thwarted by his own words yet again as the princess argues for the use of stating feelings instead of swearing.  Finally, it is Cloten's vow to cut off the heads of Belarius and sons that results in his own beheading.  Does this underlying discussion of the misuse of language offer any insight toward a reading of preferment for plain language?  Maybe a better question is, how can we use this play to help us navigate the references to Arbaces's need to control words in "A King and No King"?  What is there to be said for the economy of language in our plays thus far?

While we're discussing economics...the use of economic, and most often debtor-creditor dichotomous, language is prolific in the play.  We get our first taste of the lasting metaphor in the initial conversation between Imogen and Posthumus when they exchange love tokens.  A few lines later, Imogen defends her love of Posthumus by calling him "A man worth any woman: [who] overbuys me / Almost the sum he pays" (I.ii.77-8).  Although the monetary references are used for several characters and situations, they are most abundant when Posthumus is spoken of or speaking.  As the "lesser" in the court of Cymbeline, Posthumus is continually trying to make up for his inherent "lack" of birth right.  Considering the end of the play and his initial success in wooing and wedding the princess, what conclusions can we draw about the purpose of the economic metaphor in relation to Posthumus?  What larger context is being drawn on here?  Can we relate this back to an anxiety (one that is being worked and re-worked throughout the acts) about what makes nobility noble and royalty royal?