“Almost a man already”: Imogen, Fidele, Identity, and the Performance of Gender in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline
Phoenix Breese
With the ever changing, fast-paced world at our fingertips, we are always consuming media that can have a deep impact on our own identities. From movies and television shows to social media, there are numerous models to fashion ourselves after. How many times have we looked at an intriguing figure, fictional or real, and said, “I want to be like them?” Even if we try to emulate these figures in our own lives, there is still an intrinsic part of ourselves that we cannot get rid of. No matter how hard we try. Identity: even when we change our physical, outward appearance, there is an intrinsic, inherent part of ourselves that we can never get rid of. This is the part of us that shines the greatest through any part we play.
Performed in 1611 and officially published in 1623, Shakespeare’s Cymbeline dramatizes Raphael Holinshed’s account of Cunobeline, an ancient English King. Although named for this ancient king, Shakespeare takes creative liberties with Cymbeline and transforms the account into a quintessential Shakespeare play complete with forbidden love, misunderstandings, and clever disguises. While named for the British king, Cymbeline follows Imogen, the daughter and sole heir of Cymbeline, as she tries to remain devoted to her banished husband, Posthumus. Following accusations of infidelity and the prospect of a forced marriage with her step-brother, Imogen flees into the Welsh countryside disguised as Fidele, a man.
To examine the intrinsic part of our identities I mentioned previously, I suggest looking specifically at Imogen/Fidele within Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. Imogen plays many roles throughout Cymbeline and often plays the part of someone unlike herself; however, Imogen’s true identity is found within her loyalty. In Cymbeline, Imogen performs highly gendered roles which sometimes conflict with her intrinsic self and her dedication to loyalty.
What is so intriguing about Imogen/Fidele is how this aspect of Cymbeline impacts the way we perceive Imogen. Although cross-dressing is not unfamiliar in Shakespeare’s works, there is something about Imogen’s transformation into Fidele that is unlike other moments of cross-dressing in the Shakespearean canon. While other characters who cross-dress appear to take on and become a completely different persona, Imogen/Fidele are almost identical, save for the gender they identify as, leading to the idea that gender is merely a performance put on to conform to society’s perception of gender. Imogen’s character remains completely the same as Fidele, alluding to the idea that her true identity cannot be covered up.
Imogen’s performance as both woman and boy is significant because it shows just how fine the line between genders can be and how this line is based on the perception of those around a person. Imogen’s personal identity, the intrinsic self, remains constant throughout Cymbeline, but her public identity, the one which others view, transforms and metamorphosizes into a completely different identity altogether. Bonnie Lander describes a way of viewing Imogen in two parts, explaining that Imogen’s identity can be split into two: how she sees herself and how she is perceived by others (157). Lander asserts:
The complexity of Imogen’s person emerges not only when we recognize her particular
persistence as an experiencing body in the face of existential disaster, but more
importantly, when we recognize her as a self that is both governed by social
formation…and also a knowing and reflexive interrogator of social formation (184).
Lander’s view of Imogen’s persona is helpful when thinking about the performance of gender within Cymbeline, specifically when thinking about Imogen/Fidele.
Imogen’s performance of gender shifts and changes as her role in Cymbeline’s court changes. At the beginning of the play, Imogen is described as “his [Cymbeline’s] only child…” (1.1.56), a fact which brings attention both to Imogen’s femininity and Cymbeline’s lack of a spare for his heir. As Cymbeline’s only heir and child, Imogen is expected to behave in a certain way which Cymbeline, at the beginning of the play, feels she has not done. He describes Imogen as a “disloyal thing” (1.1.131). Although Imogen plays the loyal wife, she betrays her role as devoted prince. In this, Imogen may seem as though she conforms to the gendered perception of femininity while she rejects the masculine authority of a prince; however, she is staying true to her intrinsic sense of self, the biggest aspect of her identity being her loyalty.
Meghan Andrews explains, “In the early modern period, masculine and feminine identities were performative, not biological essentials but statuses to be achieved” (379). With this, in Cymbeline’s eyes, Imogen has failed in her performance as prince which he believes to be more important than her performance as wife. These two roles are gendered in their perception, thus forcing Imogen to choose one over the other. By viewing prince and wife as gendered statuses, we can see how Imogen performs these gendered roles. It is in this choice of role that leads to Imogen’s downfall as her devotion to her role as wife causes Posthumus to gamble away his faith in her. Posthumus’ loss of faith in Imogen not only betrays her role as wife, but also betrays her intrinsic identity as someone who is unyieldingly loyal.
Posthumus’ opinion of Imogen shifts after he believes he has been duped by her and she has forsaken her loyalty to him. In the beginning of the play, Posthumus upholds Imogen’s status as both wife and princess and often conflates the two, elevating Imogen to the title of queen though she is not one (1.1.91). In Posthumus’ eyes, it is Imogen’s steadfastness in playing the role of wife which makes her a queen to him, almost fetishizing her chasteness and loyalty when he describes her to Iachimo and his friends. This is why when Posthumus perceives Imogen has betrayed her role, he is so devastated, confused, and enraged. When Posthumus believes Imogen has forsaken the role of wife, he responds as such:
It is the woman’s part. Be it lying, note it,
The woman’s; flattering, hers; deceiving, hers;
Lust and rank thoughts, hers, hers; revengers, hers;
Ambitions, coverings, change of prides, disdain,
Nice longing, slanders, mutability,
All faults that man may name, nay that hell knows,
Why, hers, in part or all, but rather all (2.5.22-28).
In this, Posthumus explicitly says “It is the woman’s part” meaning that he is acknowledging the performance a woman puts on. Posthumus’ view on all women has been significantly changed by what he believes to be Imogen’s new or rather “true” performance. Posthumus believes that Imogen has merely been playing the role of dedicated, loyal wife rather than truly being a dedicated and loyal wife. What is ironic is that we, as the audience, know that Imogen is not truly performing as this is her true nature, her true self.
When Imogen finds out Posthumus believes her to have cheated on him, Imogen is appalled and says, “What is it to be false? To lie in watch there and to think on him? To weep ‘twixt clock and clock?” (3.4.40-42). Here, Imogen describes exactly how she has been acting, which is exactly as she had promised she’d be doing to Posthumus at the beginning of the play. To Imogen, she has been performing her role as wife exactly as she thinks Posthumus expects her to behave. Now that she has practically been forced out of the role she was so committed to, she feels as though she has lost her complete identity. Imogen says, “What shall I do the while? Where bide? How live?/ Or in my life what comfort when I am/ Dead to my husband?” (3.4.129-131). Without being able to perform her role as a wife, Imogen does not believe she has an identity to return to, an identity to conform to. Instead, she must take on a different role to form a new identity.
Imogen’s transformation into Fidele is significant to her new identity. It is when Pisanio explicitly tells her to take on the guise of a man that Fidele is created and Imogen is able to perform her role. Pisanio says, “You must forget to be a woman…you must / Forget that rarest treasure of your cheek…and forget / Your laborsome and dainty trims…” (3.5.155-165). In this quote, Pisanio explicitly explains how easy it is for Imogen to transform. She needs only to change her clothing and the way in which she carries herself. This is a clear signal towards the performance of gender as being an achieved status that one has to work towards. We see this again in Imogen’s response. Imogen says to Pisanio after his suggestion, “I see into thy end and am almost/A man already” (3.5.167-168). By receiving a suggestion on how to act, Imogen is already beginning to perform her new role, but because she has not yet taken on the appearance, she is in the stage of “not quite” as she is in between the roles of wife and boy. It isn’t until Imogen fully takes on the identity of Fidele that she begins to perform the role of boy.
When Imogen has fully become Fidele she says, “I see a man’s life is a tedious one” (3.6.1) indicating that she has fully immersed herself in her new role. Further, when she is informed and validated in her new role as boy by Guiderus and Arviragus, Imogen/Fidele is able to conform even more. Guiderus says, “Were you a woman, youth, / I should woo hard but be your groom in honesty” (3.7.68-69), while Arviragus says, “He is a man. I’ll love him as my brother” (3.7.72). These words further inform Imogen/Fidele on how to play her new role as both boy and brother. She becomes both of these new roles because of the words of Pisanio, Guiderus, and Arviragus. She is given this identity and performs accordingly to it.
Further, it is only when all hope of returning to her previous role as wife is vanquished that Imogen can fully commit to the role of Fidele. After believing Posthumus has been killed, when she is asked who she is, Imogen/Fidele says, “I am nothing, or if not / Nothing to be were better” (4.2.368-369). At this point, Imogen/Fidele is no longer wife or brother. She has lost both of these identities or roles to perform. That is, until Lucius gives her new instructions and a new role. When Lucius offers Imogen/Fidele a new role, she readily takes it, but not before she has to lay to rest her old identity by literally burying who she believes to be Posthumus. Thus, Imogen/Fidele takes on the role of page to Lucius and is informed and validated by Lucius’ words: “Ay, good youth,/And rather father thee than master thee…The boy hath taught us manly duties” (4.2.395-397). With this, Imogen/Fidele gains a new identity and role to perform.
It isn’t until she is reunited with Posthumus and Iachimo’s lies are revealed that Imogen/Fidele can return to the role of wife and perform that role. Throughout the play, Imogen’s performance of gender and its corresponding role shifts and transforms based on the instructions society has given to her. It should be noted that every instruction she receives on how to perform her role has been given by a man, something that is intriguing and lends to the idea that her performance of gender is controlled by a patriarchal society. Even when she is in the role of a boy her actions are informed by men. Her status shifts even though she herself is not changing who she is. Her identity is performable because of how others view her and how she conforms to those perceptions of her.
To refer back to Lander and Andrews, Imogen’s performance of these gendered roles throughout Cymbeline make up the majority of Imogen’s identity. It is the reflexive nature of how Imogen constructs her identity which makes her so interesting. She takes what society, what the men in her life, tell her to be and steps into those roles. When she rejects or strays from these roles, it causes tension and anxiety within her life, forcing her to step into another role. This ability to transform reveals the flexibility of one’s self in order to conform to a patriarchal society’s desires.
Although the world is constantly changing and the world of Cymbeline is far removed from our own world today, there is something about one’s identity and how it is expressed that is timeless. It may seem as though Imogen’s journey is irrelevant and you may not be able to relate to it. After all, we are certainly not ancient British princesses. However, I think there is a part of Imogen that we can all relate to. We can all understand the pressure to conform to what society tends to tell us how to act, even if we are steadfast in who we are, we still bend and shift to fit in. What is so wonderful about Cymbeline is that it shows, even in a society far removed from our own, that one’s true identity will be rewarded if you stay loyal to the parts of yourself that cannot be bent.
Bibliography
Andrews, Meghan C. “Gender, Genre, and Elizabeth’s Princely Surrogate in ‘Henry IV’ and ‘Henry V.’” Studies in English Literature, vol. 54, no. 2, 2014, pp. 375–399. JSTOR, Accessed 2022.
Feerick, Jean. “A ‘Nation…Now Degenerate’: Shakespeare’s ‘Cymbeline’, Nova Britannia, and the Role of Diet and Climate in Reproducing Races.” Early American Studies, vol. 1, no. 2, 2003, pp. 30–71. JSTOR, Accessed 2022.
Hunt, Maurice. “Dismemberment, Corporal Reconstitution, and the Body Politic in ‘Cymbeline.’” pp. 404–431. MLA Bibliography, 2002, Accessed 2022.
Lander, Bonnie. “Interpreting the Person: Tradition, Conflict and Cymbeline’s Imogen.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 59, no. 2, 2008, pp. 156–184. JSTOR, Accessed 2022.
Percec, Dana. “It’s a Private Matter. Space and Gender Issues in Shakespeare’s ‘Cymbeline.’” De Grutyer Open, 2015, pp. 88–94. MLA Bibliography, Accessed 2022.
