She hath been reading late. Re-reading Ovid through Shakespeare’s Cymbeline

Abstract

Cymbeline is a retrospective drama, brilliantly re-elaborating motifs and themes from Shakespeare’s previous work. Most of its poignant scenes actually look back at classical sources. As this essay discusses, the character of Princess Innogen highlights the rich Ovidianism of the play, as well as its ‘valedictory’ nature: as both Philomel and Lucrece, Innogen offered the dramatist the opportunity to revise the original material in order to reverse expectations, create amazement, and discuss femininity and gender roles. Focusing on Shakespeare’s re-reading of the stories of Philomel and Tereus and of Lucrece and Tarquin, the present essay considers how, at the end of his career, the playwright managed to replace the tragic effects of these myths with images of rebirth, reconciliation and repentance, genre being central in the dramatist’s re-working of the Ovidian sources.

10.4424/lam132024-7