Cymbeline 2.ii

SCENE II.
Britain. IMOGEN'S bedchamber in CYMBELINE'S palace; a trunk in
one corner

Enter IMOGEN in her bed, and a LADY attending

IMOGEN. Who's there? My woman? Helen?

[Interesting that Imogen seems frightened. Of course, her husband has been banished and she's surrounded by enemies. Also, according to the end of the scene, she's reading a rape story. (According to one of the next few lines, she's been reading it for three hours.)]

LADY. Please you, madam.
IMOGEN. What hour is it?
LADY. Almost midnight, madam.
IMOGEN. I have read three hours then. Mine eyes are weak;
Fold down the leaf where I have left. To bed.
Take not away the taper, leave it burning;
And if thou canst awake by four o' th' clock,
I prithee call me. Sleep hath seiz'd me wholly. Exit LADY

[Why does Imogen want to be awakened at 4am? Why does she want to leave the candle burning? Has she been having nightmares?]

To your protection I commend me, gods.
From fairies and the tempters of the night
Guard me, beseech ye!


[In the previous section, Imogen does all sorts of things to protect herself. She fears sleep (why?), but she's been trying to stave it off by reading lurid tales. But she can no longer keep her eyes open. So she takes what measures she can to protect herself while she sleeps. Her action is to prepare for a crisis. She's boy-scouting.]

[Sleeps. IACHIMO comes from the trunk]
IACHIMO. The crickets sing, and man's o'er-labour'd sense
Repairs itself by rest. Our [] Tarquin [legendary Roman rapist] thus
Did [] softly press the rushes [quietly step on the floor] ere he waken'd
The chastity he wounded.

[Why does Iachimo narrate like this, comparing himself and (following) Imogen to mythological figures. It seems as if he's trying to recast something sordid into something grand. Or maybe he's trying to make sense of what he's doing -- trying to place it in a familiar mythological context. Maybe, for all his seeming confidence in the last act, he's never done anything like this before. It may be making him nervous. His action might be to paint a picture (with the goal of making something scary more understandable and manageable)]

[] Cytherea [Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty],
How [] bravely [splendidly] thou becom'st thy bed! fresh lily,
And whiter than the sheets! That I might touch!
But kiss; one kiss! Rubies unparagon'd,
[] How dearly they do't! [how dearly her lips kiss each other] 'Tis her breathing that
Perfumes the chamber thus. The flame o' th' taper
Bows toward her and would under-peep her lids
To see th' enclosed lights, now canopied
Under these windows white and azure, lac'd
With [] blue [veins] of heaven's own [] tinct [color].


[Iachimo is trying to wrestle with his desire for Imogen. He's here to win money, not to have her way with her. But she's so beautiful and vulnerable. She's already rejected him, so if he makes a pass, he risks losing everything, but... In the previous section, he's either trying to fight off temptation or giving into it. Or maybe a little of both. ]


[Action: get back on track]
But my design
To note the chamber. I will write all down:
Such and such pictures; there the window; such
Th' adornment of her bed; the [] arras [tapestry], [] figures [characters on the tapestry] --
Why, such and such; and the contents o' th' story.

[Action: justify (consciously or unconsciously, Iachimo finds a clever way to make his lust serve his larger goal)]

Ah, but some natural notes about her body
Above ten thousand [] meaner movables [less important things (more literally: articles of furniture)]
Would testify, t' enrich mine inventory.

[Perhaps he touches her and she stirs.]

[Action: pray, cast spell, conjure, command]

O sleep, thou ape of death, lie dull upon her!
And be her [] sense [senses] but as a monument,
Thus in a chapel lying! Come off, come off;
[Taking off her bracelet]

[Action: revel, boast]

As slippery as the [] Gordian knot [mythological knot no one could untie] was hard!
'Tis mine; and this will witness outwardly,
As strongly as the conscience does within,
To th' madding of her lord.

[Then... temptation again. And an attempt to work it into the general plan.]

On her left breast
A mole [] cinque-spotted [with five spots], like the crimson drops
I' th' bottom of a cowslip. Here's a voucher
Stronger than ever law could make; this secret
Will force him think I have pick'd the lock and ta'en
The treasure of her honour.

[Maybe she moves again]

No more. To what end?
Why should I write this down that's riveted,
Screw'd to my memory? She hath been reading late
The tale of [] Tereus [rapist king]; here the leaf's turn'd down
Where [] Philomel [rape victim] gave up. I have enough.
To th' trunk again, and shut the spring of it.
Swift, swift, you dragons of the night, that dawning
May bare the raven's eye! I lodge in fear;
Though this a heavenly angel, hell is here. [Clock strikes]
One, two, three. Time, time!

[Symbolically, for Iachimo as-well-as for the the audience, the bracelet and the book are ways for him to make love to Imogen -- while also completing his plan.]