How Cymbeline drew on Metamorphoses
A documented line of influence: William Shakespeare demonstrably engaged Ovid’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
Metamorphoses
Ovid · 8
Ancient RomeThe influenced
Cymbeline
William Shakespeare · c. 1610
ShakespeareRelevance
7/10
On Cymbeline’s page
- Cymbeline names its source out loud: the page Imogen falls asleep on is the Tereus-and-Philomela tale from Ovid's Metamorphoses
- Read Ovid's version first and Iachimo's intrusion turns sinister before he lifts a finger — Shakespeare casts him as Tereus, the rapist who silenced his victim
- The dog-eared leaf 'where Philomel gave up' is the whole scene's omen, and only Ovid supplies its weight
On Metamorphoses’s page
- Shakespeare didn't just borrow Ovid — he put the book on stage
- In Cymbeline, Imogen falls asleep reading the tale of Tereus and Philomela from the Metamorphoses, dog-earing the very leaf 'where Philomel gave up' before Iachimo creeps from his trunk
- Ovid's myth of rape and silenced witness becomes the dread under the bedroom scene — Iachimo is a would-be Tereus, and the book in Imogen's hands tells you exactly what he is