A FRIEND FOR CYMBELINE.
A FRIEND FOR CYMBELINE. Marjorie Garber presents a spirited defense of Shakespeare’s late romances in SHAKESPEARE AFTER ALL. She points out that “Jacobean audiences loved PERICLES [another late romance].” It is modern audiences that have changed. She says that CYMBELINE is “a play that tackles, and to a large extent solves, an intriguing set of problems….” She responds to the critics who commented on the apparent disjointedness of CYMBELINE by arguing that the play’s meaning comes not from the plot, but “in a logic of repetition, layering, and dream….” Romance characterizations are different from what we are accustomed to; the “dramatic characters move through their landscapes like dream figures emblematic of psychological or moral states.” I cherish critics who try to persuade me to like something rather than try to persuade me to dislike something.