Comedies • c. 1609

Cymbeline: Modern English Translation & Study Guide

Name: Cymbeline
Author: William Shakespeare

The King of Britain banishes Posthumus for secretly wedding his daughter Imogen.

Read Cymbeline Side by Side

Every scene pairs the public-domain original with a line-matched, original modern-English paraphrase. Choose a scene below to begin reading.

Act 1, Scene 1 line-by-line translation — SCENE I. Britain. The garden of Cymbeline's palace.
Act 1, Scene 2 line-by-line translation — SCENE II. The same. A public place.
Act 1, Scene 3 line-by-line translation — SCENE III. A room in Cymbeline's palace.
Act 1, Scene 4 line-by-line translation — SCENE IV. Rome. Philario's house.
Act 2, Scene 1 line-by-line translation — SCENE I. Britain. Before Cymbeline's palace.
Act 2, Scene 2 line-by-line translation — SCENE II. Imogen's bedchamber in Cymbeline's palace:
Act 2, Scene 4 line-by-line translation — SCENE IV. Rome. Philario's house.
Act 2, Scene 5 line-by-line translation — SCENE V. Another room in Philario's house.
Act 3, Scene 1 line-by-line translation — SCENE I. Britain. A hall in Cymbeline's palace.
Act 3, Scene 2 line-by-line translation — SCENE II. Another room in the palace.
Act 3, Scene 3 line-by-line translation — SCENE III. Wales: a mountainous country with a cave.
Act 3, Scene 4 line-by-line translation — SCENE IV. Country near Milford-Haven.
Act 4, Scene 1 line-by-line translation — SCENE I. Wales: near the cave of Belarius.
Act 4, Scene 2 line-by-line translation — SCENE II. Before the cave of Belarius.
Act 4, Scene 3 line-by-line translation — SCENE III. A room in Cymbeline's palace.
Act 4, Scene 4 line-by-line translation — SCENE IV. Wales: before the cave of Belarius.
Act 5, Scene 1 line-by-line translation — SCENE I. Britain. The Roman camp.
Act 5, Scene 2 line-by-line translation — SCENE II. Field of battle between the British and Roman camps.
Act 5, Scene 3 line-by-line translation — SCENE III. Another part of the field.
Act 5, Scene 4 line-by-line translation — SCENE IV. A British prison.

Cymbeline study pathways

Original text source: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, MIT HTML edition. MIT states that its HTML versions of the plays are placed in the public domain.