Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Murray M. Schwartz

Critical Essay by Murray M. Schwartz

SOURCE: Schwartz, Murray M. “Between Fantasy and Imagination: A Psychological Exploration of Cymbeline.” In Psychoanalysis and Literary Process, edited by Frederick Crews, pp. 219-83. Cambridge, Mass.: Winthrop Publishers, 1970.

In the following excerpt, Schwartz undertakes a Freudian psychoanalysis of the principal characters in Cymbeline.

Virtutis est domare quae cuncti pavent.

—Seneca

In his introduction to the Arden edition, J. M. Nosworthy observes that “Cymbeline has evoked relatively little critical comment, and no completely satisfactory account of the play's quality and significance can be said to exist.”¹ Although this statement comes as no surprise to students of this uneven and perplexing play, it does point up the fact that Cymbeline reveals few obvious clues to those who would derive its meaning from intrinsic relationships. Existing criticism simply leaves too much out of account in its attempts to find a “way in” capable of coordinating the play's pervasive indirection, its lack of...
(read more)