# Queen — Cymbeline character guide

> Queen in Cymbeline by William Shakespeare.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0002-act-i-scene-i

## Snapshot

Cymbeline's second wife, a widow who married into the crown and now works patiently to poison, marry off, or remove anyone standing between her son and the throne.

## Who they are

The queen plays the doting stepmother while keeping a cabinet of drugs and a plan for every obstacle: Imogen married off to Cloten, Posthumus discredited, the king managed. She is the play's quietest menace, her courtesy a mask for ambition. Her schemes set the plot's machinery turning long before anyone suspects her hand.

## Relationships

### [Pisanio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/characters/pisanio)

_professional_

Pisanio serves the Queen as a courtier but secretly distrusts her, as she plots against Imogen and the kingdom.

### [Cloten](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/characters/cloten)

_family_

Cloten is the Queen's son, and she manipulates him to further her own ambitions for the throne.

### [Sicilius Leonatus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/characters/sicilius_leonatus)

_rivalry_

The Queen schemes against the memory and legacy of Sicilius Leonatus, as she seeks to usurp the royal line.

### [Sicilius Leonatus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/characters/sicilius_leonatus)

_rivalry_

The Queen schemes against the memory and legacy of Sicilius Leonatus, as she seeks to usurp the royal line.

### [Pisanio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/characters/pisanio)

_professional_

Pisanio serves the Queen as a courtier but secretly distrusts her, as she plots against Imogen and the kingdom.

### [Pisanio](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/characters/pisanio)

_professional_

Pisanio serves the Queen as a courtier but secretly distrusts her, as she plots against Imogen and the kingdom.

### [Cloten](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/characters/cloten)

_family_

Cloten is the Queen's son, and she manipulates him to further her own ambitions for the throne.

## In the story

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/chapters/act-i-scene-i)

Pretends to support Imogen and Posthumus but schemes against them; manipulates Cymbeline.

### [Scene V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/chapters/act-i-scene-v)

Obtains what she believes are poisons from Cornelius and attempts to bribe Pisanio into betraying Posthumus.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/chapters/act-ii-scene-i)

Referred to as a 'crafty devil' who bears all down with her brain and is constantly coining plots.

### [Scene III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/chapters/act-ii-scene-iii)

The Queen advises Cloten on how to win Imogen through patient and strategic courtship.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-i)

Supports defiance against Rome, invoking Britain's natural defenses.

### [Scene IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-iv)

Implied as the source of the box of medicine given to Pisanio for Imogen.

### [Scene V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-v)

Manipulates the situation, hoping Imogen's disappearance leads to her own advantage.

### [Scene III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/chapters/act-iv-scene-iii)

Reported to be on a desperate bed, suffering from a fever and madness due to Cloten's absence.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/characters/queen
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/cymbeline_se/characters