Editing Cymbeline (section)

=== Gender and sexuality ===
Scholars have emphasised that the play attributes great political significance to Imogen's virginity and [[chastity]].{{sfn|Wayne|2017|pp=81–86}}{{sfn|Cunningham|1994|pp=1–31}} There is some debate as to whether Imogen and Posthumus's marriage is legitimate.{{sfn|Wayne|2017|pp=81–86}} Imogen has historically been played and received as an ideal, chaste woman maintaining qualities applauded in a [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] structure; however, critics argue that Imogen's actions contradict these social definitions through her defiance of her father and her cross-dressing.{{sfn|Lander|2008|pp=156–184}} Yet critics including Tracey Miller-Tomlinson have emphasised the ways in which the play upholds patriarchal ideology, including in the final scene, with its panoply of male victors.{{sfn|Lander|2008|pp=156–184}}{{sfn|Miller-Tomlinson|2015|pp=225–240}} Whilst Imogen and Posthumus's marriage at first upholds [[Heterosexuality|heterosexual]] norms, their separation and final reunion leave open non-heterosexual possibilities, initially exposed by Imogen's cross-dressing as Fidele. Miller-Tomlinson points out the falseness of their social significance as a "perfect example" of a public "heterosexual marriage", considering that their private relations turn out to be "homosocial, [[Homoeroticism|homoerotic]], and hermaphroditic."{{sfn|Miller-Tomlinson|2015|pp=225–240}}

[[Queer theory]] has gained traction in scholarship on ''Cymbeline'', building upon the work of [[Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick]] and [[Judith Butler]].{{sfn|Traub|2002|p=175}}{{sfn|Miller-Tomlinson|2015|p=226}}{{sfn|Sedgwick|1993|p=8}} Scholarship on this topic has emphasised the play's [[Ovidian]] allusions and exploration of non-normative gender/sexuality – achieved through separation from traditional society into what Valerie Traub terms "green worlds."{{sfn|Traub|2002|p=175}} Amongst the most obvious and frequently cited examples of this non-normative dimension of the play is the prominence of homoeroticism, as seen in Guiderius and Arviragus's semi-sexual fascination with the disguised Imogen/Fidele.{{sfn|Wayne|2017|p=91}} In addition to homoerotic and homosocial elements, the subjects of [[Hermaphrodite|hermaphroditism]] and paternity/maternity also feature prominently in queer interpretations of ''Cymbeline''.{{sfn|Miller-Tomlinson|2015|p=235}}{{sfn|Thompson|2001|p=86}}{{sfn|Hackett|2000|p=156}}{{sfn|Adelman|1992|pp=202–205}} [[Janet Adelman]] set the tone for the intersection of paternity and hermaphroditism in arguing that Cymbeline's lines, "oh, what am I, / A mother to the birth of three? Ne’er mother / Rejoiced deliverance more", amount to a "parthenogenesis fantasy".<ref name=":142">''Cymbeline'', V.v.32.</ref><ref name=":152">''Cymbeline'', V. vi.369-71.</ref>{{sfn|Adelman|1992|p=202}} According to Adelman and Tracey Miller-Tomlinson, in taking sole credit for the creation of his children Cymbeline acts a hermaphrodite who transforms a maternal function into a patriarchal strategy by regaining control of his male heirs and daughter, Imogen.{{sfn|Adelman|1992|pp=202–203}}{{sfn|Miller-Tomlinson|2015|p=235}} Imogen's own experience with gender fluidity and [[cross-dressing]] has largely been interpreted through a patriarchal lens.{{sfn|Wayne|2017|p=92}}{{sfn|Thompson|2001|p=84}} Unlike other Shakespearean agents of onstage gender fluidity – [[Portia (The Merchant of Venice)|Portia]], [[Rosalind (As You Like It)|Rosalind]], [[Viola (Twelfth Night)|Viola]] and [[The Two Gentlemen of Verona|Julia]] – Imogen is not afforded empowerment upon her transformation into Fidele.{{sfn|Thompson|2001|p=84}} Instead, Imogen's power is inherited from her father and based upon the prospect of reproduction.{{sfn|Thompson|2001|p=84}}