If I have the time I will return to you at more length, but here are a few suggestions.
C ought to be placed in Shakespeare's immense cycle of national plays, after Lear and before the medieval history plays. It is concerned with the fate of Britain, and it ends by tying Britain to the Roman Empire at the time when the Roman Empire is about to experience the coming of Christ - something of which 1500s Englishmen would be very much aware. If I remember correctly, there is even somewhere an allusion to Augustus' census, which brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. Its mood and spirit ought to be compared with those of Lear, which represent Shak's view of the untrammelled Pagan mind.
I always muddle Cymbeline with The Winter's Tale, and would probably try to disguise this by talking about Geoffrey of Monmouth a lot, which I doubt is a lot of help to you.
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C ought to be placed in Shakespeare's immense cycle of national plays, after Lear and before the medieval history plays. It is concerned with the fate of Britain, and it ends by tying Britain to the Roman Empire at the time when the Roman Empire is about to experience the coming of Christ - something of which 1500s Englishmen would be very much aware. If I remember correctly, there is even somewhere an allusion to Augustus' census, which brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. Its mood and spirit ought to be compared with those of Lear, which represent Shak's view of the untrammelled Pagan mind.
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