Plot Devices in Cymbeline

Cymbeline repeats many of Shakespeare's plot devices: villainous slander, homicidal jealousy, cross-gender disguise, a deathlike trance, the appearance of Jupiter in a vision, and final repentance, forgiveness, and reunion (Mowat, xiii), all of which result in an improbable story (Mowat, xv).

As a Romance

As a romance, the play calls to mind the need for Coleridge's willing suspension of disbelief (Biographia Literaria, quoted in Greenblatt, 478). Yet it is still Shakespeare.