Cymbeline: Act 1, Scene 5 Summary & Analysis

Back at Cymbeline’s court, the Queen sends her ladies away to gather flowers. While they’re gone, the Queen privately asks the court doctor, Cornelius, if he’s brought the drugs she requested. He gives her a box containing them, then asks why she needs such a poisonous compound, which causes a slow, languishing death.

Cornelius’ question surprises the Queen. She comments on how long she has studied with him, learning how to make perfumes, distilled liquids, and preserves. The Queen claims she’s so skilled that even Cymbeline has asked her for some of her compounds. As an advanced student, she thinks that she should increase her learning in other areas. She promises to only test the poison on animals. Then she can determine the poison’s strength and effects, and apply antidotes accordingly. The Doctor fears that the experiments will make her hard-hearted.

As the Queen assures Cornelius not to worry, she sees Pisanio entering. In an aside, she calls Pisanio a “flattering rascal” and reveals that she plans to use the poison on him because he serves Posthumus, and he is therefore an enemy to Cloten. She calls for Pisanio because she has something to tell him, and asks Cornelius to leave them alone. 

Before he leaves, Cornelius reveals in an aside that he feels suspicious of the Queen’s motives and that he doesn’t like her. He fears that the Queen’s experiments on animals will lead her to harm humans, so he’s only pretended to give poison to her—it’s actually a sleeping potion. Anyone who takes the medicine may seem dead, but he asserts that the compound isn’t dangerous. He thinks that the medicine’s effect will fool the Queen, and that he will be “the truer,/ So to be false with her.”

Cornelius leaves on the Queen’s urging. She then asks Pisanio if Imogen is still crying over Posthumus, wondering if, in time, Imogen will get over her foolishness and pick Cloten. The Queen asks Pisanio’s help: if Pisanio can persuade Imogen to marry Cloten, she will elevate Pisanio’s status as a reward. To drive home the wisdom of this, the Queen paints Posthumus’ future as doomed by his exile.

The Queen drops the box containing Cornelius’ compound, and Pisanio picks it up. The Queen tells Pisanio that he doesn’t know what he’s holding, but that he should keep it in exchange for his efforts. She explains that the box contains a medicine that’s saved Cymbeline from death five times. Pisanio tries to give it back, but the Queen insists he take it. It’s just the first of many good deeds she promises to do for his sake if he helps her.

The Queen asks Pisanio to give Imogen an accurate picture of how bad her situation is with Posthumus in exile, as though it that were Pisanio’s own opinion. She asks him to think of this opportunity as a stroke of good luck: he’ll still has an employer, and Cloten will look favorably on him in the future. The Queen promises that she’ll obtain any promotion Pisanio desires from Cymbeline, and she even says that she will personally reimburse him for his service.

Pisanio exits to fetch the Queen’s ladies, and alone onstage, the Queen remarks that Pisanio is sneaky, and his loyalty to Posthumus and Imogen is hard to shake. She thinks that Pisanio is spying for his banished master and encouraging Imogen to remain faithful to Posthumus. But the Queen feels reassured that he has the potion, which she believes is a poison that will kill him. Once Pisanio dies, Imogen will be left without allies; if she doesn’t change her mind about Cloten then, she’ll be sorry.

Pisanio returns with the Queen’s ladies. She instructs her servants to bring the flowers they’ve gathered to her room, and she asks Pisanio to carefully consider her offer. Once he’s alone, Pisanio says that he will remember what she said, but that he would choke himself if he ever betrayed his master, and that would be all he could do for the Queen.