Princess Imogen has defied her father, Cymbeline, King of Britain, by marrying the commoner and orphan Posthumus rather than the Queen’s doltish son Cloten from her previous marriage. Determined to control his daughter, Cymbeline exiles Posthumus, who travels to Rome. There the villainous Giacomo scorns Posthumus’s confidence in his wife’s virtue, boasting that he could seduce her. Irritated by his arrogance, Posthumus wagers his ring on Innogen’s faithfulness. In Britain, Giacomo hides himself in her bedroom and emerges at night to observe intimate details of her body and to steal her bracelet. These seeming proofs of infidelity send Posthumus into a jealous rage, and he orders his servant Pisanio to kill Imogen.