The striking and powerful
contrasts in which Shakespeare abounds could not escape observation;
but the use he makes of the principle of analogy to reconcile the
greatest diversities of character and to maintain a continuity of
feeling throughout, has not been sufficiently attended to. In
Cymbeline, for instance, the principal interest arises out of the
unalterable fidelity of Imogen to her husband under the most trying
circumstances. Now the other parts of the picture are filled up with
subordinate examples of the same feeling, variously modified by
different situations, and applied to the purposes of virtue or vice.
The plot is aided by the amorous importunities of Cloten, by the
tragical determination of Iachimo to conceal the defeat of his
project by a daring imposture: the faithful attachment of Pisanio to
his mistress is an affecting accompaniment to the whole; the
obstinate adherence to his purpose in Bellarius, who keeps the fate
of the young princes so long a secret in resentment for the
ungrateful return to his former services, the incorrigible
wickedness of the Queen, and even the blind uxorious confidence of
Cymbeline, are all so many lines of the same story, tending to the
same point. The effect of this coincidence is rather felt than
observed; and as the impression exists unconsciously in the mind of
the reader, so it probably arose in the same manner in the mind of
the author, not from design, but from the force of natural
association, a particular train of feeling suggesting different
inflections of the same predominant principle, melting into, and
strengthening one another, like chords in music.
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