SOURCE: "Notes on Shakespeare's Cymbeline," in Shakespeare Studies, Vol. 1, 1965, pp. 118-36.

In the following excerpt, Hofling explores "the psychological relationship of Cymbeline to its author" and notes important similarities between Shakespeare 's personal relationships (such as that with his daughter Susanna) and the play.

Cymbeline has been called "Shakespeare's most recapitulatory play." It is of interest to note certain of the echoes of the great tragedies in Cymbeline. This interest is heightened by the recognition that at least one such echo is obviously conscious and deliberate, a circumstance which raises the likelihood that a number of others were introduced in the same manner. King Lear and, to a slightly lesser extent, Othello are the plays of which the echoes appear to be the clearest and most significant. Not only is a father-daughter relationship of great importance in Cymbeline, as in Lear, but there is considerable correspondence in details...