Want to know where Cymbeline is set? Shakespeare was ‘thinking deep’ in setting Cymbeline. It’s set in the middle ages in a mythical England and a Rome that is very different from the Rome of Shakespeare’s great Roman plays. It is more like the Renaissance cities Shakespeare creates in other plays, such as Verona in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare reminds us all the time of the setting by referring to the two places. He uses the word Britain rather than England because in this play the idea of Empire is central. It is to some extent about the tension between the two empires of Rome and Britain, the first in a decadent state and the second beginning to flourish. The old and the new. The play’s major ambiguity is that Rome is the ruler of Britain and its equal at the same time.
The map below shows all the locations Shakespeare used for Cymbeline, and below the map is a text list of the locations. When you click a pin on the map it opens to show all of the settings used within the location, using Shakespeare actual wording. You can zoom in on the map for a more detailed view of an area, click the icons on the map for more information, or use the list of all map pins below the Cymbeline settings map: