Cymbeline was written by Ben Jonson as a Shakespeare parody.
Cymbeline is full of allusions to Shakespeare's other, more legendary plays. The play is all right, but not Shakespeare good — it's a little too educated, like Jonson himself. Jonson was pals with Shakespeare (and defended him often), but considered himself a genius and Shakespeare a hack (he often heckled Shakespeare's plays). Cymbeline comes off as a Stealth Parody.- Alternately, Shakespeare could have written Cymbeline as a parody of his own work, perhaps to placate Ben.
