Imogen (Shakespeare)
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Imogen was the daughter of King Cymbeline, in Shakespeare's play, Cymbeline. She was a perfect female character, pronounced "the most tender and the most artless of all Shakespeare's women."
According to some modern editions of Shakespeare's plays, notably the 1986 Oxford Edition, the correct name is in fact Innogen, and the spelling "Imogen" is an error which arose when the manuscripts were first committed to print. It also compares to Innogen, wife of Leonato, mentioned as a ghost character in Much Ado About Nothing, as Innogen in Cymbeline is paired with a character with the epithet "Leonatus".
Oscar Wilde alludes to Imogen in The Picture of Dorian Gray when Dorian describes Sibyl Vane, the actress he is infatuated with.
'It must be, if you say it. And now I am off. Imogen is waiting for me. Don't forget about tomorrow. Good-bye.'(Ch. IV)
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.