Iachimo

Iachimo was a character in William Shakespeare's play Cymbeline.

He was from Rome, where he met Posthumus. In a drunken wager, Iachimo proposed to test the loyalty of Posthumus' wife Imogen. To accomplish this task, he travelled to the British city of Lud's Town where he asked Imogen to guard a trunk of valuables. Imogen took the trunk, which contained a concealed Iachimo, into her bedchamber. He planned to emerge at midnight to collect evidence that he spent time in her room such as notes on the furnishings and the bracelet which Imogen always wore, a love token from Posthumus.

In an early draft of the play, the Queen's Doctor somehow closely followed him out of the trunk despite Iachimo not seeing him while he was inside. The Doctor tried to persuade him not to go through with the theft of Imogen's bracelet, stating how he knew about his "filthy little game" which he said shamed both him and Posthumus. Iachimo told him to "hold thy peace" as they would both be "lost" if she awoke, before going on to make notes on both Imogen and her room. He was particularly drawn to a story about Tereus and the tyrant King of Thrace which was told in a tapestry. However, by the end of his explanation, he observed that there was "but woven air where she once stood". The Doctor alluded to a similar dangerous experience he had faced in the past and advised Iachimo to hide away in the trunk but he refused to do so, instead attempting to remove Imogen's bracelet from her hand. He succeeded but awoke her in the process. Iachimo profusely apologised for trespassing in her private rooms by claiming he and the Doctor had "left [their] manners at the door" but the Doctor cut in and accused Imogen of doing the same. Although Iachimo tried to calm him down, telling him "this lady holds us both within her power", this did not work and the Doctor continued by proclaiming she was "no lady" but was from a "torrid world of seas and lakes and swamps wherein which dwelt great milky worms they called the Skarasen". Imogen sadly confirmed the "bitter truth" and, as the bracelet had been robbed from her person, changed into her true form. Iachimo was terrified by this and started to rant about how Imogen had "melt[ed] into the air", at the same time calling desperately for the Doctor to release him from his "delusions" and to prepare something for "the sickness that ha[d] overpowered [his] sight". When the Doctor told him he was not dreaming, Iachimo instead begged for his life, though quickly and eagerly accepted the Doctor's invitation when he suggested once again for Iachimo to secrete himself in the trunk. "Imogen" then told the Doctor it was best Iachimo did not see the "final act" as the next scene was their own. She threatened that by its conclusion, Britain would be her realm. (PROSE: Cymbeline)