Marina

Play

Pericles

Summary

Pericles's daughter, born in a storm at sea — hence her name — who is raised in Tarsus, kidnapped by pirates, sold to a brothel in Mytilene, and there preserves her virtue by converting her clients through eloquence and moral force rather than complying with her keepers. She eventually teaches music and needlework to earn her freedom. Her reunion with the despairing, near-catatonic Pericles, in which she gradually restores him to consciousness and he recognizes her, is one of the most moving recognition scenes in all of Shakespeare.

Notable Quotations

"If fires be hot, knives sharp, or waters deep, / Untied I still my virgin knot will keep." *(IV.ii)*

"My derivation was from ancestors / Who stood equivalent with mighty kings." *(V.i)*

Cross-references

• Pericles — the play
• Romances (Late Plays)
• character_pericles — her father whose life she restores
• character_gower_pericles — the Chorus who narrates her story with admiration