Pericles, Prince of Tyre
The first of Shakespeare's late romances, Pericles is an episodic adventure story of loss, sea-voyages, apparent death, and miraculous reunion. Narrated by the medieval poet John Gower, it covers years and spans the Mediterranean as Pericles loses and eventually recovers his wife and daughter.
At a Glance
- Genre: Romance (Late Play)
- Approximate date: c. 1607–1608 (possibly co-written with George Wilkins)
- Setting: Antioch, Tyre, Tarsus, Pentapolis, Ephesus, Mytilene — the Mediterranean world
- Source: John Gower's Confessio Amantis; Laurence Twine's Patterne of Painefull Adventures
- Acts: 5
Dramatis Personæ
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
| PERICLES | Prince of Tyre; storm-tossed; patient in suffering; joyfully restored |
| HELICANUS and ESCANES | Lords of Tyre; loyal to Pericles |
| SIMONIDES | King of Pentapolis; Thaisa's father; jovial |
| CLEON | Governor of Tarsus; helped by Pericles; then complicit in Marina's near-murder |
| LYSIMACHUS | Governor of Mytilene; reformed by Marina; later betrothed to her |
| CERIMON | Lord of Ephesus; doctor; restores Thaisa to life |
| THALIARD | Lord of Antioch; sent to murder Pericles |
| PHILEMON | Servant to Cerimon |
| LEONINE | Dionyza's servant; sent to murder Marina; cannot do it |
| MARSHAL | At the tournament in Pentapolis |
| A PANDAR and BOULT | Brothel-keepers in Mytilene; cannot break Marina |
| DAUGHTER OF ANTIOCHUS | An incest victim; her riddle opens the play |
| DIONYZA | Wife to Cleon; jealous of Marina; orders her death |
| THAISA | Daughter to Simonides; Pericles's wife; believed dead at sea; becomes a vestal at Ephesus |
| MARINA | Daughter to Pericles and Thaisa; extraordinarily virtuous; born at sea; miraculously preserved |
| LYCHORIDA | Marina's nurse |
| A BAWD | In Mytilene |
| DIANA | Goddess; appears to Pericles in a vision |
| GOWER | The medieval poet John Gower; serves as Chorus throughout |
Plot Summary
Act I (Gower narrates): Pericles travels to Antioch, where King Antiochus offers his beautiful daughter to whoever can solve his riddle — but execution to those who fail. Pericles solves the riddle (it reveals incest between Antiochus and his daughter) but flees, knowing Antiochus will have him killed for knowing. He distributes his treasury to Tarsus (under Cleon), which is starving. He narrowly escapes Thaliard, sent by Antiochus to murder him.
Act II: Pericles is shipwrecked on the coast of Pentapolis. He wins a tournament and is noticed by Princess Thaisa. Simonides, her father, tests and approves of him. Pericles and Thaisa marry. News from Tyre summons Pericles home.
Act III: At sea, Thaisa apparently dies in childbirth during a storm; the sailors insist her body be thrown overboard. She is placed in a sealed chest. The chest washes up on the shore of Ephesus; Lord Cerimon revives her with his healing arts. Thaisa, believing Pericles lost, becomes a vestal priestess at Diana's temple. Pericles leaves their infant daughter Marina with Cleon and Dionyza at Tarsus.
Act IV: Marina grows up remarkably virtuous and beautiful, outshining Dionyza's own daughter. Dionyza orders her killed; Leonine is about to do so when pirates abduct Marina. The pirates sell her to a brothel in Mytilene. Marina's extraordinary purity and eloquence convert all who approach her; she maintains her chastity despite the brothel-keepers' best efforts. Lysimachus, the Governor, comes to the brothel but is reformed by Marina's speech.
Act V: Pericles, still wandering and grief-stricken, his ship becalmed off Mytilene, is brought Marina (who has become a teacher of music and needlework). She is instructed to cure his despair. As she speaks, Pericles, astonished, gradually recognizes her; the recognition is intensely moving. Diana appears to him in a vision: go to Ephesus. There Pericles is reunited with Thaisa. Lysimachus and Marina are betrothed. Gower delivers the epilogue.
Key Themes
- Patient suffering and restoration — Pericles endures without losing himself; the romance promises that suffering ends
- Marina's virtue — a miraculous intactness that resists all corruption
- The sea — as both destroyer (storm, shipwreck) and restorer (the floating chest)
- Reunion — the central joy of the romances: what was lost is found
Notable Quotations
"Few love to hear the sins they love to act." *(Pericles, I.i)*
"I am great with woe, and shall deliver weeping." *(Dionyza, IV.iii — ironic)*
LibriVox Recording
Pericles, Prince of Tyre audiobook on LibriVox — Free public domain recording.
Cross-references
- Romances — genre context; first of the late plays
- The Winter's Tale — lost daughter restored; the pattern recurs
- The Tempest — a father's reunion with a daughter
- Cymbeline — multiple recognition and reunion scenes