Pericles Shakespeare

 

Pericles is a late romantic comedy written by William Shakespeare around 1606. The story follows Pericles, the Prince of Tyre, as he faces many challenges and tries to reunite with his family after being separated by a storm at sea. The play was not included in Shakespeare’s First Folio, which suggests that the editors did not believe he wrote the entire play. Today, most scholars agree that Shakespeare wrote most of it but had help from other playwrights. Many of Shakespeare’s plays have been adapted into TV shows and movies, and he is credited with helping to shape the romantic comedy genre.

Each act in Pericles is introduced by the ghost of John Gower, an English poet. During Shakespeare’s time, having a narrator explain parts of the story was a common theatrical technique. The play begins in Antioch, an ancient Greek city near modern-day Antakya.

Summary

In Antioch, King Antiochus is looking for a husband for his daughter. He challenges suitors to solve a riddle. Whoever solves it correctly can marry his daughter, but those who fail will be executed. So far, no one has succeeded.

Pericles, the ruler of Tyre, is searching for a wife. He is interested in the king’s challenge and decides to try solving the riddle. However, when he figures it out, he is horrified. The riddle reveals that King Antiochus has an incestuous relationship with his daughter. Pericles does not want to accuse the king, so he stays silent. As a result, he is sentenced to die in forty days.

Pericles is troubled by his situation. He wonders whether he should reveal that he knows the truth since he is doomed either way. However, he decides that he does not want to marry Antiochus’s daughter, and his priority is to escape. He asks his best friend, Helicanus, for advice. Helicanus warns him not to return to Tyre because the king will send assassins after him there.

Pericles realizes Helicanus is right and decides to leave. Before departing, he puts Helicanus in charge of Tyre. He then sails to Tarsus, a city ruled by Governor Cleon and his wife, Dionyza. He does not plan to stay long but offers them grain to help their starving people. The couple is grateful and accepts his gift. Pericles hopes that if the king’s men come looking for him, Cleon and Dionyza will pretend they never saw him.

Meanwhile, Helicanus remains in charge of Tyre and worries about Pericles. His fears are justified because Pericles soon runs into trouble. After leaving Tarsus, his ship is caught in a storm, and he is shipwrecked in Pentapolis. Some fishermen rescue him, but they do not know who he is. He also does not tell them about King Antiochus.

The fishermen take Pericles to shore and tell him about a tournament happening the next day. The king of Pentapolis, Simonides, has promised his daughter Thaisa’s hand in marriage to the winner. The fishermen encourage Pericles to enter the contest, and he finally reveals that he is the Prince of Tyre.

The next day, Pericles competes in the tournament and wins. Thaisa falls in love with him immediately and thanks the gods for sending her such a wonderful husband. At first, Simonides is unsure about Pericles, but he accepts him as the winner and allows him to marry Thaisa. The couple enjoys a happy life in Pentapolis for several months until Pericles learns that King Antiochus has died. Now, he is free to return home.

Pericles decides to take Thaisa with him to Tyre. Simonides agrees and bids them farewell. However, during their journey, Thaisa goes into labor and gives birth to a daughter, Marina. That same night, a fierce storm hits their ship, and Pericles worries that the gods are angry with them for leaving Pentapolis. Thaisa dies during childbirth, and Pericles blames himself.

Believing that they need to make an offering to the gods, Pericles and his crew place Thaisa’s body in a coffin and throw it into the sea. When the storm calms, they assume that the gods have accepted their sacrifice. Pericles, heartbroken, struggles to care for Marina without her mother. He decides to stop in Tarsus and leave Marina in the care of Cleon and Dionyza.

What Pericles does not know is that Thaisa is still alive. Her coffin washes ashore in Ephesus, where she is found and revived. Thinking she is the only survivor of the storm, she mourns the loss of her husband and daughter.

Meanwhile, Pericles returns to Tyre and rules his kingdom. Dionyza takes care of Marina, but she soon becomes jealous because Marina is more beautiful than her own daughter, Philoten. Out of spite, Dionyza plans to kill Marina. However, before she can carry out her scheme, pirates kidnap Marina and sell her to a brothel in another city.

Pericles eventually receives news that Marina is dead. Devastated, he falls into deep sorrow and loses his sense of purpose. Meanwhile, Marina refuses to work in the brothel and instead speaks to the customers about the importance of virtue. Since she is costing them money, the owners sell her to work as a tutor. Marina spends years happily teaching young women music and art.

One day, Marina and Pericles meet in Mytilene, where she has grown up. Pericles does not recognize her at first, but when he tells her about his past, Marina realizes that he is her father. Overjoyed, they reunite. Pericles is happy but wishes that Thaisa could be there as well.

That night, Pericles has a dream revealing that Thaisa is still alive. He and Marina immediately set sail to find her.

At last, Pericles, Thaisa, and Marina are reunited. When the people of Tarsus learn about Cleon and Dionyza’s evil deeds, they sentence them to death. They are executed in front of an angry crowd. Meanwhile, Pericles, Thaisa, and Marina live happily together as a family.

Analysis

Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a late romance or tragicomedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1606 in collaboration with another dramatist, possibly George Wilkins. Unlike most of Shakespeare’s plays, it was not included in the First Folio of 1623, which suggests that the editors were uncertain of its authorship or thought it incomplete. Still, the play has endured as a moving tale of loss, survival, and miraculous reunion.

What distinguishes Pericles from many other Shakespearean plays is the presence of a narrator figure, the ghost of the medieval poet John Gower, who steps forward between acts to guide the audience. Gower explains the background, fills in time gaps, and keeps the story moving swiftly across many lands. This framing device makes the play feel like a moral tale or legend, where fate, divine will, and human endurance all play central roles.

At its heart, the play follows Pericles, the young prince of Tyre, as he sets out to find a bride, suffers terrible losses, and endures separation from his wife and child. After years of sorrow and wandering, he is miraculously reunited with his family, symbolizing renewal and reconciliation.

Act I: The Riddle of Antioch

The story begins in Antioch, where King Antiochus is infamous for a strange and dangerous contest. He has a beautiful daughter, and he has declared that any man who wishes to marry her must first solve a riddle. If the suitor fails, he is executed. Many princes have already tried and died, their severed heads displayed as a warning.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre, arrives to attempt the challenge. Bold and intelligent, he quickly deciphers the riddle. To his horror, he realizes that the answer reveals an unspeakable truth: Antiochus has committed incest with his own daughter. If Pericles speaks the truth aloud, he risks immediate death; if he remains silent, he still faces doom, for Antiochus will suspect that he knows the secret.

Antiochus, aware that Pericles has uncovered his guilt, pretends to grant him forty days before returning with an answer. But in reality, he plans to send assassins after him. Pericles, deeply troubled, returns to Tyre and seeks the advice of his loyal counselor, Helicanus. Helicanus warns him that Antiochus will not let him live, and the safest course is to flee.

Realizing the danger, Pericles secretly appoints Helicanus to govern Tyre in his absence and sails away, beginning his long journey of exile and survival.

Act II: Tarsus and Shipwreck

Pericles’ first stop is Tarsus, a city ruled by Governor Cleon and his wife Dionyza. The people there are suffering from famine, and Pericles, compassionate and generous, provides them with grain from his ships. Grateful, Cleon and Dionyza welcome him, promising to hide his presence from Antiochus’s agents.

But Pericles’ journey soon turns tragic. Setting sail again, his ship is struck by a violent storm, and he is shipwrecked on the coast of Pentapolis. Exhausted, he is discovered by a group of fishermen who pull him from the sea. Though humble, they prove kindhearted, offering him food and news. They mention that their king, Simonides, is about to hold a tournament: the victor will win the hand of his daughter, Thaisa. Encouraged, Pericles reveals his identity and decides to enter the contest, though he has lost his armor in the wreck.

Act III: Thaisa and the Tournament

The tournament is held at Simonides’s court, with knights from many lands competing. Despite his hardships, Pericles fights bravely and triumphs. His modesty, nobility, and courage win the admiration of both Thaisa and her father.

Thaisa quickly falls in love with Pericles, praying to the gods in gratitude for sending her such a worthy husband. At first, King Simonides feigns reluctance, pretending to disapprove of the match. But this is only to test the young lovers. Soon he consents, and Pericles and Thaisa are married in a joyous ceremony.

For a time, they live happily in Pentapolis. Their marriage represents a new beginning, and it seems as though fortune has finally favored Pericles. But news arrives that Antiochus has died and that Pericles is free to return home. Wishing to reclaim his throne and resume his duties, he decides to take Thaisa with him back to Tyre. Simonides blesses their union and bids them farewell.

Act IV: Storms, Death, and Separation

On their journey back to Tyre, tragedy strikes again. During a fierce storm at sea, Thaisa goes into labor and gives birth to a daughter, Marina. But the labor proves too difficult, and Thaisa is believed to have died in childbirth.

Distraught, Pericles fears that the gods are angry with him. His sailors, convinced that the storm will not cease until Thaisa’s body is given to the sea, place her in a sealed chest and cast it overboard. The storm soon calms, and they believe the sacrifice has been accepted.

Pericles, heartbroken, must now care for his infant daughter. Realizing the dangers of continuing his voyage, he sails to Tarsus, where he entrusts Marina to the care of Cleon and Dionyza. He hopes they will raise her with kindness and protect her from harm. Then he departs for Tyre, never suspecting that Thaisa still lives.

Act V: Thaisa in Ephesus

Thaisa’s chest, instead of sinking, drifts ashore near Ephesus, where it is discovered by the physician Cerimon. Opening it, Cerimon finds Thaisa miraculously preserved. Using his medical skill, he revives her. Thaisa, weak but alive, mourns her lost husband and child, believing herself utterly alone. She takes refuge in the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, where she eventually becomes a priestess.

Meanwhile, in Tarsus, young Marina grows into a girl of extraordinary beauty and virtue. She excels in music, embroidery, and learning, and soon her accomplishments surpass those of her foster-sister, Philoten, the daughter of Cleon and Dionyza. Dionyza, consumed by jealousy, plots to have Marina murdered so that her own daughter will shine by comparison.

She arranges for a servant to kill Marina, but before the crime can be committed, pirates attack and seize the girl. They carry her away to Mytilene, where she is sold to a brothel.

Yet even here Marina’s purity protects her. She refuses to yield, instead persuading customers to abandon vice and choose virtue. Her words are so persuasive that the brothel-keepers, seeing her ruin their business, sell her into a safer life: she becomes a tutor, teaching music and culture to noble young women.

Back in Tyre, Pericles receives false news that Marina has died. Overcome by grief, he withdraws from public life, allowing Helicanus to govern in his place. Wandering the seas in despair, he becomes a broken man, convinced that the gods have cursed him.

The Miraculous Reunion

Years later, fate brings Pericles to Mytilene, the very city where Marina now lives. Still deep in sorrow, he refuses to speak, weighed down by his losses. The governor of Mytilene, Lysimachus, sends Marina to try to cheer him.

When Marina begins to speak, her gentle words and noble bearing stir something in Pericles. She tells him her story—her birth at sea, her mother’s apparent death, her upbringing in Tarsus, and her abduction by pirates. As she speaks, Pericles begins to realize the impossible truth: this young woman is his daughter. Overcome with joy, he embraces her, and the two are reunited at last.

That night, Pericles has a vision of the goddess Diana, who commands him to travel to her temple at Ephesus and tell his story there. Obediently, Pericles sails with Marina and Lysimachus to Ephesus.

At the temple, he recounts his tale before the priestess—who is none other than Thaisa. Recognition dawns, and the family is reunited in tears of joy. Husband, wife, and daughter, long separated, are restored to one another through the will of the gods.

Justice and Resolution

The play does not forget the villains. In Tarsus, the people discover Dionyza’s plot against Marina. Outraged by her cruelty, they rise up against her and Cleon, and the couple meets a violent end at the hands of the angry citizens.

Meanwhile, in Mytilene, Marina’s virtue is rewarded. She is courted by Lysimachus, the noble governor who recognizes her worth, and the two become engaged. Pericles, having endured loss and sorrow, at last finds peace in the embrace of his restored family.

The play closes with John Gower’s final narration, praising the endurance of Pericles and the divine justice that punished the wicked while rewarding the virtuous.

Themes and Significance

1. Suffering and Redemption
   Pericles is a story of extreme suffering followed by miraculous joy. Storms, death, and separation test the hero, but endurance leads to restoration.
2. Divine Providence
   The gods play an active role, guiding events through storms, visions, and miraculous survival. Human lives unfold under divine justice.
3. Family and Reunion
   The ultimate reward is not wealth or power but reunion with family. The recognition scenes between Pericles and Marina, and later between Pericles and Thaisa, are among the most moving in Shakespeare’s works.
4. Virtue Under Trial
   Marina, like her father, suffers exile and peril but maintains her integrity. Her steadfast virtue triumphs even in the corrupt world of the brothel.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre is one of Shakespeare’s most unusual plays, blending adventure, romance, tragedy, and miracle. Though once neglected, it is now appreciated for its emotional depth and powerful scenes of recognition and reunion. The story takes the audience across the Mediterranean, from Antioch to Tyre, from Tarsus to Pentapolis, from Ephesus to Mytilene, weaving a tale of storms and survival. At its heart is a simple but profound message: though fortune may batter and scatter us, endurance, faith, and virtue can bring renewal and joy.