62 pages • 2-hour read
Pericles
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Background
Authorial Context: William Shakespeare and George Wilkins
Though listed under the works of Shakespeare, Pericles was partly authored by playwright-pamphleteer George Wilkins. Modern scholarship agrees that the play’s first two acts, as well as the choruses by Gower, were composed by Wilkins, while Shakespeare was the principal author of the last three acts. One of the reasons for the attribution to Wilkins is that in 1608, he published the prose work The Painefull Adventures of Pericles Prince of Tyre, which shares several similarities with the play printed in a 1609 quarto. Wilkins borrowed the story of Pericles from two sources: Laurence Twine’s prose work The Patterne of Painefull Adventures (1594) and, more significantly, poet John Gower’s 14th-century verse Confessio Amantis. The eighth book of Confessio recounts the trials of Apollonius of Tyre, a character possibly inspired by the historical Pericles, an ancient Greek statesman.
Stylistic differences separate Wilkins’s sections from the last three acts. While the first two acts focus more on unfolding linear plot points, the last three acts involve more character-led developments. Pericles’s lament for Thaisa, Marina’s conversions of the brothel-goers, and the conversation between Pericles and Marina, all occur in the last three acts of the play. The vocabulary, rhyme schemes, and language of the two sections also differ. In the later acts, the language is more complex and richer in metaphor, as is characteristic of Shakespeare’s works. For instance, in Act IV, Marina’s speech about robbing Mother Earth of her garment of flowers to dress the grave of her nurse, Lychorida, has conceits typical of Shakespeare.
Pericles is also considered a work by Shakespeare because of its thematic similarities with the last plays of the author. Beginning with Pericles, Shakespeare’s final plays are described as “romances” because of their focus on adventures, visual effects, journeys, and fantastical elements. Like Cymbeline (circa 1608), The Winter’s Tale (circa 1609), and The Tempest (circa 1603), Pericles features father-daughter pairs, families in peril, and nautical settings and imagery.
The romances are so-called because they are difficult to categorize as mere comedies, despite their relatively happy endings. For instance, while Pericles is reunited with Marina and Thaisa at the end of the play, the preceding acts are packed with too much loss and vagaries of fortune to qualify as a comedy. Similarly, the play escapes the definition of tragedy because of its happy conclusion for its protagonist. Moreover, unlike many of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Pericles’s misfortunes are not linked with his decisions and tragic flaws, but instead caused by chance.
Critical Context: Pericles’s Reception Through Time
Printed in a popular 1609 quarto but omitted from the 1623 First Folio, the text circulated widely; its popularity is marked by five reprints before 1635. The play was omitted from the 1623 Folio because of doubts about its authorship. However, Pericles was included in the Third Folio (1663-1664).
While Pericles was a popular play in its time—no doubt because of the visual pageantry involved—it was not appreciated critically until the 20th century. In 1629, the playwright Ben Jonson lamented the "loathsome age” that enjoyed a “moldy tale” (Jonson, Ben, “Ode to Himself.” Poetry Foundation) such as Pericles, while in the 19th century, the scholar Edward Dowden called the play “singularly undramatic” and lacking in unity of action (Dowden, Edward. Shakespeare: A Critical Study of his Mind and Art. Cambridge University Press).
However, critical interest in Pericles was revived in the 20th century, especially by Modernist writers like T. S. Eliot, who emphasized the play’s emotional heft and dramatic potential. Eliot was particularly moved by the “recognition scene,” in which Pericles discovers that Marina is his daughter, so much so that he based his poem "Marina" on the scene. Though contemporary criticism acknowledges the problems in the play—such as its contrivances and coincidences—the play has increasingly come to be valued for its experimental structure, with its deliberate juxtaposition of ancient Greek and medieval dramatic conventions, and its emphasis on spectacle, seen as innovations.
In the 21st century, Pericles continues to inspire performances, including a 2024 Royal Shakespeare Company production directed by Tamara Harvey. Other notable literary adaptations include Mark Haddon’s 2019 novel, The Porpoise, which leans heavily into the fairy-tale elements of Pericles.
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