Pericles

Pericles, Prince of Tyre (circa 1608) is one of William Shakespeare’s late plays, co-written with Geroge Wilkins and forming part of a cycle of romances that includes Cymbeline and The Tempest. The play follows the wandering Prince Pericles as he flees an incestuous tyrant, survives shipwrecks, wins and loses love, and is ultimately reunited with his long-lost wife and daughter. Once regarded as difficult to stage, Pericles is now considered one of Shakespeare’s most experimental works because of its sweeping scale and narrative innovations. Spanning many Mediterranean ports and narrated by the medieval poet Gower, the play explores The Tensions Between Fortune and Free Will, The Importance of Chastity and Political Virtue, and Appearance Versus Reality. 

This guide uses the JollyJoy Books 2024 Kindle edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of child sexual abuse, sexual violence, sexual harassment, sexual content, rape, and death.

Plot Summary

Antiochus, the mighty ruler of Antioch, has a beautiful daughter whose mother died in childbirth. Renowned for her loveliness, the princess attracts suitors from all over the world. Antioch sets up a condition for the hand of his daughter: A suitor must solve a difficult riddle to win the princess; if the suitor fails, he will be killed. Pericles, Prince of Tyre, arrives in Antioch to try his hand at the riddle. Despite the fact that the arena is filled with the skeletons of perished kings and princes, Pericles makes an attempt and discovers the secret of the riddle: Antiochus is involved in an incestuous relationship with his own daughter. Afraid that Antiochus will kill him for discovering his secret, Pericles flees Antioch. Antiochus sends an assassin, Thaliard, after Pericles.

In Tyre, Pericles is advised to stay away from his country since the threat of Antioch looms over his head. Pericles sails for Tarsus, where the people are suffering from a long famine. Pericles’s armada brings corn and grain, for which he is celebrated by Cleon, the governor, and his wife, Dionyza. Cleon promises his everlasting loyalty to Pericles. After Pericles realizes that Thaliard is on his trail, he leaves Tarsus. 

After his ship is wrecked in a storm, Pericles lands in Pentapolis, losing everything save his armor. When he learns that King Simonides is holding a jousting tournament for the hand of his daughter, Thaisa, Pericles participates. He wins the tournament, impressing Thaisa and Simonides with his humility. Pericles and Thaisa marry. Thaisa is heavily pregnant when Pericles receives news from Tyre that Antiochus and his daughter have died. The people of Tyre are growing restless without a ruler. Helicanus, Pericles’s friend who has been ruling in his stead, has asked the people to give him 12 months to find Pericles. Pericles must immediately return to Tyre.

Simonides sends off Pericles and Thaisa to Tyre. The journey is only half-complete when yet another storm lashes the sea. Thaisa goes into labor and delivers a daughter, Marina. Thaisa herself is then believed to have died. When the sailors insist that a corpse on the ship is a bad omen, a grief-struck Pericles agrees to have Thaisa sealed in a casket and thrown overboard. He directs the sailors to take him to the nearest port when the storm calms, as the baby cannot make the long journey to Tyre. The nearest port being Tarsus, Pericles entrusts Cleon and Dionyza with Marina. He promises to return for his daughter when matters are settled in Tyre.

Thaisa’s casket is washed ashore in Ephesus and brought to Cerimon, the wise physician of the city. Cerimon discovers that Thaisa, safe in the watertight casket, is still alive. He revives her with the help of his potions. Thaisa tells Cerimon that she is the wife of Pericles, king of Tyre. Certain that Pericles and their daughter have perished in the storm, Thaisa takes on nun’s garments. Cerimon accompanies her to the temple of Diana, where Thaisa becomes a priestess.

Fourteen years pass. Cleon has given Marina a well-rounded education, so that she is exceptional at singing, embroidery, and the arts. She is also exceedingly beautiful, so much so that her fame eclipses that of Philoten, Cleon and Dionyza’s own daughter. Jealous of Marina, Dionyza sends the assassin Leonine to kill Marina on the shore. Before Leonine can strike, Marina is stolen away by a band of dreaded pirates. Thinking this means Marina is as good as dead, Leonine tells Dionyza he killed Marina.

The pirates take Marina to Mytilene and sell her to a brothel. The traffickers try to force Marina into sex work, but she resists. Moreover, with her beautiful, pious singing and wise words, she dissuades many customers from soliciting sex. Mytilene’s governor, Lysimachus, pretends to be a customer so he can test Marina. Impressed by Marina’s goodness, Lysimachus gives her some gold so she can support herself. Meanwhile, the traffickers are enraged that Marina is costing them business; they decide that Marina must be forced into the trade through rape. However, Boult, the man assigned to rape Marina, has a change of heart when he listens to her. Marina convinces Boult to let her earn money for the brothel through tutoring the children of noblemen. Thus, Marina escapes the brothel.

In Tarsus, Cleon is heartbroken at Dionyza’s actions. However, he agrees to keep her conspiracy a secret and tell everyone that Marina died a natural death. When Pericles arrives in Tarsus to fetch Marina, Cleon indicates that his daughter has died. A heartbroken Pericles puts on clothes of mourning and wanders the sea in grief. In a stroke of destiny, Pericles’s ship approaches Mytilene. Lysimachus visits the ship, and learns through Helicanus that Pericles, the ruler of Tyre, is in deep grief, refusing to speak to anyone. Lysimachus suggests that Pericles may benefit from meeting a virtuous young woman in his country, whose words are enough to change hearts. He sends for Marina.

When Marina arrives on Pericles’s ship, she attempts to talk the king out of his grief by telling him her own sorrowful tale. It is now that Pericles discovers that the girl is none other than the daughter he believed dead. Father and daughter reunite. Fainting in a rapture of joy, Pericles has a dream in which the goddess Diana bids him to visit her temple in Ephesus.

Pericles, Marina, Helicanus, and Lysimachus arrive in Ephesus, where Lysimachus asks Pericles for the hand of Marina. Pericles happily agrees. At the temple, Pericles hails the goddess, introducing himself as the king of Tyre. A priestess faints when she hears his voice. When Pericles goes close to the woman, he is astonished to see that she is Thaisa. As Thaisa awakens, she has a joyous reunion with Marina and Pericles. Pericles thanks Diana for her perfect divine plan and holds a sacrifice in her honor.

As the play ends, it is revealed that Cleon and Dionyza were killed for their crime by the people of Tarsus. Thaisa tells Pericles that King Simonides has passed away. Pericles announces that he and Thaisa will rule in Pentapolis, while Marina and Lysimachus will be queen and king in Tyre. Gower, the chorus of the play, thanks the audience for attending, and hopes the play showed that goodness is rewarded and evil punished.