Synopsis:
Pericles risks his life to win the hand of Antiochus’s daughter, but, in meeting the challenge, he learns of the incest between her and her father. In mortal danger, he flees Antioch. Antiochus sends Thaliard to kill Pericles.
PericlesPericles
Contents
Characters in the Play
Entire Play
The nautical tale of a wandering prince, Pericles is narrated by John Gower, a poet from the English past. Gower explains that…
Act 1, 1 chorus
Gower sets the stage for Pericles’ entrance at Antioch by telling of the incest between Antiochus and his daughter, whom…
Act 1, scene 1
Pericles risks his life to win the hand of Antiochus’s daughter, but, in meeting the challenge, he learns of the…
Act 1, scene 2
Back in his kingdom of Tyre, Pericles, fearing the power of Antiochus, sets sail once again.
Act 1, scene 3
Thaliard arrives in Tyre to find Pericles gone.
Act 1, scene 4
In Tarsus, King Cleon, Queen Dionyza, and the citizens of the country, dying of hunger, are saved by Pericles and…
Act 2, 2 chorus
Gower tells of Pericles’ departure from Tarsus and of the storm that destroys his ships and men and tosses him…
Act 2, scene 1
Fishermen in Pentapolis provide the shipwrecked Pericles with clothing and then pull his armor from the sea. They agree to…
Act 2, scene 2
At the court, Pericles and other knights present their shields to Princess Thaisa, and Pericles wins the tournament.
Act 2, scene 3
Simonides and Thaisa separately express their admiration for “the stranger knight.”
Act 2, scene 4
In Tyre, Helicanus recounts the awful deaths of Antiochus and his daughter. He then agrees to accept the crown twelve…
Act 2, scene 5
King Simonides, learning that Thaisa loves Pericles, pretends to be angry, but then reveals his pleasure at their mutual love.
Act 3, 3 chorus
Gower picks up the story on the night after Pericles and Thaisa’s wedding and carries it forward through Thaisa’s becoming…
Act 3, scene 1
In the storm, Thaisa dies in giving birth and her body is cast into the sea. To save the baby,…
Act 3, scene 2
The body of Thaisa washes ashore in Ephesus, where she is revived by a physician named Lord Cerimon.
Act 3, scene 3
Pericles leaves the infant, Marina, in the care of Cleon and Dionyza and sails for Tyre.
Act 3, scene 4
In Ephesus, Thaisa decides to become a votaress at the temple of Diana.
Act 4, 4 chorus
Gower carries the story forward fourteen years, focusing on the young Marina. Her beauty and talents arouse murderous hatred in…
Act 4, scene 1
Dionyza’s hired murderer, Leonine, is prevented from murdering Marina by pirates, who carry her away to their ship.
Act 4, scene 2
Marina is sold by the pirates to a brothel in Mytilene.
Act 4, scene 3
Dionyza, after Leonine has (falsely) reported Marina’s death, now justifies her actions to a horrified Cleon.
Act 4, scene 4
Gower tells of Pericles’ arrival in Tarsus, his learning of Marina’s death, and his vow of perpetual mourning.
Act 4, scene 5
In Mytilene, Marina preserves her virginity through eloquent pleas to her potential customers. We see the effect on two such…
Act 4, scene 6
Lysimachus, the governor of Mytilene, arrives at the brothel and is so moved (or shamed) by Marina’s eloquence that he…
Act 5, 5 chorus
Gower describes Marina’s success in Mytilene and tells of Pericles’ ship landing on Mytilene’s shores.
Act 5, scene 1
Lysimachus visits Pericles’ ship and sends for Marina, whose music he thinks will revive the grief-stricken king. When Marina tells…
Act 5, scene 2
Gower tells of the celebrations for Pericles in Mytilene and of the betrothal of Marina and Lysimachus.
Act 5, scene 3
At Diana’s temple in Ephesus, Thaisa recognizes Pericles as her husband and is reunited with him and with her daughter.
Act 5, epilogue
Gower reflects on the now-completed story and tells the fate of Cleon and Dionyza.
⌜Scene 1⌝
Enter Antiochus, Prince Pericles, and followers.ANTIOCHUS
Young Prince of Tyre, you have at large received
The danger of the task you undertake.
PERICLES
I have, Antiochus, and with a soul
Emboldened with the glory of her praise
5 Think death no hazard in this enterprise.
11
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
ACT 1. SC. 1
Music!⌜Music sounds offstage.⌝
Bring in our daughter, clothèd like a bride
For embracements even of Jove himself,
At whose conception, till Lucina reigned,
10 Nature this dowry gave: to glad her presence,
The senate house of planets all did sit
To knit in her their best perfections.
Enter Antiochus’ daughter.
PERICLES
See where she comes, appareled like the spring,
Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king
15 Of every virtue gives renown to men!
Her face the book of praises, where is read
Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence
Sorrow were ever ⌜razed,⌝ and testy wrath
Could never be her mild companion.
20 You gods that made me man, and sway in love,
That have inflamed desire in my breast
To taste the fruit of yon celestial tree
Or die in th’ adventure, be my helps,
As I am son and servant to your will,
25 To compass such a boundless happiness.
ANTIOCHUS
Prince Pericles—
PERICLES
That would be son to great Antiochus.
ANTIOCHUS
Before thee stands this fair Hesperides,
With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touched;
30 For deathlike dragons here affright thee hard.
Her face, like heaven, enticeth thee to view
Her countless glory, which desert must gain;
And which without desert, because thine eye
Presumes to reach, all the whole heap must die.
13
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
ACT 1. SC. 1
35 Yon sometimes famous princes, like thyself,
Drawn by report, advent’rous by desire,
Tell thee with speechless tongues and semblance pale
That, without covering save yon field of stars,
Here they stand martyrs slain in Cupid’s wars,
40 And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist
For going on death’s net, whom none resist.
PERICLES
Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath taught
My frail mortality to know itself,
And by those fearful objects to prepare
45 This body, like to them, to what I must.
For death remembered should be like a mirror
Who tells us life’s but breath, to trust it error.
I’ll make my will, then, and as sick men do
Who know the world, see heaven but, feeling woe,
50 Gripe not at earthly joys as erst they did;
So I bequeath a happy peace to you
And all good men, as every prince should do;
My riches to the earth from whence they came,
⌜To the Daughter.⌝ But my unspotted fire of love to
55 you.—
Thus ready for the way of life or death,
I wait the sharpest blow.
ANTIOCHUS
Scorning advice, read the conclusion, then:
Which read and not expounded, ’tis decreed,
60 As these before thee, thou thyself shalt bleed.
DAUGHTER
Of all ’sayed yet, mayst thou prove prosperous;
Of all ’sayed yet, I wish thee happiness.
PERICLES
Like a bold champion I assume the lists,
Nor ask advice of any other thought
65 But faithfulness and courage.
15
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
ACT 1. SC. 1
I am no viper, yet I feed
On mother’s flesh which did me breed.
I sought a husband, in which labor
I found that kindness in a father.
70 He’s father, son, and husband mild;
I mother, wife, and yet his child.
How they may be, and yet in two,
As you will live resolve it you.
⌜Aside.⌝ Sharp physic is the last! But, O you powers
75 That gives heaven countless eyes to view men’s acts,
Why cloud they not their sights perpetually
If this be true which makes me pale to read it?
Fair glass of light, I loved you, and could still
Were not this glorious casket stored with ill.
80 But I must tell you now my thoughts revolt;
For he’s no man on whom perfections wait
That, knowing sin within, will touch the gate.
You are a fair viol, and your sense the strings
Who, fingered to make man his lawful music,
85 Would draw heaven down and all the gods to
hearken;
But, being played upon before your time,
Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime.
Good sooth, I care not for you.
ANTIOCHUS
90 Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy life,
For that’s an article within our law
As dangerous as the rest. Your time’s expired.
Either expound now or receive your sentence.
PERICLES Great king,
95 Few love to hear the sins they love to act.
’Twould braid yourself too near for me to tell it.
Who has a book of all that monarchs do,
He’s more secure to keep it shut than shown.
For vice repeated is like the wand’ring wind,
100 Blows dust in others’ eyes to spread itself;
17
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
ACT 1. SC. 1
The breath is gone, and the sore eyes see clear
To stop the air would hurt them. The blind mole casts
Copped hills towards heaven, to tell the Earth is
105 thronged
By man’s oppression, and the poor worm doth die
for ’t.
Kings are Earth’s gods; in vice their law’s their will;
And if Jove stray, who dares say Jove doth ill?
110 It is enough you know; and it is fit,
What being more known grows worse, to smother it.
All love the womb that their first being bred;
Then give my tongue like leave to love my head.
ANTIOCHUS, ⌜aside⌝
Heaven, that I had thy head! He has found the
115 meaning.
But I will gloze with him.—Young Prince of Tyre,
Though by the tenor of ⌜our⌝ strict edict,
Your exposition misinterpreting,
We might proceed to ⌜cancel⌝ of your days,
120 Yet hope, succeeding from so fair a tree
As your fair self, doth tune us otherwise.
Forty days longer we do respite you,
If by which time our secret be undone,
This mercy shows we’ll joy in such a son.
125 And until then, your entertain shall be
As doth befit our honor and your worth.
All except Pericles exit.
PERICLES
How courtesy would seem to cover sin
When what is done is like an hypocrite,
The which is good in nothing but in sight.
130 If it be true that I interpret false,
Then were it certain you were not so bad
As with foul incest to abuse your soul;
Where now ⌜you’re⌝ both a father and a son
19
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
ACT 1. SC. 1
135 Which pleasures fits a husband, not a father,
And she an eater of her mother’s flesh
By the defiling of her parents’ bed;
And both like serpents are, who, though they feed
On sweetest flowers, yet they poison breed.
140 Antioch, farewell, for wisdom sees those men
Blush not in actions blacker than the night
Will ⌜’schew⌝ no course to keep them from the light.
One sin, I know, another doth provoke;
Murder’s as near to lust as flame to smoke.
145 Poison and treason are the hands of sin,
Ay, and the targets to put off the shame.
Then, lest my life be cropped to keep you clear,
By flight I’ll shun the danger which I fear.He exits.
Enter Antiochus.
ANTIOCHUS He hath found the meaning,
150 For which we mean to have his head.
He must not live to trumpet forth my infamy,
Nor tell the world Antiochus doth sin
In such a loathèd manner.
And therefore instantly this prince must die,
155 For by his fall my honor must keep high.—
Who attends us there?
Enter Thaliard.
THALIARD Doth your Highness call?
ANTIOCHUS
Thaliard, you are of our chamber, Thaliard,
And our mind partakes her private actions
160 To your secrecy; and for your faithfulness
We will advance you, Thaliard. Behold,
Here’s poison, and here’s gold. ⌜He gives poison and
money.⌝ We hate the Prince
Of Tyre, and thou must kill him. It fits thee not
21
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
ACT 1. SC. 2
Say, is it done?
THALIARD My lord, ’tis done.
ANTIOCHUS Enough.
Enter a Messenger.
Let your breath cool yourself, telling your haste.
MESSENGER 170My lord, Prince Pericles is fled.⌜He exits.⌝
ANTIOCHUS, ⌜to Thaliard⌝ As thou wilt live, fly after,
and like an arrow shot from a well-experienced
archer hits the mark his eye doth level at, so thou
never return unless thou say Prince Pericles is
175 dead.
THALIARD My lord, if I can get him within my pistol’s
length, I’ll make him sure enough. So, farewell to
your Highness.
⌜ANTIOCHUS⌝
Thaliard, adieu. Till Pericles be dead,
180 My heart can lend no succor to my head.
⌜They exit.⌝
