Pericles, Prince Of Tyre: A Comedy

By William Shakespeare

When the young Prince Pericles puzzles out a terrible secret about the king of Antioch, he flees the city to avoid the ruler’s wrath and sets sail on his ship. His adventures bring him to Pentapolis, where his strength and courage win him a princess’s hand in marriage. But as Pericles embarks on the voyage home with his wife, his greatest tragedies and triumphs still lay ahead.

Known as “The Bard of Avon,” William Shakespeare is arguably the greatest English-language writer known. Enormously popular during his life, Shakespeare’s works continue to resonate more than three centuries after his death, as has his influence on theatre and literature. Shakespeare’s innovative use of character, language, and experimentation with romance as tragedy served as a foundation for later playwrights and dramatists, and some of his most famous lines of dialogue have become part of everyday speech.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Dec 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781443443456

William Shakespeare

Born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer and playwright in the English language. In 1594 he founded the acting company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later the King's Men, in London. He died in 1616.

Book preview

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

GOWER

as Chorus

ANTIOCHUS

King of Antioch

PERICLES

Prince of Tyre

HELICANUS, ESCANES

two lords of Tyre

SIMONIDES

King of Pentapolis

CLEON

Governor of Tharsus

LYSIMACHUS

Governor of Mytilene

CERIMON

a lord of Ephesus

THALIARD

a lord of Antioch

PHILEMON

servant to Cerimon

LEONINE

servant to Dionyza

Marshal

A Pander

BOULT

his servant

The Daughter of Antiochus

DIONYZA

wife to Cleon

THAISA

daughter to Simonides

MARINA

daughter to Pericles and Thaisa

LYCHORIDA

nurse to Marina

A Bawd

DIANA

Lords, Ladies, Knights, Gentlemen, Sailors, Pirates, Fishermen, and Messengers.

THE SCENE: DISPERSEDLY IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES.

ACT ONE

Antioch. Before the palace.

Enter GOWER.

To sing a song that old was sung,

From ashes ancient Gower is come,

Assuming man’s infirmities,

To glad your ear and please your eyes.

[5]

It hath been sung at festivals,

On ember-eves and holy-ales;

And lords and ladies in their lives

Have read it for restoratives.

The purchase is to make men glorious;

[10]

Et bonum quo antiquius, eo melius.

If you, born in those latter times,

When wit’s more ripe, accept my rhymes,

And that to hear an old man sing

May to your wishes pleasure bring,

[15]

I life would wish, and that I might

Waste it for you, like taper-light.

This Antioch, then, Antiochus the Great

Built up, this city, for his chiefest seat;

The fairest in all Syria --

[20]

I tell you what mine authors say.

This king unto him took a fere,

Who died and left a female heir,

So buxom, blithe, and full of face,

As heaven had lent her all his grace:

[25]

With whom the father liking took,

And her to incest did provoke.

Bad child! Worse father! To entice his own

To evil should be done by none.

But custom what they did begin

[30]

Was with long use account no sin.

The beauty of this sinful dame

Made many princes thither frame

To seek her as a bed-fellow,

In marriage-pleasures play-fellow;

[35]

Which to prevent he made a law --

To keep her still, and men in awe --

That whoso ask’d her for his wife,

His riddle told not, lost his life.

So for her many a wight did die,

[40]

As yon grim looks do testify.

What now ensues to the judgment of your eye

I give, my cause who best can justify. [Exit.

SCENE I. Antioch. The palace.

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

Embold’ned with the glory of her praise,

[5]

Think death no hazard in this enterprise.

ANTIOCHUS Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride [Music.

For the embracements even of Jove himself;

At whose conception, till Lucina reigned,

Nature this dowry gave to glad her presence:

[10]

The senate-house of planets all did sit,

To knit in her their best perfections.

Enter the Daughter of Antiochus.

PERICLES See where she comes, apparell’d like the spring,

Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king

Of every virtue gives renown to men.

[15]

Her face the book of praises, where is read

Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence

Sorrow were ever raz’d, and testy wrath

Could never be her mild companion.

You gods that made me man, and sway in love,

[20]

That have inflam’d desire in my breast

To taste the fruit of yon celestial tree,

Or die in the adventure, be my helps,

As I am son and servant to your will,

To compass such a boundless happiness!

[25]

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 touch’d;

For death-like dragons here affright thee hard.

[30]

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.

Yon sometimes famous princes, like thyself,

[35]

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;

And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist

[40]

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

This body, like to them, to what I must;

[45]

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,

Gripe not at earthly joys as erst they did;

[50]

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 Princess] But my unspotted fire of love to you.

Thus ready for the way of life or death,

[55]

I wait the sharpest blow, Antiochus.

ANTIOCHUS Scorning advice, read the conclusion then:

Which read and not expounded, ’tis decreed,

As these before thee, thou thyself shalt bleed.

DAUGHTER Of all ‘say’d yet, mayst thou prove prosperous!

[60]

Of all ‘say’d yet, I wish thee happiness!

PERICLES Like a bold champion I assume the lists,

Nor ask advice of any other thought

But faithfulness and courage. [Reads.

The Riddle.

I am no viper, yet I feed

[65]

On mother’s flesh which did me breed.

I sought a husband, in which labour

I found that kindness in a father.

He’s father, son, and husband mild;

I mother, wife, and yet his child.

[70]

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

That give heaven countless eyes to view men’s acts,

Why cloud they not their sights perpetually,

[75]

If this be true, which makes me pale to read it?

Fair glass of light, I lov’d you, and could still,

Were

Reviews for Pericles, Prince Of Tyre

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In only a few minutes we’re in the midst of incest and attempted murder. There’s soap opera level drama from the start. There’s a storm at sea, shipwreck, a lost infant, lost wife, prostitutes, pirates, and so much more. Pericles escapes a dangerous situation, on the run for his life. He ends up in a new kingdom and falls in love with a princess there. In a plot straight out of The Tempest, Shakespeare has the princess’ father pretends to be against the pairing to encourage the two to fall even faster in love. There is a narrator who helps the reader navigate the many location and time changes in each act. Pericles’ lost wife plot is reminiscent of Winter’s Tale.This is one of Shakespeare’s “romance” plays. Though the ending might be happy, the story is full of tragedy. Redemption doesn’t come until the characters are heartbroken by loss. The play is interesting, but it does feel like a pieced together effort that combines some of his better work. It was the very last of his plays that I read and I feel a huge sense of accomplishment that I've finally read ALL of his plays! “Few love to hear the sins they love to act.”“Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss.”

[danielstj · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best plays I've read by Shakespeare. Truly notable. A great read!

[amerynth · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

"Pericles, Prince of Tyre" was easily my least favorite play by William Shakespeare so far. I didn't know until after reading it that many critics speculate the play was mostly written by a collaborator and not Shakespeare himself. I'm not surprised.... some of the writing was really cringe-worthy... it really lacks the masterful prose of the bard's more famous works.Plot wise, the play is pretty interesting and moves fairly quickly. King Pericles flees his country after finding out an unfortunate secret of a neighboring king, loses his wife, then loses his daughter. If the writing itself had been better, this would have been pretty entertaining.

[coach_of_alva · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I've read from that this play is another Shakespearian collaboration. I couldn't separate the Bard from the Hack to my satisfaction, as I could for Timon of Athens, because it was all written on the same level of pleasant mediocrity. I was mildly interested in the use of the author of the source material as a character who introduces each act. I was a little repulsed by the sex, which involved incest between father and daughter and a young girl on the verge of being broken in as a prostitute.

[jhudsui_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

So, I'm no dramaturge or anything, but I kind of suspect this is actually not even a good play.In the introduction I find that only a relatively small part of it was written by Shakespeare and the rest was written by some neighborhood pimp who apparently also dabbled in playwriting on the side? The plot is just a bunch of random shit that happens. Totally pointless mini-arcs are introduced and then discarded to be resolved off-stage or not at all. The closest thing we have to an antagonist appears in only two scenes.One thing I found interesting (though not actually good) are the scenes in which a company of pimps attempt to coerce Pericles's daughter into taking up the profession. Knowing what I do about the author makes me uncertain about how they were really intended to come off and I suspect they were meant with a sense of sarcasm or irony that would have been obvious in contemporary performance but isn't really captured on the page.

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I don't know enough about Shakespeare to know which of his plays are comedies or tragedies and that made the reading of this play very suspenseful for me. I truly enjoyed and was wrapped up in Pericles; the conflict which happened to him pained me. It's possible that my emotions are just extra sensitive right now, but I thought this a fine read.

[therebelprince · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3 stars for the play, 5 stars for this stunning scholarly edition. If you're an actor or young student looking to read Shakespeare, I recommend the Penguin editions, with their helpful, theatre-based endnotes and their simple layout. But for academics and long-term scholars, you really can't go past the depth of the Arden.

[mstrust · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pericles, called Prince and King interchangeably, goes to win the hand of a princess and finds that the king is unwilling to let his daughter go because they are in an incestuous relationship. He plays a game with each courting prince, asking them a riddle that ends in the young man's death. Pericles catches on pretty quickly and escapes across the waters, but the king sends a man to follow and kill Pericles to keep him from exposing the king's secret.Pericles goes on to survive shipwrecks and lost love. His daughter experiences kidnapping and slavery. Yet, because this has a happy ending, it may be included as a comedy.Scholars generally agree that Shakespeare probably wrote exactly half of this play.

[meandmybooks-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Okay. For starters, thanks to Marjorie Garber and her interesting piece on the play in her “Shakespeare After All,” I enjoyed this more than I otherwise would have. She talks about how the play, a “dramatic romance,” needs to be seen not as a failed effort at the sort of play where the protagonist develops and shows psychological depth through monologues and all, but as a play where the character development and other “deep” aspects are illustrated through mythic and fairy tale motifs. …...”Some modern audiences – like some early modern ones – have found these plays deficient in realism, but, as we will see, what they actually do is shift the “real” to a different plane, one more aligned to dream, fantasy, and psychology, while retaining, at the same time, a topical relationship to historical event in Shakespeare's day.”This really did help. When events in the play got particularly... goofy or illogical, I had something to think about other than, “Well, this is pretty dumb.” (Instead, I could think, “Well, this is dumb in a mythically symbolic” sort of way.”). Anyway. So, her essay was great, and starting with her appreciation and a nice overview, I was prepared to be pleased by what the play has to offer. And I did find stuff to like. Some lovely lines and scenes, especially towards the end, and the situation with the brothel, where Marina converts all the guys who come in to virtue and the brothel owners are increasingly outraged, was funny. Until Lysimachus. The local governor comes in to the brothel looking for a virgin to deflower. So, ick. But... he sees the error of his ways, and I imagined I'd seen the last of that scumbucket. But NO. Rather than retreating to his palace or wherever he lives, he continues along with Marina, and is welcomed by Pericles as a wonderful future son-in-law. So, the fall out from being identified as a particularly loathsome sort of sexual predator is that he is welcomed into a royal family??? Not that this made me think of today's news or anything, but this Completely made me think of current events, with Roy Moore running in Alabama for the U.S. Senate, with a solidly documented record of having, in his 30's, dated young teenaged girls, and with the defense of supportive Evangelical pastors being that “only by dating young teenagers could he find girls who were really pure” (a paraphrase of the argument of Pastor Flip Benham). It's a truly twisted logic that argues that grown men chasing after young girls is a sign of high moral values. Gah. This illustration of the play's timelessness did Not increase my enjoyment.Still, this isn't one I expect to ever return to, but I'm glad to have read it once. I listened to the ensemble recording from Librivox while reading, and, despite some truly jarring mispronunciations and silly accents, their recording features some excellent performances and did help me enjoy the play. Three stars.

[leslie398 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure what to think about this play. It had been listed as one of Shakespeare's comedies but it didn't strike me as humorous. In fact, despite the happy ending with Pericles and his family reunited, I found much of the subject matter upsetting.The play starts with the young prince of Tyre, Pericles, searching for a bride. He visits a neighboring kingdom but unfortunately the beautiful daughter of the king is in an incestuous relationship with her father. Pericles flees upon discovering that secret but the king sends an assassin after him. After this disturbing opening, Pericles undergoes various adventures, mostly standard fare. Later in the play is another worrisome section, when Marina (daughter of Pericles) is captured by pirates and sold into prostitution..I guess it was considered a comedy because it didn't end with a bunch of dead bodies!