Overview

Pericles, Prince of Tyre, is a fantastic voyage of sea and mind, where nothing is as what it first appears to be, where the worst disasters and the greatest losses are offset by miraculous recoveries and joyous reunions. Both applauded and mocked in its day, Pericles did not appear in the First Folio, possibly because the text was known to be corrupt. The general opinion is Shakespeare wrote the last three acts, while someone else (thought to be George Wilkins) wrote the first two. No matter; it's a love story wrapped in adventure. We are in drawn in by the riddle, the shipwreck and the wooing, the storm and the loss, and the final reunion of Pericles and Thaisa.The play involves a lot of travel, reminiscent of the old Rick Nelson song ( I'm a travelin' man, made a lot of stops all over the world ). That's what Pericles does, travel by sea and make a lot stops all over the Greek world (Antioch, Tyre, Tarsus, Pentapolis, Mytilene and Ephesus). The story begins with a riddle, propounded by Antiochus, King of Antioch, which Pericles solves. The answer, which no one has found (death is the penalty of failure), is that father and daughter are having an incestuous relationship. Death is the penalty of solving the riddle too, it turns out, and Pericles must escape. Back in Tyre he leaves Helicanus to govern in his absence and sets off for Tarsus where he relieves the famine-stricken city. Still pursued by one of Antiochus' assassins, he puts to sea once again, only to be shipwrecked on the shore of Pentapolis. A tournament in that fair city is underway, which Pericles wins. He also wins the heart of the king's daughter, Thaisa (pronounced Ty-eesa). They are married, and when Pericles learns it's safe to return to Tyre, the two board a ship for his home. During a great sea storm, Thaisa gives birth to a daughter, Marina. Thought to be dead, Thaisa is put in a waterproof chest and cast overboard. When the chest arrives on the shore of Ephesus, the noble Cerimon revives Thaisa. Believing she is the only survivor, Thaise becomes a priestess of Diana's temple. Pericles, meanwhile, returns to Tyre and entrusts the care of infant Marina to Cleon, governor of Tarsus, and his wife Dionyza. Fourteen years pass. Dionyza becomes jealous of Marina who overshadows her own daughter, and plans to have her murdered. Pirates intervene by kidnapping Marina and taking her to Mytilene. She's escaped death only to be put in a brothel. Pericles is unaware of this. Believing his daughter has died, he vows never to wash his face or cut his hair ever again. Marina, meanwhile, whose purity bewilders her employers and startles the good governor, Lysimachus, manages to leave the brothel and find work in an honest house. Utterly dejected, Pericles travels to Myrilene and meets the good governor, Lysimachus. In order to find him comfort, the governor sends for Marina. The two meet in his ship where Pericles realizes this his daughter. In a dream Diana urges Pericles to go to her temple at Ephesus where he is reunited with Thaisa. All griefs being over, Marina and Lysimachus are married, to live in Tyre, while Pericles and Thaisa make their new home in Pentapolis. And so it ends--happily. I prefer the Pelican Shakespeare edition with its usual insightful introduction by the editor, in this case Stephen Orgel of Stanford University, with notes at the bottom of each page, and slim size, making it handy to read in trains, plans and on park benches.

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