Pericles

by William Shakespeare

  ACT 2 SCENE 2

  Simonides and his daughter, Thaisa, view the knights who come to joust in the tournament as they pass by in turn, each bearing a shield with a motto in Latin or Italian, which Simonides translates. The sixth of these knights is Pericles, in his rusty armor, with a Latin motto that translates as “In this hope I live.” Some Lords mock Pericles for his lowly appearance, but Simonides argues that “Opinion’s but a fool that makes us scan / The outward habit for the inward man.”

  ACT 2 SCENE 3

  All return from the joust, and Simonides bids the entire assembly to sit and feast. Thaisa crowns Pericles, the champion, with a wreath, and the knights treat him with the highest respect, asking him to sit at the table with them despite his feeling that his lowly appearance ought to prevent him from doing so. Simonides and Thaisa both reveal in private asides that they are smitten with this mysterious, humble knight, even to the extent of losing their appetites. Pericles notes in an aside how Simonides and his happy reign reminds him of his own father, and reflects that he himself, like all men, is subject to time and fortune. Simonides sees Pericles sitting alone in melancholy, and sends Thaisa to him, asking her to toast to him and inquire about his parentage. She pretends to object, but in an aside reveals that she is glad to have the chance to talk to him. He tells her he is the Prince of Tyre, and of the shipwreck he has suffered. She relates this to Simonides, who pities Pericles and resolves to be a friend to him. After the feast there is dancing, following which Simonides urges the knights to rest so they may continue wooing Thaisa the next day.

  ACT 2 SCENE 4

  Back in Tyre, Helicanus tells Escanes—another wise counselor from Pericles’ court—that Antiochus and his daughter, while “seated in a chariot / Of inestimable value,” were killed by a “fire from heaven.” Both men reflect on the divine punishment of sin. Three Lords enter in some perturbation and broach their griefs with Helicanus. They ask him to tell them where Pericles is, or at least to tell them if he is still alive, pleading that if he is not that they be allowed to choose a new ruler, preferring Helicanus himself as their choice. He asks them to wait for twelve months, after which time he will accept the crown, but urges them, if they cannot wait, to go and look for Pericles themselves. They decide to do so, and they all part in amity.

  ACT 2 SCENE 5

  Simonides enters reading a letter, which he tells the knights is from Thaisa, saying that she will not marry for the next year and that she gives no reason for this. Dejected, the knights nonetheless accept and leave the court, and Simonides reveals that the letter really says that she has decided to marry Pericles, which pleases him greatly. Pericles enters and Simonides says in an aside he will pretend to be angry about the matter. He greets Pericles and asks him what he thinks of Thaisa, then shows him the letter. Pericles denies giving her any cause to feel so strongly, but Simonides calls him a traitor, accusing him of bewitching his daughter. Pericles defends himself forcefully, yet still respectfully, against the king, and Simonides lauds his courage in an aside. Thaisa enters and Pericles asks her to confirm that he has never attempted to woo her; she protests that no one could take offense at something that would make her glad. Simonides takes each of them by the hand and continues to pretend to chastise them both, ending by saying that if they don’t obey him he’ll make them man and wife. With an equal measure of surprise and joy both accept and Simonides leads them off to be married.

  ACT 3 CHORUS

  Gower tells us that the court is asleep after the marriage celebrations, and that Pericles and Thaisa that night conceive a child. In a dumb show, Pericles receives a letter which he shows to Simonides, and then he, his pregnant wife, and Lychorida, their nursemaid, leave Pentapolis. Gower goes on to explain that Pericles has heard of the deaths of Antiochus and his daughter, and that the people of Tyre want to crown the unwilling Helicanus, who wants to wait another six months for the rightful king’s return. Pericles and his family set off for Tyre to halt a mutiny, and the people of Pentapolis send him on his way, joyous to learn that the strange knight who has married their princess is in fact a king. At sea, Pericles’ ship is struck by another terrible storm.

  ACT 3 SCENE 1

  On board the ship Pericles calls to the gods to allay the storm. Lychorida enters carrying Pericles’ newborn daughter and tells him that Thaisa has died in childbirth. He cries to the gods for taking away the loves they give us, and tells the baby that its life will be gentle and mild as her birth amid the storm was so rough. Some Sailors come on deck and tell Pericles that according to their seafaring superstition Thaisa’s body must be thrown overboard or the storm will never abate. He agrees, and speaks poignantly over her body, calling for spices, ink, paper, and his casket and jewels to perform a “priestly farewell” to her. One of the Sailors offers him a watertight chest in which to inter the body and another tells him they are near the coast of Tarsus. Pericles orders them to dock there so that he might entrust the baby to Cleon’s care, fearing that the child will not survive all the way to Tyre.

  ACT 3 SCENE 2

  In Ephesus (an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey), Cerimon, a kindly doctor, administers to men who have suffered in the storm. Two Gentlemen enter and reveal that they have been driven out of their storm-battered coastal houses through fear, and ask why Cerimon, whose clothes signify wealth, should take the trouble to help the poor and the sick. Cerimon answers that “Virtue and cunning” (divine power and knowledge) are far more precious than money, and that he values his knowledge of medicine and natural drugs highly. The Gentlemen attest that he is highly thought of as a charitable healer in Ephesus. Cerimon’s servant and others enter carrying Thaisa’s coffin, which they found washed up on the shore. They open it and find Pericles’ letter and jewels, the latter offered in the letter as payment for anyone who will do the charitable office of giving Thaisa, a king’s daughter, proper burial. Cerimon perceives that she is actually still alive, and has the servant make a fire and bring him his medicines, ordering music to be played too. Thaisa revives, and they take her “to the next chamber” to nurse her fully back to health.

  ACT 3 SCENE 3

  In Tarsus Pericles tells Cleon that he must return to Tyre, and shows a patient, albeit sad, fortitude in his acceptance of what has happened to him. He asks Cleon to raise his daughter, named Marina because she was born at sea, as an aristocrat, “that she may be mannered as she is born.” Cleon agrees, wishing to repay Pericles for his kindness to him and his people during the famine. Pericles thanks him and Dionyza and vows never to cut his hair until Marina is married, leaving Lychorida to stay and help rear the child.

  ACT 3 SCENE 4

  In Ephesus Cerimon shows Thaisa the jewels and the letter that were found with her in her coffin, and she recognizes Pericles’ handwriting.

  Believing she will never see him again, she decides to take holy orders and become a vestal virgin. Cerimon offers to help her and to take her to the temple of Diana, the goddess of chastity.

  ACT 4 CHORUS

  Gower tells us of the passage of time, with Pericles a king, settled at Tyre, Thaisa at Diana’s temple, and Marina, now aged fourteen (see 5.2.87), living in Tarsus, best friends with Cleon and Dionyza’s daughter, Philoten. Marina, whom Cleon educated and bred as a princess according to his promise, is so full of natural graces and talents that all praise her, disregarding Philoten. This fills Dionyza with an envious rage, and so after Lychorida’s (natural) death she hires a murderer, Leonine, to kill Marina.

  ACT 4 SCENE 1

  Dionyza tells Leonine to do the deed without conscience or remorse and he will be rewarded well. Marina enters with flowers to strew on Lychorida’s grave, lamenting that the world to her “is as a lasting storm, / Whirring me from my friends.” Dionyza pretends to comfort her, and tells her to walk along the seafront with Leonine, saying that the sea air will do her good. Marina does not want to, but consents. She tells Leonine of the storm in which she was born, and of her father’s bravery and resolve
through it. Leonine tells her that he means to kill her, offering her the chance to pray first, and she pleads with him. Suddenly, a group of Pirates enter and scare Leonine away. They kidnap Marina, and Leonine notes that they “serve the great pirate Valdes.” Believing that Marina will never be seen again, he resolves to tell Dionyza that she is dead and thrown into the sea, but notes that there is a chance they may want to rape her and leave her, and he will then have to kill her after all.

  ACT 4 SCENE 2

  At a brothel in Mytilene (a town on the island of Lesbos, Greece), three bawds—Pander, Bawd, and their man, Bolt—bemoan the fact that trade is slow, blaming their lack of prostitutes for the problem (Bawd says they have “but poor three,” and that they are disease-ridden). Pander sends Bolt out into the market to find “fresh ones,” and he and Bawd discuss the prospect of retirement. Bolt returns with Marina and the Pirates, who tell them that she is a virgin and ask one thousand marks for her. Pander leaves with the Pirates to pay them, and Bawd tells Bolt to go out and advertise her features and virginity in the marketplace. Marina wishes that Leonine or the Pirates had killed her. Bawd tries to coax Marina into accepting her new life, even suggesting that she will grow to enjoy it in time, but Marina is horrified, thinking Bawd so inhuman she asks her if she is a woman. Bolt returns and tells the Bawd of all the men who were virtually queuing up to sleep with Marina, noting that one “Spaniard’s mouth watered.” Bolt and Bawd decide that Marina must be forced, the Bawd telling her not to weep as it will put their customers off. She also promises Bolt that he may also “cut a morsel off the spit,” and sends him out to advertise her further. Marina swears that she will serve the goddess Diana, and keep her chastity, even if she must take her own life.

  ACT 4 SCENE 3

  In Tarsus, Dionyza tells Cleon what she thinks is true: that Leonine has killed Marina at her behest. Cleon is outraged, but Dionyza is unrepentant, explaining how she was driven to it by Marina’s constant eclipsing of their own daughter, and accusing Cleon of cowardice and hypocrisy. Cleon wonders what he can say to Pericles, and worries that the gods will be angry.

  ACT 4 SECOND CHORUS

  Gower apologizes for the device of so many imaginary leaps across time and place, and that the play uses “one language in each several clime.” He tells us that Pericles is making his way to Tarsus with Helicanus to see Marina, having left Escanes to rule temporarily in Tyre. In a dumb show, Cleon and Dionyza show Pericles Marina’s tomb; he dons sackcloth and leaves “in a mighty passion.” Gower remarks on villainy and deception, and tells us that Pericles has sworn never to wash his face or cut his hair, setting sail once more on his travels, and encountering another storm at sea. Gower reads Marina’s epitaph, written by Dionyza, and tells us that we are now returning to Marina in Mytilene.

  ACT 4 SCENE 4

  Two Gentlemen leave the brothel, vowing to lead virtuous lives after having tried to sleep with Marina and been converted to goodness by the “divinity” of her persuasive oratory.

  ACT 4 SCENE 5

  Lines 1–55: Pander and the Bawd are bemoaning being saddled with Marina as she is even worse for business than their previous predicament, able to “freeze the god Priapus” with her chaste goodness. Bolt decides that he must “ravish her” to break her in to her duties in the brothel. Lysimachus, the governor of Mytilene, arrives in disguise and asks for a girl without any venereal disease, that a man may “deal withal and defy the surgeon.” They tell him of Marina, a virgin, but insinuate that she will not be tempted into bed for any amount of money. The Bawd brings Marina out and instructs her to do whatever the governor—a powerful and influential customer—wants her to do, saying that he is “an honourable man.” Marina retorts that she hopes “to find him so.”

  Lines 56–112: Left alone with her, Lysimachus asks Marina how long she has been in this “trade.” Perhaps willfully, she does not understand him, and interprets the meaning as the trade she has lived by her whole life: her virtue and honor. He tells her that he is the governor of the town and tries to use his power to seduce her, but she pleads that she is only in this “sty” by cruel chance, and wishes that the gods would change her to “the meanest bird / That flies i’th’purer air” so that she could escape it. Lysimachus is converted by her eloquent plea, and gives her gold, asking her that she think well of him, and says that if she ever hears from him in the future it shall be for her good. Bolt enters and asks for money but Lysimachus scolds him and tells him that without the virtuous Marina to “prop” their bawdy house, it would “sink and overwhelm” him.

  Lines 113–186: With Lysimachus gone, Bolt resolves to rape Marina so that they can start to make some money with her. The Bawd enters and Bolt tells her Marina has driven away Lysimachus. Bawd tells Bolt to do as he had intended and have his way with Marina. Left alone with Marina, Bolt tries to force her to yield to him, but again she pleads passionately and eloquently and Bolt is eventually moved by her words. She gives him the gold that Lysimachus gave her and tells him that she can sing, dance, and sew, and will do any of these things, but will not prostitute herself. Bolt agrees to help her out of their brothel and into the company of “honest women.”

  ACT 5 CHORUS

  Gower tells us of Marina’s escape from the brothel and of the much-admired gifts of song, dance, and needlework at which she excels in her new life in “an honest house.” He moves our imaginative attentions back toward Pericles, who, having escaped the storm, is anchored off the coast of Mytilene. Lysimachus, honoring the feast of Neptune at the seafront, spots the mysterious sail of Pericles’ ship and sails out in his barge to meet its crew.

  ACT 5 SCENE 1

  Lines 1–77: On board Pericles’ ship, Lysimachus is introduced to Helicanus by a Sailor, and the two men greet each other warmly. Helicanus explains to Lysimachus who they are and why they are there, telling him that Pericles, the King of Tyre, is on board, and that he has not spoken to anyone for three months, eating only enough to keep him alive that he may “prorogue his grief.” He tells also of the reason for Pericles’ silence: the loss of his wife and child. Lysimachus asks to see Pericles, and tries to get him to speak, but in vain. A Lord notes that there is “a maid in Mytilene” who might “win some words of him,” and Lysimachus agrees, thinking her “sweet harmony” could move him where others have failed. They bring Marina to Pericles, and Lysimachus comments on her beauty and her goodness.

  Lines 78–200: She asks the others to stand aside while she sings to Pericles, but he is unmoved by her song. She speaks, saying she has “a grief / Might equal yours” and that her ancestors were “equivalent with mighty kings” but that “time hath rooted out [her] parentage.” Pericles stirs, moved by her words, and looks at her, and is at once amazed by her resemblance to his “dearest wife,” contending that “such a one / My daughter might have been.” He asks her where she comes from and who she is, but she tells him that if she were to do so, “it would seem / Like lies disdained in the reporting.” He tells her to speak freely, and that he will believe her “To points that seem impossible,” telling her she looks “Like one I loved indeed.” Marina tells Pericles her name, and misinterprets his shock for incredulity, but he pleads with her to go on. She tells him her father was a king, that she was born at sea, that her mother died in childbirth, and that her nurse was called Lychorida, each time urged on by Pericles in the face of her suspicion that he does not believe her. She finally tells him that King Pericles was her father, and he calls to Helicanus.

  Lines 201–288: Pericles asks Helicanus if he knows who this maid is that has “made me weep,” but he does not. Lysimachus tells him that she would never tell who her parents were when asked, but would “sit still and weep.” Pericles sinks to his knees and tells Helicanus that she is his daughter, Marina, asking her to name her mother for final assurance: she correctly names Thaisa, and Pericles embraces her, knowing at last that he has found his lost daughter. He hears music that no one else hears, and says it is the “music of the spher
es.” All the others, believing him overwrought with emotion, leave him to rest awhile, and in his sleep he sees the goddess Diana, who tells him to go to her temple in Ephesus and tell the assembled people the story of his wife’s loss. He awakes and sets about fulfilling Diana’s command, summoning all to go with him. Lysimachus tells Pericles he has a “suit” to him, and Pericles guesses that it concerns Marina, saying that he would gladly consent to their betrothal as he perceives Lysimachus has “been noble towards her.”

  ACT 5 SECOND CHORUS

  Gower tells us that the play is almost finished, and of the joyful festivities Lysimachus held for Pericles and Marina in Mytilene. He tells also of Lysimachus’ betrothal to Marina, which may not be finalized in marriage until Diana’s will has been performed. He tells us that the entire party has arrived in Ephesus to help fulfil Pericles’ promise.

  ACT 5 SCENE 2

  In Ephesus, Pericles tells his story to the assembled crowd, and Thaisa, a nun at Diana’s temple since her resuscitation by Cerimon fourteen years earlier, recognizes her long-lost husband and faints. Cerimon tells Pericles that she is his wife, and of the circumstances of how he found and revived her. Thaisa wakes and asks Pericles if he is really her husband. He recognizes her voice at once, and she also tells him that the ring he wears was given to him by her father, confirming her identity. They lovingly embrace, and Pericles reunites her with Marina. He introduces her to Helicanus, whom she has never met, asking if she remembers the name of the counselor of whom he had spoken to her many times: she does, which acts as further confirmation of who she is. Cerimon invites them all to his house to show Pericles the letter and jewels found in Thaisa’s coffin and to tell the whole story of her recovery. Pericles offers to do oblations to Diana, and tells Thaisa that Marina and Lysimachus are to be married, and that he will at last “clip to form” his hair and beard for their wedding. Thaisa tells Pericles that her father, Simonides, is dead, and Pericles wishes that the “Heavens make a star of him.” He resolves that he and Thaisa will spend the rest of their days in Pentapolis, leaving Tyre to be ruled by Marina and Lysimachus.