Pericles, Prince of Tyre by William Shakespeare (Story of the Play)

 

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

by William Shakespeare

(Story of the Play) 

Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a Shakespearean play that tells the tale of the adventures, trials, and ultimate redemption of Pericles, a prince from the ancient city of Tyre. The play, which is one of Shakespeare's later works and considered a romance, unfolds over many years and across various locations in the ancient Mediterranean world.

 

 Act 1: Pericles Flees for His Life

The story begins with Pericles, the young Prince of Tyre, traveling to the city of Antioch to win the hand of the king's daughter. However, he discovers a dark secret: the king, Antiochus, is in an incestuous relationship with his daughter. To keep this secret hidden, Antiochus presents suitors with a deadly riddle, and those who fail to solve it are executed. Pericles correctly solves the riddle, realizing the terrible truth, but pretends not to know it. Fearing for his life, he flees Antioch, knowing that Antiochus will seek to kill him.

 

 Act 2: Pericles' Wanderings and Marriage

Pericles returns to Tyre but soon decides to leave to protect his people from Antiochus's wrath. He travels to Tarsus, a city suffering from famine, where he helps the people by providing them with grain. Afterward, he sets sail again, but a storm wrecks his ship on the coast of Pentapolis. There, he is found by fishermen who tell him of a tournament being held by King Simonides for the hand of his daughter, Thaisa. Pericles enters the tournament, wins, and marries Thaisa.

 

 Act 3: Tragedy Strikes

Thaisa becomes pregnant, and they set sail for Tyre. However, another storm arises, and Thaisa appears to die in childbirth. Heartbroken, Pericles places her body in a coffin and sets it adrift at sea, fearing that burying her on the ship will bring bad luck. Believing his daughter to be stillborn, he leaves the newborn baby, Marina, in the care of Cleon and Dionyza, the rulers of Tarsus, and continues his journey.

 

Unbeknownst to Pericles, Thaisa's coffin washes ashore at Ephesus, where a kind physician named Cerimon revives her. Believing Pericles and her child to be dead, Thaisa becomes a priestess of the goddess Diana.

 

 Act 4: Marina's Peril

Marina grows up in Tarsus, becoming a beautiful and virtuous young woman, but Dionyza becomes jealous of her beauty and virtue, fearing that Marina will outshine her own daughter. Dionyza orders Marina's murder, but the would-be assassin, moved by Marina's innocence, spares her. Instead, Marina is captured by pirates and sold into a brothel in Mytilene. However, her purity and eloquence inspire all who meet her, and she manages to preserve her virtue despite her dire circumstances.

 

 Act 5: Reunion and Redemption

Pericles, still mourning his lost wife and daughter, travels to Mytilene, where he encounters Marina. Unaware of who she is, he is moved by her story and eventually realizes that she is his long-lost daughter. The joyous reunion heals Pericles's grief.

 

The goddess Diana then appears to Pericles in a vision, instructing him to go to her temple in Ephesus. There, Pericles and Marina are reunited with Thaisa, who has been serving as a priestess. The family is finally reunited, and they return to Tyre, where Pericles resumes his duties as prince, now with his family restored and his trials behind him.

 

The play concludes with a sense of divine justice and order, as the wicked are punished and the virtuous rewarded, leaving the audience with a feeling of hope and renewal.