Pericles Prince of Tyre
Written: c. 1607; Texts: Quarto 1609 (Romance), not in the First Folio but was included in the Third Folio
Source: Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri as translated by John Gower, a poet and contemporary of Chaucer, in his Confessio Amantis, c.1390, and The Patterne of Painful Adventures (1607) by Laurence Twine.
Characters: Pericles, Gower, Marina, Simonides, Helicanus, Cleon, Cerimon
Setting: Tyre, Antioch, Tharsus, Pentapolis, Mytilene
Time: Undetermined
Pericles may have been excluded from the First Folio because it was written in collaboration, or because ownership rights were disputed at the time of the First Folio's printing. Shakespeare is believed to have written only acts III, IV & V. The author of acts I & II is believed by many scholars to be George Wilkens — a tapster, bawd and sometimes playwright. Shortly after the play's first performances, Wilkens wrote a novelization of the play and some scholars question whether he then claimed ownership of the play. However, shortly after the novel's publication, the 1609 quarto edition was published and Shakespeare's name appeared on the title page as the play's sole author. But it is not clear whether Shakespeare or his company had anything to do with this printing. The quarto was replete with errors. Due to the play's popularity, it was printed six times in quarto format from 1609 to 1635. Ownership disputes arose over the course of these printings, and some revisions were made to correct earlier errors. The play was eventually included in the Third Folio.
Notes on Pericles Prince of Tyre
Quotes from Pericles Prince of Tyre
To sing a song that old was sung
Read the QuoteGower
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.
Bad child, worse father! To entice his own
To evil should be done by none.
It hath been sung at festivals,
On ember eves and holy days,
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Young Prince of Tyre, you have at large received
Read the QuoteAntiochus
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
Think death no hazard in this enterprise.
Her face the book of praises, where is read
Nothing but curious pleasures,
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Before thee stands this fair Hesperides
Read the QuoteAntiochus
Before thee stands this fair Hesperides,
With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touched;
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.
He points to the heads.
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Few love to hear the sins they love to act
Read the QuotePericles
Great King,
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.
Kings are Earth’s gods; in vice their law’s their will;
And if Jove stray,
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Why should this change of thoughts
Read the QuotePericles
Why should this change of thoughts,
The sad companion dull-eyed Melancholy,
Be my so used a guest as not an hour
In the day’s glorious walk or peaceful night,
The tomb where grief should sleep, can breed me quiet?
And what was first but fear what might be done
Grows elder now, and cares it be not done.
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Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast
Read the QuoteFirst Lord
Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast.
Second Lord
And keep your mind till you return to us
Peaceful and comfortable.
’Tis time to fear when tyrants seems to kiss;
Helicanus
Peace, peace, and give experience tongue.
They do abuse the King that flatter him,
For flattery is the bellows blows up sin;
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This Tarsus, o’er which I have the government
Read the QuoteCleon
This Tarsus, o’er which I have the government,
A city on whom Plenty held full hand,
For Riches strewed herself even in her streets;
Whose towers bore heads so high they kissed the clouds,
And strangers ne’er beheld but wondered at;
Whose men and dames so jetted and adorned,
Like one another’s glass to trim them by;
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Speak out thy sorrows, which thee bring’st in haste
Read the QuoteCleon
Here.
Speak out thy sorrows, which thee bring’st in haste,
For comfort is too far for us to expect.
Lord
We have descried upon our neighboring shore
A portly sail of ships make hitherward.
Thou speak’st like him’s untutored to repeat
“Who makes the fairest show means most deceit.”
Cleon
I thought as much.
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But I much marvel that your lordship
Read the QuoteFirst Gentleman of Ephesus
But I much marvel that your lordship, having
Rich tire about you, should at these early hours
Shake off the golden slumber of repose.
‘Tis most strange
Nature should be so conversant with pain,
Being thereto not compelled.
Cerimon
I hold it ever
Virtue and cunning were endowments greater
Than nobleness and riches.
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My recompense is thanks, that’s all
Read the QuoteMy recompense is thanks, that’s all,
Yet my good will is great, though the gift small.
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