Synopsis for Pericles, Prince of Tyre

John Gower, the mediaeval poet, acts as Chorus throughout. His Confessio Amantis (1385-93), in which he retells the story of Apollonius of Tyre, was one of Shakespeare’s main sources.

Pericles solves the riddle propounded by Antiochus, King of Antioch, to his daughter’s suitors. The answer, which no one has found (death is the penalty of failure), is that father and daughter have had an incestuous relationship. When Pericles shows that he knows the meaning and Antiochus is suspiciously hospitable, the young Prince realizes that he 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 a minion of Antiochus, he puts again to sea, only to be wrecked on the shores of Pentapolis; there the King is celebrating with a tournament the birthday of his daughter Thaisa. Pericles wins, and he and Thaisa are betrothed. They expect ultimately to go to Tyre (where Pericles will now be safe), but in the great sea-storm Thaisa, after giving birth to a daughter, Marina, is thought to be dead and is thrown overboard in a waterproof chest, with a letter. When it comes to land in Ephesus the noble Cerimon revives Thaisa who, believing herself to be the only survivor, becomes a priestess of Diana’s temple. Pericles, meantime, returns to Tyre, entrusting the infant Marina to the care of Cleon, Governor of Tarsus and his wife Dionyza.

Some 14 years pass. Pericles is in Tyre; Marina has grown up in Tarsus. Dionyza, jealous of a girl who overshadows her own daughter, is about to have her murdered when pirates kidnap Marina and take her to a brothel in Mytilene. When Dionyza and Cleon tell Pericles his daughter is dead, he vows (says Gower) “Never to wash his face or cut his hairs.” In Mytilene Marina, whose purity bewilders her employers and startles the Governor, Lysimachus, manages to leave the brothel and work in an “honest house.” Pericles, in utter dejection, chances to visit the city; Lysimachus sends for Marina to comfort the stranger, and there, in his anchored ship, Pericles realizes that this is his daughter. In a dream Diana urges him to go to her temple at Ephesus, where presently he relates his tale to the priestess. She is Thaisa; and all griefs are over. Marina and Lysimachus (to whom she is now betrothed) will rule in Tyre, and Pericles and Thaisa spend the rest of their lives in Pentapolis.

-The Pocket Companion to Shakespeare’s Plays by J C Trewin