Pericles, Prince of Tyre

by William Shakespeare

Overview

Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a Jacobean play written in parts by William Shakespeare that is remembered for modern versions of his collected works, despite questions about its origins due to its omission from the First Folio. While different critics support that Shakespeare is the sole writer of the play (eminently DelVecchio and Hammond's Cambridge release of the play), present-day editors by and large concur that Shakespeare is answerable for close to precisely a large portion of the play (827 lines) - the primary part after scene 9 that follows the story of Pericles and Marina. ([a] Modern text-based examinations demonstrate that the initial two demonstrations of 835 lines itemising the many journeys of Pericles were composed by a teammate, who solid proof recommends to have been the victualler, panderer, screenwriter, and pamphleteer George Wilkins. John Gower presents each demonstration with a preamble. The play opens in the court of Antiochus, lord of Antioch, who has offered the hand of his wonderful young daughter to any man who answers his question; however, the individuals who fizzle will die. I am no snake, yet I fed on my mother's tissue, which did make me breed. I looked for a spouse, where labour tracked down that generosity in a father: he's a dad, a child, and a husband; I'm a mother, wife, but his child. I will resolve it for you while you are here. In a split second, the youthful Prince (leader) of Tire in Phoenicia (Lebanon) hears the enigma, and in a split second gets its importance: Antiochus is preoccupied with a depraved relationship with his daughter. On the off chance that he uncovers this reality, he will be killed. But assuming he answers incorrectly, he will also be killed. Pericles implies that he knows the response and requests an additional opportunity to think. Antiochus awards him forty days, and afterward sends a professional killer after him. Nonetheless, Pericles escaped the city in disgust. Pericles gets back to Tire, where his trusted companion and instructor, Helicanus, encourages him to leave the city, for Antiochus will definitely chase him down. Pericles passes on Helicanus as an official and sails to Tarsus, a city plagued by starvation. The liberal Pericles gives the legislative leader of the city, Cleon, and his better half, Dionyza, grain from his boat to save their kin. The starvation is over, and Pericles continues on after being graciously thanked by Cleon and Dionyza. A storm wrecks Pericle's boat and washes him up on the shores of Pentapolis. He is guarded by a gathering of unfortunate anglers who inform him that Simonedes, King of Pentapolis, is holding a competition the following day and that the winner will get the hand of his little girl, Thaisa, in marriage. Luckily, one of the anglers hauls Pericles' suit of covering on shore at that exact instant, and the sovereign chooses to enter the competition. In spite of the fact that his hardware is corroded, Pericles wins the competition and the hand of Thaisa (who is profoundly drawn to him) in marriage. Simonedes at first communicates uncertainty about the association, but before long comes to like Pericles and permits them to wed. A letter sent by the aristocrats arrives at Pericles in Pentapolis, who chooses to get back to Tire with the pregnant Thaisa. Once more, a tempest emerges while adrift, and Thaisa seems to pass on bringing forth her kid, Marina. The mariners demand that Thaisa's body be set over the edge to quiet the tempest. Pericles hesitantly concurs, and chooses to stop at Tarsus since he fears that Marina may not endure the storm. Luckily, Thaisa's coffin washes aground at Ephesus, close to the home of Lord Cerimon, a doctor who resuscitates her. Imagining that Pericles kicked the bucket in the tempest, Thaisa turns into a priestess in the sanctuary of Diana.Pericles withdraws to control Tire, leaving Marina under the watchful eye of Cleon and Dionyza.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789394973503
Publisher:	Double 9 Booksllp
Publication date:	04/22/2022
Pages:	104
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.25(d)

About the Author

Pericles, Prince of TyreWilliam ShakespearePericles, Prince of Tyre is a Jacobean play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio. Whilst various arguments support that Shakespeare is the sole author of the play Pericles, the young Prince (ruler) of Tyre in Phoenicia (Lebanon), hears the riddle, and instantly understands its meaning: Antiochus is engaged in an incestuous relationship with his daughter. If he reveals this truth, he will be killed, but if he answers incorrectly, he will also be killed. Pericles hints that he knows the answer, and asks for more time to think. Antiochus grants him forty days, and then sends an assassin after him. However, Pericles has fled the city in disgust.Pericles returns to Tyre, where his trusted friend and counsellor Helicanus advises him to leave the city, for Antiochus surely will hunt him down. Pericles leaves Helicanus as regent and sails to Tarsus, a city beset by famine. The generous Pericles gives the governor of the city, Cleon, and his wife Dionyza, grain from his ship to save their people. The famine ends, and after being thanked profusely by Cleon and Dionyza, Pericles continues on.A storm wrecks Pericles' ship and washes him up on the shores of Pentapolis. He is rescued by a group of poor fishermen who inform him that Simonedes, King of Pentapolis, is holding a tournament the next day and that the winner will receive the hand of his daughter Thaisa in marriage. Fortunately, one of the fishermen drags Pericles' suit of armour on shore that very moment, and the prince decides to enter the tournament. Although his equipment is rusty, Pericles wins the tournament and the hand of Thaisa (who is deeply attracted to him) in marriage.

Date of Death:

2018

Place of Birth:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Place of Death:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Table of Contents

Introduction (date, sources, authorship, performance, the play); Note on the text; List of characters, The Play: Supplementary notes; Textual analysis; Supplementary notes; Textual analysis; Reading list.

Editorial Reviews

Kahan has presented the performance and printing issues with directness and clarity, leaving many technical details that might discourage some students to the footnotes. The result is a very readable “Introduction” to one of Shakespeare’s late romances.
- Stanley Stewart, Distinguished Professor of English, University of California, Riverside

Even as the New Kittredge Shakespeare series glances back to George Lyman Kittredge's student editions of the plays, it is very much of our current moment: the slim editions are targeted largely at high school and first-year college students who are more versed in visual than in print culture. Not only are the texts of the plays accompanied by photographs or stills from various stage and cinema performances: the editorial contributions are performance-oriented, offering surveys of contemporary film interpretations, essays on the plays as performance pieces, and an annotated filmography. Traditional editorial issues (competing versions of the text, cruxes, editorial emendation history) are for the most part excluded; the editions focus instead on clarifying the text with an eye to performing it. There is no disputing the pedagogic usefulness of the New Kittredge Shakespeare's performance-oriented approach. At times, however, it can run the risk of treating textual issues as impediments, rather than partners, to issues of performance. This is particularly the case with a textually vexed play such as Pericles: Prince of Tyre. In the introduction to the latter, Jeffrey Kahan notes the frequent unintelligibility of the play as originally published: "the chances of a reconstructed text matching what Shakespeare actually wrote are about 'nil'" (p. xiii) But his solution — to use a "traditional text" rather than one corrected as are the Oxford and Norton Pericles — obscures how this "traditional text," including its act and scene division, is itself a palimpsest produced through three centuries of editorial intervention. Nevertheless, the series does a service to its target audience with its emphasis on performance and dramaturgy. Kahan's own essay about his experiences as dramaturge for a college production of Pericles is very good indeed, particularly on the play's inability to purge the trace of incestuous desire that Pericles first encounters in Antioch. Other plays' cinematic histories: Annalisa Castaldo's edition of Henry V contrasts Laurence Oliver's and Branagh's film productions; Samuel Crowl's and James Wells's edition of (respectively) I and 2 Henry IV concentrate on Welle's Chimes at Midnight and Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho; Patricia Lennox's edition of As You Like It offers an overview of four Hollywood and British film adaptations; and John R. Ford's edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream provides a spirited survey of the play's rich film history.

The differences between, and comparative merits of, various editorial series are suggested by the three editions of The Taming of the Shrew published this year. Laury Magnus's New Kittredge Shakespeare edition is, like the other New Kittredge volumes, a workable text for high school and first year college students interested in film and theater. The introduction elaborates on one theme — Elizabethan constructions of gender — and offers a very broad performance history, focusing on Sam Taylor's and Zeffirelli's film versions as well as adaptations such as Kiss Me Kate and Ten Things I Hate About You (accompanied by a still of ten hearthtrobs Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles). The volume is determined to eradicate any confusion that a first time reader of the play might experience: the dramatis personae page explains that "Bianca Minola" is "younger daughter to Baptista, wooed by Lucentio-in-disguise (as Cambio) and then wife to him, also wooed by the elderly Gremio and Hortensio-in-disguise (as Licio)" (p.1). Other editorial notes, based on Kittredge's own, are confined mostly to explaining individual words and phrases: additional footnotes discuss interpretive choices made by film and stage productions. Throughout, the editorial emphasis is on the play less as text than as performance piece, culminating in fifteen largely performance-oriented "study questions" on topics such as disguise, misogyny, and violence.

Studies in English Literature, Tudor and Stuart Drama, Volume 51, Spring 2011, Number 2, pages 497-499.

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