Previously on Pericles: In the first act, Pericles leaves Antioch (after figuring out that the princess is having an incestuous relationship with her father), fearing for his life. The king sends one of his lords to find Pericles and kill him. In Tyre, Pericles worries of the king sending an army to Tyre; his loyal lord Helicanus convinces Pericles to leave and travel. In Tarsus, the governor and his wife, bemoan their drought and failing country, but Pericles saves the day with food. He is welcomed as a hero. The second act begins with Pericles caught in a storm and shipwrecked in Pentapolis. He learns of the birthday celebration tournament for the hand of the country’s princess, Thaisa. Of course, our hero wins, impressing both king and princess. Back in Tyre, the lords of Tyre are tired of waiting for Pericles to return; if Pericles doesn’t return within a year, they will name Helicanus king. In Pentapolis, father and daughter reveal their loves for Pericles, and our Prince of Tyre agrees to marry Thaisa. In the third act, in another storm, Pericles learns of the birth of his daughter but the death of his wife. The sailors of the ship tell Pericles of their superstitions and that Thaisa’s body must be off-shipped. Her body is placed in a chest with spices, jewels and a note from Pericles; the chest is put into the sea. In Ephesus, we are introduced to Lord Cerimon, a kind of philosophical doctor or medicine man. Local sailors arrive with a chest, which they open, finding Thaisa and a note of woe from Pericles. Cerimon then, with his knowledge and tools, revives Thaisa. Pericles spends a year in Tarsus with Cleon and Dionyza, decides to return to Tyre, but leaves Marina (the daughter) in Tarsus. The act ends with Thaisa, believing Pericles is dead, deciding to become a vestal priestess in a remote temple of Diana.
The fourth act of Pericles begins, as all the previous ones have, with a Gower chorus. Continue reading “Pericles – Act Four: betrayal, buccaneers, and bawds (oh my!)”