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Pericles, Prince of Tyre (Shakespeare Project Lecture) (Patreon)

Published:
2024-09-14 20:30:14
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2026-06
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Content

'Alas, the sea hath cast me on the rocks, wash’d me from shore to shore, and left me breath nothing to think on but ensuing death.'

Our journey through the works of William Shakespeare continues with Pericles, Prince of Tyre.

We’re discussing romance, formulaic storytelling, metatheatricality, collaboration, sea narratives, genre theory, how to appreciate lacklustre plays, and much more.

Timestamps:

0:00 appreciating my least favourite play

2:00 why sea narratives speak to me

4:00 indifference poses a difficulty

5:00 Shakespeare’s collaboration

7:00 the uneven quality of Pericles

9:00 popularity vs critical reception

10:00 Shakespeare’s autumnal phase

11:00 romance plays or tragicomedy?

13:00 conventions of quest narratives

14:00 genres as families not categories

16:00 structure and theme of romance

18:00 ritual, dream, death & rebirth

22:00 appeal of formulaic storytelling

24:00 why we love stories of true heirs

26:00 we love telling old stories anew

29:00 metatheatricality of John Gower

31:00 modern audience vs Pericles

33:00 story discussion & oral tradition

35:00 character of Pericles, Prince of Tyre

37:00 how gothic sprang from romance

39:00 ‘the seas have cast me on the rocks’

42:00 Shakespeare steps into the story

44:00 tempestuous birth & death at sea

47:00 Thaisa revives from death-like sleep

49:00 Dionyza arranges Marina’s murder

51:00 ‘this world to me is as a lasting storm’

52:00 daughter, mother, father reunited

53:00 what did you make of Pericles?

Recommended Resources:

  • Audio Dramatisation: There is a splendid audio production of this play starring the great Paul Scofield as Pericles and the wonderful Dame Judi Dench as Marina here.

  • Arden Edition: I continue to recommend Arden editions for the works of Shakespeare because their annotations and critical introduction are excellent resources.

  • Criticism: If you found Northrop Frye's writings on the structure of romance interesting, you may like to check out his Anatomy of Criticism and A Natural Perspective.

  • Theatre: Pericles might be one of the least performed plays of Shakespeare, but the Royal Shakespeare Company have put on a production this season and has been met with favourable reviews. You can check out the trailer for the production here.

  • Shakespeare Secrets: Speaking of Judi Dench, I know many of you have enjoyed her recent book in which she talks about the great Shakespeare roles she has played. If you loved that, you might like to treat yourself to this discussion between her and Brendan O'Bea here.

Questions to Consider:

1) How does Pericles compare with the other plays we have experienced?

2) Which genre are you most drawn to? Romance, tragedy, comedy, history?

3) What line, passage, idea, or character most resonated with you? And what is your personal grading for Pericles?

Happy reading, Bardolators!

Files

Previews only

Comments

David Campbell

I think I got icked out at the incest part of the play and then it kind of lost me. I did find some of the later parts of the play to contain some better written parts, and makes sense that these may have been the parts that were written by Shakespeare. I’m glad to hear that while Pericles might mark a transition into the late-Shakespeare period, that it isn’t indicative of the quality and character of the plays still to come (I haven’t read a most of the remaining plays before).

Bianca

It may be a bad play but what a brilliant lecture. I enjoyed all of the "talking around". The discussion of romance genre, tropes, Wittgenstein and Fowler was fascinating. I like the freedom and possibilities for complexity that Wittgenstein's formulation seems to grant us. And the ruminations on watery narrratives. When my brother and I were little our father used to recite to us Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and because I was young and couldn't understand half of it I thought it the most exciting and romantic tale ever told and have loved adventure tales ever since. While the play may not be great, it was interesting to view it wthin that tradition. Are we on a purposeful journey with many stops along the way or mere tennis balls tossed into a great ocean? The line "why do you make us love ... and snatch them straight away" brought to mind Genji's "If our love was doomed to be so short why did she touch my heart so profoundly?" when Yugao dies. It makes Genji seem even more of an adventurer to me. I have fallen behind in my reading due to travel, and although it was not a very watery journey I cannot carry as many books as I need. I dislike reading on a laptop so it is time for an ereader. Any suggestions would be welcome, but probably any ereader will save me dragging around half my weight in reading materials. Great to read everyone's comments and looking forward to Coriolanus.

Caroline P

Thank you Ben, Hmmmmm Pericles. I wasn’t looking forward to this one because I had read so much damning it. I saw it was one that has sections written by another author and you talk about this more Ben, certainly it feels like two stories joined together. But …at a certain point in my reading I found myself drawn into the story. There are storms, tempests, plottings for a murder most foul, dreadful losses and miraculous findings and a toe curling clever escape. It was, at times like a bonkers pantomime. Despite my initial scepticism, I ended up liking this play, more for its crazy story. But I agree also with all you say in this lecture Ben. I like it for a crazy story but also see it is weak. Maybe like comparing a child’s comic (the Beano in the U.K.)to a deep novel. I don’t really have a favourite line from this one.. but ‘O, come, be buried a second time within these arms.’ Is delightfully zombie-ish. I wonder if the water thing is because we are nearly all made of water and it is so essential to life.. I wonder that we don’t make water a supreme God. And the misplaced babe story is super interesting isn’t it.. right back to Greek myths, Oedipus and probably earlier. I bet a thesis could be written on that theme..maybe it has. Onwards to Coriolanus which I love and I feel it has endless themes for debate.. yipppeee. .

Pati

Thank you Ben. I actually liked the play. Not my favourite for sure, but I did like it. I felt at some point that I was living the story crazy as it sounds.

Kathryn

I think I have been a bit of a Pollyanna Shakespeare fan and sadly Pericles ended that streak. The incest riddle at the beginning was a bizarre way to start a play. I developed a case of the hollowing fantods and really didn't want to read more. By the end of the First Act I figured out that it must be a "Will and Pal" play and truthfully All's Well and Timon were fine by me so I thought it would finish strong. Unfortunately Pericles never came together. It felt chaotic and like a half hearted attempt. It is the first Will play I can't get behind. Benjamin I will listen to your lecture later this week I am excited to hear your review. And also thank you to Ellen M. who told us about Othello in NYC with Denzel and Jake. I booked our tickets and then the next night we will see the Moby Dick opera! I haven't been to NYC in years so it is super exciting. Thanks for sharing!!!

Clare Shepherd

I detest Pericles, I once had to sit on a jury of a man who was a traveller, who had committed invest with 3 generations of his large family. I hated every minute of the first day, and it didn't get better. I think Shakespeare made a mistake collaborating with George Wilkins. I was relieved Ben dislikes it too. I think he did a great job of this lecture.

Julie Grimes

I've read Pericles three times before this reading. I always think, "Yay! We're out of the bitter period." Then I remember it as the "Greek Novel play" (I was reading Doody's True Story of the Novel the first time I read it), and "I vaguely liked it," but can't remember a thing about it. It a sort of corollary for The Two Gentleman of Verona which I can never remember but decidedly don't like. I gave that an F. I give this a C+ It just does too much. I feel like the part with the incest could have been one play. And the part with Thaisa could have been one play. And the part with Marina could have been one play. Together, the play is just too busy. It's too difficult to get attached to anyone or invested in anyone's story. My one passage is actually a negative one. When Gower discusses Marina's upbringing and why Dyanyza is trying to murder her, I thought that earlier Shakespeare would instead have turned this into a monologue for the villianess. Also, I got a huge kick out of the lecture in that it was more a lecture on Northrop Frye than Pericles. But Frye's Anatomy of Criticism is one of my favorite critical works along Dialogic Imagination and Anxiety of Influence.

Constance Stanton

I didn’t read the play but watched the BBC’s production from the 1980’s, which was enhanced by some pleasant singing and dancing and sets. Yes, the play is lacking in any discernible depth or finesse, with only the barest whiff of good writing. But the plot was engaging, if totally preposterous; every twist and turn was explained, complete with a literal deus ex machina. This was by far the least challenging play to watch; no thinking was involved. The in-your-face incest at the very beginning was both icky and intriguing because I did wonder where that was going. Overall, the play reminded me of a medieval morality play with elements of Job and Jonah tossed in. As bad as this was, I found it less problematic than some of the early comedies, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and All’s Well that End’s Well. And Titus Andronicus was at least memorable. Benjamin, kudos for making the effort. Your exposition of the romance genre was helpful. Someone who hadn’t seen or read this play could have gotten all there was to get and saved themselves a lot of time just by listening to your summary of the story.

Craig Mckissick

Hi Benjamin, I like how you salvaged this into an insightful video despite your distaste for the play. Slightly off topic but would you consider doing a video on different editions generally and how you read them? I’m obviously no scholar but I’m finding the Arden Hamlet edition is applying science to art in an unflattering way. Passages that are in my opinion straightforward feel over analysed, while complex passages or words are often unannotated. Do you read every annotation or just the ones that interest you? This is my second reading and I felt I got more from just the bare text. I’m finding breaking the play down to such piecemeal is turning the enjoyable into ‘the quintessence of dust’, well analysed but ultimately as sour in the mouth as dust. Not that I haven’t learned a lot from the Arden and it may be more a reflection of where I am at with my reading. I shall read on, cheers! 👍

Brock Eldon

I just wanted to touch on your comments on television here, Ben: I've been on a hard "Succession" binge. Disappointed by the NYT 100 "Best Books of the Century." I do think we have better writing in TV. We've returned to storytelling through dialogue. Fascinating! I think Shakespeare would be so in love with the form. I am not hopeless about a public that does not read if they/we can engage with such complex television on the screen.