The Library Annex

O Helicanus, strike me, honour’d sir;
Give me a gash, put me to present pain;
Lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me
O’erbear the shores of my mortality,
And drown me with their sweetness.

Honor against power. Integrity against impulse. Nature and fate.

Shakespeare could not have written the first two acts. They set the stage for the Pericles’ peril but with thin language and over-compensating melodrama; a gratuitous imitation. But Shakespeare arrives in Act 3. I’m sure of it.

Royal Pericles escapes a monstrous tyrant bent on killing him when he learns the secret of his incestous relationship with his daughter, who the first writer fails to name. And thus he begins his odyssey on the turbulent seas, nature guiding his aimless journey but his virtue guiding his choices. As the play progresses, one might think of Job and pity Pericles. But in the end, nature gives way to fate and restores Pericles.

Antiochus and Pericles illustrate the first character comparison of the play. Antiochus, though guilty of a heinous sin, counters Pericles’ ethic. Though Pericles suffers the more, one must consider that that impulse rarely outweighs the reward of patience and just suffering. Wherein Antiochus indulges in his lustful impulse for his daughter, Pericles eventually enjoys the enduring, steadfast love of family. I hate the way Antiochus’ daughter is used in the play. Voiceless, nameless, abused, shamed…a body relegated to Act 1. But Shakespeare contrasts this characterization in the virtue of Marina, Pericles’ daughter, who protects her maidenhood with intellect and grace. She defends herself with words.. She becomes a power in her own right.

These contrasts serve the theme of natural justice and moral integrity. Fate rewards these attributes and ultimately rebukes man-made power and selfish impulse. While these themes are admirable, the play itself offered little character exploration and I felt no deep connection to them. Perhaps the first writer felt he had something to say rather than people to explore. While Shakespeare made a fine attempt to save the play, he could only do so much.