Pericles: William Shakespeare

Pericles was Shakespeare`s first full-blown tragicomedy, the precursor to The Winter`s Tale, Cymbeline and The Tempest, and one of his most popular plays in the seventeenth century. This Penguin edition is edited by Eugene Giddens.

`One sin, I know, another doth provoke;
Murder`s as near to lust as flame to smoke`

Pericles, Prince of Tyre, must solve a riddle in order to marry the daughter of the King of Antioch, or be put to death. But when the answer reveals a horrific secret, the young man faces his greatest dilemma. Danger and adventure follow as Pericles flees the city to find his fortune elsewhere, in a romantic drama of families lost and reunited, evil punished and virtue rewarded.

This book contains a general introduction to Shakespeare`s life and Elizabethan theatre, a separate introduction to Pericles, a chronology, suggestions for further reading, an essay discussing performance options on both stage and screen, and a commentary.