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Pericles, Prince of Tyre

By William Shakespeare - Stage play

Stage playStageACT I, Scene 1

Roles

  • Pericles - Young Adult (20-35), Adult (36-50), Male

About this piece

Pericles refuses to answer the riddle

Summary

In the city of Antiochus, in Syria, King Antiochus rules the city. We learn in the prologue that he is committing incest with his beautiful daughter and is keeping all her suitors away by forcing them to answer a riddle or die. One of the suitors is Pericles who in the first scene of the play is in King's Antiochus court, determined to try and answer his riddle. When he reads the riddle he realizes that it is about the incest going on with his daughter. In this monologue Pericles refuses to answer the riddle. He tells the king that he knows the truth but it is better not to tell it.

Tone

PersuasiveDescriptive

Use cases

classaudition
View on Actorama

Library metadata only. SceneFiend never includes script text here - pick up the published version to rehearse.

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