Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Roles

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

About this piece

Pericles expresses his fear for Antiochus

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. He then refuses to answer it saying that he knows the truth but rather not tell it. The king, who realizes Pericles knows about the incest, tells him he will be executed in 40 days. Pericles decides to flee and goes back to Tyre. In this monologue, at the beginning of the second scene of the play, Pericles expresses his fear that Antiochus will decide to invade his land even if Pericles promised that he will keep silent. He argues that the people of his city won't be able to fight back such a powerful enemy as Antiochus.

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