Pericles (Modern Library Classics)
William Shakespeare
Language: English
Pages: 224
ISBN: 081296943X
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
“This world to me is but a ceaseless storm
Whirring me from my friends.”
—Pericles
Eminent Shakespearean scholars Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen provide a fresh new edition of this classic tragicomedy of good and evil in many guises.
THIS VOLUME ALSO INCLUDES MORE THAN A HUNDRED PAGES OF EXCLUSIVE FEATURES:
• an original Introduction to Pericles
• incisive scene-by-scene synopsis and analysis with vital facts about the work
• commentary on past and current productions based on interviews with leading directors, actors, and designers
• photographs of key RSC productions
• an overview of Shakespeare’s theatrical career and chronology of his plays
Ideal for students, theater professionals, and general readers, these modern and accessible editions from the Royal Shakespeare Company set a new standard in Shakespearean literature for the twenty-first century.
Round Dance and Other Plays (Oxford World Classics)
villain, he’s bound by the indenture7 of his oath to be one. Thaliard stands aside Husht8, here comes the lords of Tyre. Enter Helicanus, Escanes, with other Lords HELICANUS You shall not need, my fellow peers of Tyre, Further to question me of your king’s departure: His sealed commission11 left in trust with me, Does speak sufficiently12 he’s gone to travel. Aside THALIARD How? The king gone? HELICANUS If further yet you will be satisfied Why — as it were unlicensed
daughter. CLEON Heavens forgive it! DIONYZA And as for Pericles, what should he say? We wept after her hearse, and yet46 we mourn. Her monument is almost finished, and her epitaphs47 In glitt’ring golden characters48 express A general49 praise to her, and care in us At whose expense ’tis done. CLEON Thou art like the harpy51, Which to betray, dost with thine angel’s face Seize with thine eagle’s talons. DIONYZA Ye’re like one that superstitiously Do swear to
1611 Q4 = a correction introduced in the Fourth Quarto text of 1619 Q5 = a correction introduced in the Fifth Quarto text of 1630 F3 = a correction introduced in the Third Folio text, second issue, of 1664 F4 = a correction introduced in the Fourth Folio text of 1685 PA = a reading in George Wilkins’ novel, The Painfull Adventures of Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608) Ed = a correction introduced by a later editor SD = stage direction SH = speech heading (i.e. speaker’s name) List of parts
industriousness 21 O … well an ironic dismissal responding to the gentleman’s self-depreciation 23 tire furnishings 24 repose sleep 25 conversant familiar 25 pain labor 27 hold it ever have always believed 28 cunning skill/cleverness/knowledge 29 Careless prodigal/reckless 30 darken sully/dishonor 33 physic medicine 34 turning o’er authorities reading learned books 35 practice practical investigations 36 to my aid to assist me in healing 36 blest infusions medicinal properties 37
serves as chorus, guiding the audience through the story, asking us to hold in imagination the wanderer’s ship, two great storms, and a series of landfalls at Antioch and Tarsus in the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean, way over at Pentapolis in North Africa, back at Tarsus and Tyre, and eventually at Ephesus and Mytilene on the Aegean. Old songs are true in deep but simple ways. If we come to Pericles looking for the psychological complexities of Shakespearean tragedy, we will be