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Some doubled events in this play include: the tempest that lands Pericles in Pentapolis and the one in which Thaisa dies; the failed attempts at murdering Pericles and Marina; and the supposed deaths of Thaisa and Marina, both of whom are discovered to be alive. Most of those events happen twice, but one is not greater or lesser in importance than another. They serve to multiply the events, introducing parallels between characters and their experiences.
Other doubled events are bad in one occurrence and good in another, such as the contrast between the contest for the hand of the king’s daughter in Antioch, an incest-corrupted land, and in Pentapolis, where both the king and his daughter are understood to be good people. The bad incestuous relationship between Antiochus and his daughter is contrasted with the good father–daughter relationships, first between Simonides and Thaisa, and later between Pericles and Marina. Consider also the lively popular culture of the fishermen, contrasted with the degraded popular culture of the brothel.
All these doublings show a certain kind of consistency in the world of the play. Things happen again and again, which suggests underlying patterns in the operations of fate. As is the case for Pericles as well as Thaisa and Marina, the key is to endure one’s fate with fortitude and virtue.
The sea is another Gower-like force in the play: always present and influential to events of the play, but never really mentioned by the characters themselves. The sea is many simple things. It enables transportation between the many city-states. It’s also a space of danger, where tempests shipwreck Pericles and pirates kidnap Marina. Yet, as the fishermen note, it is also a realm that mirrors the power dynamics on land: in both, the big fishes eat the little ones. As for Pericles, his life is largely dictated by the chaotic dynamics of the sea. He is shipwrecked and nearly killed by sea storm. Yet the sea then delivers him to shore, marking a symbolic rebirth. Here, the sea transforms from tomb to womb. Later, Pericles seems to internalize the sea’s violence, suffering an internal “tempest” when he hears of his daughter’s alleged death. The sea thereby becomes a metaphor for human life, which echoes a common idea in Shakespeare’s plays, where the natural world often reflects the life of humans or else serves as a metaphor for it. Such is the role played by the Aegean Sea in Pericles.
The play is very concerned with contrasting bad leaders and good leaders. Antioch is ruled by an incestuous king who apparently dies without a successor. Cleon of Tarsus has let his kingdom fall into famine, and his formerly proud people are cowed. Later, his wife becomes a murderer, and both are killed in an uprising, leaving an uncertain future for the kingdom. These are the play’s chief examples of bad leadership, marked as they are by moral corruption and infertility.
By contrast, the play introduces several good rulers who put forth examples of charity, humility, and virtue. The most obvious example is Pericles. Despite being absent from his kingdom for much of the play, he cares about his people and shows genuine humility, always remembering that before he is a king, he is just a man. This is a lesson he learns from his loyal advisor, Helicanus, who likewise demonstrates great care and humility during his term as temporary ruler of Tyre. King Simonides of Pentapolis offers another example of a good king, and indeed his own people call him “our king the good Simonides” (2.1.104). Although no leader of Ephesus is introduced, Cerimon provides an image of charity that marks him as a stand-in for a ruler. Finally, though we first meet Lysimachus, the governor of Mytilene, in disguise at a brothel, he is quick to choose virtue over debauchery, which ultimately enables him to marry Marina and assume leadership in Tyre.
