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One sin, I know, another doth provoke;
Murder’s as near to lust as flame to smoke.
Poison and treason are the hands of sin,
Ay, and the targets to put off the shame.
Then, lest my life be cropped to keep you clear,
By flight I’ll shun the danger which I fear. (1.1.143–48)
Pericles speaks these lines to Antiochus, just as he’s about to flee from Antioch. At this point, he has solved the riddle Antiochus has presented to him, but since the solution—“incest”—is incriminating, he refrains from speaking the answer aloud. Here, he reflects how the very fact that Antiochus has already sinned by having sexual relations with his daughter, he is surely able to commit other sins. Specifically, he notes that “murder’s as near to lust as flame to smoke.” Formally solving the riddle is thus sure to get him killed. Yet he also knows that not answering the riddle means death. The only possibility for survival is, then, to flee. Thus begins the sequence of trials Pericles will face throughout the rest of the play.
Yon king’s to me like to my father’s picture,
Which tells in that glory once he was—
Had princes sit like stars about his throne,
And he the sun for them to reverence.
None that beheld him but like lesser lights
Did vail their crowns to his supremacy;
Where now his son’s like a glowworm in the night,
The which hath fire in darkness, none in light;
Whereby I see that Time’s the king of men. (2.3.41–49)
Pericles speaks these lines to himself while observing King Simonides of Pentapolis from across the room. The scene is a banquet celebrating the end of a jousting tournament that Pericles has won, thereby earning him a name in this city where he had previously been a complete unknown. However, Pericles is in a pensive mood that is out of step with the celebratory atmosphere. As he observes Simonides, he reflects on how much this man reminds him of his father—not in appearance, but in his “glory” as a king, which every member of his court clearly respects. By comparison, Pericles can’t help but see himself as a lesser light, merely “a glowworm in the night.” He has left his kingdom in someone else’s hands at a time when he felt the realm could be in danger, and now he’s stranded far from home. Yet there is some hope: Simonides will become even more “like” his father in that Pericles will marry his daughter, Thaisa, and eventually they will rule together.
O, Helicanus! Strike me, honored sir.
Give me a gash, put me to present pain,
Lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me
O’erbear the shores of my mortality
And drown me with their sweetness.—O, come hither,
Thou that beget’st him that did thee beget,
Thou that wast born at sea, buried at Tarsus,
And found at sea again!—O, Helicanus,
Down on thy knees! Thank the holy gods as loud
As thunder threatens us. This is Marina. (5.1.224–33)
Pericles addresses these words to his loyal advisor Helicanus as he comes to the realization that the woman he’s speaking to really must be his daughter. Take particular note of the subtle echo of the tempest metaphor that the chorus, John Gower, had previously used to describe Pericles’s inner turmoil. Back in act 4, scene 4, Gower noted that after learning of his daughter’s death, Pericles “[bore] / A tempest which his mortal vessel tears, / And yet he rides it out” (4.4.30–32). Now that his daughter has been miraculously restored to him, another internal sea swell arises, but this time it signifies overwhelming happiness rather than overwhelming woe. This emotionally climactic moment marks the official end of Pericles’s trials.
