Play description
ACT I
Chorus. The poet Gower tells of King Antiochus's incestuous relationship with his daughter. He has
prevented his daughter from marrying by presenting all her suitors with a riddle which they must
either solve or die.
Scene 1. Pericles, Prince of Tyre, comes to try his luck with the daughter of Antiochus. Having read
the riddle, however, he guesses the King's guilty secret. Once Antiochus realizes that he has been
found out, he is determined to be rid of Pericles and instructs Thaliard to kill him. Pericles flees and
Thaliard pledges to pursue him.
Scene 2. Fearful of Antiochus's revenge, Pericles leaves secretly for Tharsus, leaving Helicanus as his
deputy.
Scene 3. Thaliard arrives in Tyre only to find Pericles gone.
Scene 4. Cleon, the Governor of Tharsus, and his wife, Dionyza, bemoan the terrible famine that
afflicts their city. When word arrives that ships have been sighted offshore, Cleon assumes that some
foreign power has come intending to take advantage of their weakness. His fears prove groundless –
the ships belong to Pericles and are full of corn for his people.