Pericles

Description

Pericles, Prince of Tyre, must solve a riddle in order to marry, or be put to death. But when the answer reveals a horrific secret, the young man faces his greatest dilemma. Pericles was Shakespeare's first full-blown tragicomedy, the precursor to The Winter's Tale, Cymbeline and The Tempest, and one of his most popular plays in the seventeenth century. This Penguin edition is edited by Eugene Giddens. 'One sin, I know, another doth provoke; Murder's as near to lust as flame to smoke' Pericles, Prince of Tyre, must solve a riddle in order to marry the daughter of the King of Antioch, or be put to death. But when the answer reveals a horrific secret, the young man faces his greatest dilemma. Danger and adventure follow as Pericles flees the city to find his fortune elsewhere, in a romantic drama of families lost and reunited, evil punished and virtue rewarded. This book contains a general introduction to Shakespeare's life and Elizabethan theatre, a separate introduction to Pericles, a chronology, suggestions for further reading, an essay discussing performance options on both stage and screen, and a commentary.

William Shakespeare was born in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon and died in 1616. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. Stanley Wells is Emeritus Professor of the University of Birmingham and Honorary President of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Eugene Giddens is Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Studies at Anglia Ruskin University.

"A remarkable edition, one that makes Shakespeare's extraordinary accomplishment more vivid than ever."-James Shapiro, professor, Columbia University, bestselling author of A Year in the Life of Shakespeare: 1599 "A feast of literary and historical information."-The Wall Street Journal