- description
- # Shakespeare’s share in Pericles.
## Overview
This is a section of a chapter titled "PERICLES," discussing William Shakespeare's contribution to the play *Pericles*. It is extracted from a text file and part of the [PDF Workflow Main Test 2026-01-30T00:26:53](arke:01KG6NWQ2H2K4PGG7H4ZHYCZ3Y) collection. The section focuses on identifying and analyzing the portions of the play believed to be written by Shakespeare.
## Context
This section is part of the larger chapter [PERICLES](arke:01KG6S4D9MD59KJ70ZSS7J97J8), which is included in the [PDF Workflow Main Test 2026-01-30T00:26:53](arke:01KG6NWQ2H2K4PGG7H4ZHYCZ3Y) collection. The section is preceded by [Publisher’s misuse of Shakespeare’s name.](arke:01KG6S5QA7C7VP0EP17VYGT1M7) and followed by [George Wilkins the chief author.](arke:01KG6S5QAAJSDD15Q0HNM6XQVE). The source file for this section is [pdf-01KG6Q7Q25RHMFT3SJXPV18VFF.txt](arke:01KG6S2X2EBB305ENM00G16GWA).
## Contents
The section argues that Shakespeare's hand is primarily evident in the scenes involving Pericles' daughter, Marina, specifically the tempest at sea and her reunion with her parents. The language in these scenes is described as being in Shakespeare's "latest manner," characterized by puzzling ellipses, vivid condensed thought, and blank verse that adapts to sentiment. The section also notes thematic similarities between Shakespeare's contributions to *Pericles* and his later works, such as *Measure for Measure*, *The Winter’s Tale*, and *The Tempest*. It references Coleridge's explanation that Shakespeare was brought in to "refit" the play, initially showing indifference but later becoming more invested. The section concludes by suggesting that Shakespeare's work is somewhat diminished by the intractable plot and clumsy construction of the overall play.
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- Shakespeare’s share in Pericles.
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- Shakespeare’s share in Pericles.
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PERICLES 13
be assigned to Shakespeare's pen. A scattered line or two here and there at other points of the play have a Shakespearean ring, but nowhere else is there any sustained evidence of Shakespeare's handiwork. Most of the other scenes are penned in a ‘clipt jargon’ which lacks his literary feeling.
All the Shakespearean scenes deal with the story of Pericles’ daughter, Marina. They open with the tempest at sea during which she is born, and they close with her final restoration to her parents and her betrothal. The language is throughout in Shakespeare’s latest manner. The ellipses are often puzzling. The condensed thought is intensely vivid, and glows with strength and insight. The blank verse adapts itself, in defiance of strict metrical law, to every phase of sentiment. The themes of Shakespeare’s contributions to the play anticipate many of those which occupied him in his latest work. The tone of Marina’s appeals to Lysimachus and Boult in the brothel resembles that of Isabella’s speeches in *Measure for Measure*. Thaisa, whom her husband Pericles imagines to be dead, shares some of the experiences of Hermione in *The Winter’s Tale*. The picture of the shipwreck which accompanies Marina’s birth adumbrates the opening scene of *The Tempest*; and there are ingenuous touches in the portrayal of Marina herself which suggest the girlhood of Perdita.
The most reasonable explanation of the manner of Shakespeare’s association with the piece is suggested by Coleridge. According to Coleridge, Pericles illustrated ‘the way in which Shakespeare handled a piece he had to refit for representation. At first he proceeded with indifference, only now and then troubling himself to put in a thought or an image, but as he advanced he interested himself in his employment, and [large portions of the last three acts] are almost
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14
PERICLES
entirely by him. This explanation absolves Shakespeare's responsibility for the choice of the intractable plot and for the piece's clumsy construction. The effect of his own work is impaired by such dominant features as those. The dramatic intensity, which colours the scenes in which Pericles recognizes his long-lost daughter and wife, is weakened by the duplication, which the plot requires, of the motive within very narrow limits of space. Shakespeare's interposition failed to relieve materially the strain of improbability which is inherent in the ancient story. The play as a whole fills a secondary rank in any catalogue raisonné of dramatic literature.
- title
- Shakespeare’s share in Pericles.