About the work
Play probably written in 1607 in collaboration between William Shakespeare and George Wilkins; stylistic analysis attributes the latter part of the text (Acts 3 to 5) mainly to Shakespeare. A performance is documented for the first half of 1608, when the Venetian ambassador Zorzi Giustinian saw the play in London. It was first printed in 1609 as a textually corrupt quarto and is absent from the First Folio of 1623.
Plot
Pericles flees Antioch after uncovering King Antiochus's secret of incest and, after being shipwrecked, wins Princess Thaisa's hand in Pentapolis. On the voyage home, Thaisa appears to die giving birth to their daughter Marina and is buried at sea, but survives and is revived on land by a physician. Marina grows up with foster parents, is kidnapped by pirates and sold to a brothel, where she nonetheless preserves her virtue, until father, mother and daughter are finally reunited.
Cultural significance
The play was among the most popular of Shakespeare's works during his lifetime but long fell out of the canon because its authorship and corrupt text were disputed; it was only added to the Third Folio in 1664. It is now regarded as an early instance of Shakespeare's later collaborations with other playwrights and of his turn toward romance.