Pericles: A Man Shaped by Suffering

Pericles is a prince who spends the whole play at the mercy of events. He solves the riddle of Antioch, flees for his life, survives a storm, wins a tournament, marries Thaisa, watches her apparently die in childbirth at sea, abandons his daughter Marina with governors who try to have her killed, and finally finds both women alive in Act 5.

He is not a character who drives the plot so much as one who endures it. His passivity is different from Hamlet's paralysis. The long period in Act 4 and 5 when he is locked in grief and barely speaks reads more like genuine shock. His reunion with Marina is one of the most carefully staged recognition scenes in Shakespeare. She talks him back to life piece by piece.