Pericles (Vol. 51) | Maurice Hunt (essay date 1990)
Maurice Hunt (essay date 1990)
SOURCE: "Pericles, Prince of Tyre, " in Shakespeare's Romance of the Word, Bucknell University Presses, 1990, pp. 18-40.
[In the excerpt below, Hunt examines the language, dialogue, and speech patterns in Pericles.]
I shall approach my thesis about the importance of the word in Pericles by way of the play's most farcical dialogue. In Shakespeare and the Confines of Art, Philip Edwards remarks that "the uncouth fishermen who succour the shipwrecked Pericles are in the play only to show the warmth of kindness as a contrast to the previous coldness of both humanity and the elements."1 While the low characters undoubtedly produce this dramatic impression, they play a more complex role in the play's design than the part suggested by Edwards. It has been widely noted that Shakespeare often comically distorts serious dramatic themes or values in order to call attention to...
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