So, this is Tyre, and this the court. Here must I kill King Pericles;
and if I do it not, I am sure to be hanged at home: ’tis dangerous.
Well, I perceive he was a wise fellow, and had good discretion, that,
being bid to ask what he would of the king, desired he might know none
of his secrets: now do I see he had some reason for’t; for if a king
bid a man be a villain, he’s bound by the indenture of his oath to be
one. Husht, here come the lords of Tyre.
So this is Tyre, the royal court. Here I must kill Prince Pericles. If I don't, I'll be hanged back home—that's the stakes. But listen, this king was clever. When the king offered him anything he wanted, he wisely asked for one thing: to know nothing about the king's secrets. Now I understand why. If a king commands you to be a villain, you're legally bound by your oath to become one. Quiet—here come the lords of Tyre.
This is it. This is Tyre. And I've got to kill Prince Pericles while I'm here. Fail, and I'm a dead man back home. But that king—he was smart. All he wanted was one thing: to not know any of the king's secrets. Genius, really. Because if a king tells you to do something evil, you're bound by oath to do it. No way out. Oh hell, the lords are coming.
this is tyre. i have to kill pericles. if i don't, i die. figure: the only safe thing to ask a king is to know absolutely nothing about him
You shall not need, my fellow peers of Tyre,
Further to question me of your king’s departure:
His seal’d commission, left in trust with me,
Doth speak sufficiently he’s gone to travel.
You don't need to ask further questions, my fellow lords of Tyre. Our king left me his sealed commission, which clearly shows he's traveled for good reason.
Look, you guys don't need to push me on this. The king left me a signed order—solid proof he went off to travel. That's all we need to know.
the king gave me orders. he's traveling. that's it. stop asking.
If further yet you will be satisfied,
Why, as it were unlicensed of your loves,
He would depart, I’ll give some light unto you.
Being at Antioch—
If you need more information, since it seems unusual that he would leave without your approval, I can explain. When he was at Antioch—
Okay, look, if you want the full story, I'll give it to you. He was in Antioch, and—
fine. when he was in antioch..
Pericles is not a comedy, but this brief scene does something genuinely funny. Thaliard is a hired killer who is also, paradoxically, a man trapped by exactly the moral system he serves. His opening soliloquy — dry, self-aware, ruefully observant — could belong to a comic villain out of a caper film. He diagnoses his own problem with precision: 'if a king bids you be a villain, you're a villain, full stop.' The joke is that the system of royal loyalty that made him dangerous has also made him helpless the moment his target moves out of reach. The scene doesn't give him a dramatic exit; it just gives him a dinner invitation. The violence evaporates, replaced by hospitality. This tonal shift — from menace to hospitality in a single beat — is characteristic of how this play handles threat: the sea, not assassins, is the real danger in Pericles.
Royal Antiochus—on what cause I know not
Took some displeasure at him; at least he judged so:
And doubting lest that he had err’d or sinn’d,
To show his sorrow, he’d correct himself;
So puts himself unto the shipman’s toil,
With whom each minute threatens life or death.
King Antiochus—I'm not sure why—became displeased with him. At least, that's how it seemed to Pericles. And worrying he might have done something wrong, wanting to correct himself, he put himself under a sailor's command. Now every single moment at sea threatens him with death.
King Antiochus—I don't know exactly what happened—but he got angry with Pericles. Or Pericles thought he did. So wanting to fix things, to show he's sorry, he went to sea. And out there, every minute could be his last.
antiochus got mad. pericles panicked. so he ran to the sea. where death waits every second.
I shall not be hang’d now, although I would;
But since he’s gone, the king’s seas must please
He ’scaped the land, to perish at the sea.
I’ll present myself. Peace to the lords of Tyre!
I won't be hanged now, though I almost wish I would be. But since he's gone, the king's sea can do my job for me. He escaped the land—now he can die at sea instead. I'll go present myself to the court.
Look at that. I'm not going to hang after all. And actually, that's almost worse somehow. But hey, the ocean's there. He got away from my blade, so let the waves have him. I'll just go introduce myself to these lords.
i'm not dying today. but he is. the sea will kill him for me. i'll smile and say hello to everyone.
Lord Thaliard from Antiochus is welcome.
Lord Thaliard from Antioch is welcome here.
Lord Thaliard—welcome from Antioch.
you're welcome.
From him I come
With message unto princely Pericles;
But since my landing I have understood
Your lord has betook himself to unknown travels,
My message must return from whence it came.
I come from King Antiochus with a message for Prince Pericles. But since I've arrived, I understand your lord has left on travels unknown to us. My message must go back where it came from.
I came here with a message from the king for Prince Pericles. But word is he's off on some trip nobody knew about. So I guess I'll just take my message back home.
i have a message for pericles. but he's gone. so the message comes back with me.
We have no reason to desire it,
Commended to our master, not to us:
Yet, ere you shall depart, this we desire,
As friends to Antioch, we may feast in Tyre.
We have no need for it—the message was meant for him, not for us. But before you leave, we'd like this: as friends to Antioch, let us feast you here in Tyre.
Right, it's not for us anyway, it's for him. But before you go, look, we're friends with Antioch. Stay, let us feed you.
you're going nowhere. first you eat with us. that's what friends do.
The Reckoning
A would-be assassin discovers his target has already escaped — and the scene plays this as dark comedy. Thaliard arrived with a death sentence and has to leave empty-handed. Helicanus, entirely unaware of the assassination plot, gives the murderer exactly the information needed to realize the job is impossible. The audience watches two men talking completely at cross-purposes, knowing far more than either of them.
If this happened today…
A fixer arrives at a company to handle a 'problem employee,' only to find out the HR department has already accidentally informed the employee they were under investigation, and the employee has taken an indefinite leave of absence in another country. The fixer has to smile through a perfectly pleasant meeting with the head of HR, conclude there's nothing to be done, and quietly write off the contract.