Pericles, A Riddle of Reproduction

• Main Authors: Chiang, Chao Wei, 江朝偉
• Other Authors: Michael Keevak
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 1993
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/38367534530450741970

碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 外國語文學系 === 81 === The inconstancy of Fortune is the most prominent phenomenon in Pericles. Pericles suffers many rises and falls of fortune, which are usually accompanied by the threat of death. The only way to ease this threat is recorded in Antiochus' highly symbolic riddle, a riddle of reproduction. So my essay is devoted to a study of the reproductive symbols in Pericles. The upheavals that threaten the safety of Pericles and his family, whether they come from human causes or natural ones, derive mainly from the imbalance of the four elements. So in Chapter Two, after analyzing the quality of each element, I will try to study their influences on characters and how these characters manage to survive elemental strife. According to classical cosmology, the imbalance of the four elements comes from the movements of the planets. In Pericles the planets are replaced by three deities who bear planetary names. Therefore the third chapter will try to analysis how these deities have governed the elements and what their relationship to the theme of reproduction is. However, even benign deities are too evasive for human understanding; human beings hence need a more constant guarantee of security. When deities are absent, human beings have to rely on their own power. Since an individual's power is too weak, human beings will try to gather together gather together so that they can oppose danger more efficiently. Chapter Four will try to analyze the collective efforts made to resist the forces of inconstancy. They are society, marriage, and knowledge. Crises force feeble individuals to assemble, from which society emerges. Marriage is applied to prolong the life span of a group by bounding its members with a stronger tie--blood relationship. It also helps indivduals to remain in part physically alive after death. Knowledge, a by-product of society, promises individuals another form of immortality. The whole play, therefore, can be read as a brief history of mankind's pursuing of immortality.