Pericles, Prince of Tyre Deception

As we know, Antiochus is having an incestuous affair with his daughter and he doesn't want anyone to know about it. The thing about monarchs like Antioch is that they have enough power to hide their immoral behavior, and there's not much anyone can do about it. Here, we learn that Antioch doesn't want anyone to marry his daughter, so he's come up with a riddle for potential suitors to try to solve. Anyone who guesses incorrectly loses his life. (We're guessing the same thing happens if a suitor guesses correctly.)

Before he learns the truth about Antiochus's daughter, Pericles is totally hot for her and assumes that she's a good person and worth risking his life for. Why? Because she's hot, that's why. Then he discovers the truth and learns a huge lesson about outward appearance vs. inner beauty.

Pericles is totally disgusted when King Antiochus pretends to be courteous when it's obvious he's going to try to have Pericles murdered so he can keep his secret hidden. Pericles learns a really important lesson at Antiochus's court: just because you're a king and you know how to act polite and generous, it doesn't mean you're not totally corrupt on the inside.

This is where Helicanus gets mad at the lords at court who do nothing but flatter Pericles and tell the monarch what he wants to hear. The court seems like a place where it's particularly difficult to distinguish appearance from reality.

Pericles is grateful that Helicanus always tells him the truth—even if it's unflattering. This passage reminds us that the lords at court can be just as deceptive and manipulative as tyrant rulers like Antiochus. Pericles recognizes this truth and is grateful to have Helicanus as a trusted advisor. 

When our boy Pericles shows up at the jousting tournament wearing some janky armor that's all rusty, the knights just assume that he's got no game, since he looks more like a cart driver who uses a "whipstock" than a knight who uses a "lance." 

While the knights stand around and bag on Pericles's rusty armor, King Simonides actually says something smart: he isn't ready to judge Pericles's inner worth based on the guy's outward appearances. 

Thaisa seems like a pretty good judge of character, don't you think? Even though Pericles has presented himself at her dad's court as some kind of "country gentleman," she thinks he's pretty awesome. By the way, why the heck does Pericles lie about his identity at Simonides's court? Why not just come right out and tell everyone he's a king? Is he trying to be more careful after what happened at Antiochus's court? Is he trying to be judged on his own merits, rather than on his title?

So, by this time in the play, Pericles has figured out how to be a better judge of character. During the rest of the play, though, he totally misinterprets some important situations. When it appears that Thaisa has died giving birth to the couple's child, Pericles hastily agrees to toss her body over the side of the ship to appease the superstitious sailors. Of course, Thaisa's not dead, but the decision has major consequences for our hero. It seems like a big part of his maturing process is about learning to be a better judge of his circumstances.

When Pericles sees the monument Dionyza has erected for Marina, he just accepts it as evidence that his daughter is dead. Yep: this is another huge mistake for our hero, who doesn't realize that Cleon and Dionyza are lying to him about his daughter. By the way, if you want to argue that this is evidence that Pericles is still a lousy judge of character, go right ahead. Nobody here is gonna stop you.