Shipwrecks and Lost identities in Shakespeare's Plays: The case of "Pericles"

Ships are widely present in Shakespeare’s plays as symbolic means of trade (The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice), war (Henry V, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra), love (Antony and Cleopatra), death (Hamlet), loss (Winter’s Tale). But the wooden deck of ships is also an important emblem for the stage, particularly in the last plays (Pericles and The Tempest). Indeed, it is the theatrical dimension of ships and shipwrecks which are here analysed in order to point out the different theatrical solutions and the innovative experimental choices Shakespeare adopts to present them; moreover, the critical discussion takes into account how different genres are used to diversify the theatrical mise en scène of shipwrecks, particularly in Pericles where a number of different shipwrecks are presented. Shakespeare’s ship, therefore, becomes the means of real and symbolic journeys as it takes heroes and spectators on the tempestuous sea of human passions; but it is also a vivid icon of its time, both in reference to the wide commercial and maritime development, and as a symbol of movement and fluidity in that climate of uncertainty and constant transformation which characterises baroque culture in the early 17th century.