“[A]ction may / Conveniently the rest convey:” Shakespeare and the Stage Translation of Gower

Abstract

This paper explores the self-consciousness of Shakespeare's stage adaptation of Gower's Confessio de Amantis, showing that Pericles, like Shakespeare's other romances, is explicitly concerned with the relationship between narrative and enactment. Rather than disparage written romance in comparison to performed story, Shakespeare in Pericles proposes performance as the completion and fulfilment of the tales books begin. Within the play, Marina's virtue-inspiring verbal performances argue for the transformational power of spoken poetry, while in the liminal space between the play and the audience, the poet Gower, “stand[ing] in the gaps to tell the stages of [the] story”, confirms the benevolent unity of narrative and performance.