Art, Nature, and the Written Word in Pericles

Abstract

As a metaphor the book of nature elucidates the realms of art and nature in Shakespeare's late plays, especially Pericles. Although the metaphor may not explicitly appear in Pericles, the written word does, and it takes a variety of forms, including a riddle, an impresa, a message in a coffin, an inscription on a tomb. Each of these artful constructions describes or applies to one or another young woman who, by her appearance, evokes the personification of nature herself. Nature, then, is evoked both as a person and as an artifact evincing aesthetic design. Together, these two formulations reveal more than either alone. The juxtaposition of written material and nubile woman achieves what the debate over flowers in The Winter's Tale or the argument over painting and poetry in Timon of Athens achieves: it clarifies the subtle relationship between art and nature, suggesting that, here at least, co-operation rather than strife prevails.