Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Act 5 Scene 2 — Summary & Analysis

What happens

Gower appears before Diana's temple in Ephesus to announce that time has nearly run out for the story. He briefly describes the celebrations Lysimachus arranged in Mytilene to greet Pericles, and confirms that the king is promised to marry Marina—but only after fulfilling his sacred obligation to Diana. With a final request for the audience's patience, Gower ushers in the climactic temple scene where all revelations will occur.

Why it matters

This scene is pure frame-work: Gower materializes to compress time and guide audience attention toward the approaching resolution. His role as chorus has been essential throughout, leaping across months and years, preparing us for impossibilities. Here, he explicitly asks for imaginative compliance—we must believe ships fill with speed, wishes materialize as promised, and that a king can reach Ephesus 'so soon.' Gower's language shifts from narrative urgency to ceremonial tone, moving us from plot mechanics into the spiritual register where the final scene will operate. He is no longer simply telling a story; he is conducting us into a temple.

The scene's brevity paradoxically heightens its power. After four acts of wandering, shipwreck, and separation, we are held in suspension between desire and fulfillment. Gower's phrase 'the interim, pray you, all confound'—collapse all the waiting into nothing—asks us to surrender to dramatic time. He promises that wishes 'fall out as they're will'd,' returning us to the play's central question: Is reunion grace or accident? By invoking the audience's 'fancy's thankful doom,' Gower suggests that what we desire and what we believe shape what will be shown to us. The temple awaits. What happens there depends partly on faith.