As the play's only historical figure, Antiochus provides us with a date for its action. However, this was unimportant to Shakespeare, who took the name from his sources, which included him because he was one of the most famous rulers of the Greek lands of the eastern Mediterranean. Known as Antiochus the Great, he was a king of the Seleucid dynasty, heirs to a portion of the empire founded by Alexander the Great. Antiochus waged a number of largely unsuccessful wars and is known as 'the Great' because he carried a campaign to 'India' (actually Afghanistan) rather than for any lasting accomplishments. However, he did develop his capital city, and made it one of the great metropolises of its day, after which, as Antioch, it bore his name.  No evidence exists that Antiochus was incestuous, though he did have daughters, one of whom, Cleopatra, was married to a ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt and was thus the ancestor of Shakespeare's Egyptian queen. However, the playwright probably did not know of this connection.

The play stems from the ancient Greek tale 'Apollonius of Tyre', and the protagonist's name remained Apollonius in Shakespeare's main sources for the play.  The new name was probably suggested by Pyrocles, a hero of Sir Philip Sydney’s Arcadia, one of the play's minor sources. Shakespeare's hero bears no resemblance at all to the Athenian statesman named Pericles (c. 495-429 B.C.), though the playwright undoubtedly read the Athenian's biography in- Plutarch’s Lives. The great stature of the historical Pericles may have made his name seem appropriately grand for a fictional ruler of Tyre.

Helicanus is and adviser to and surrogate ruler for Prince Pericles of Tyre. In 1.2 Helicanus stands out among a group of flattering courtiers when he makes a speech that stresses the value of honest criticism to a ruler. Impressed, Pericles leaves Helicanus in charge of Tyre when he must flee from the powerful King Antiochus of Syria. In 2.4 the Tyrian nobles desire a ruler who is in residence, and suggest that Helicanus declare himself Pericles' successor, but the faithful adviser summons Pericles home instead. In Act 5 Helicanus serves Pericles again. He acts as Pericles' spokesman when the grief-stricken prince—he has been separated from his wife and daughter—refuses to speak. He witnesses Pericles' reunions with Marina, in 5.1, and Thaisa, in 5.3. Helicanus demonstrates that loyalty and goodness do continue to exist among humans, despite the misfortunes that plague Pericles. Pericles praises Helicanus' virtues several times, and calls him 'fit counsellor and servant for a prince, / Who by thy wisdom makes a prince thy servant' (1.2.63-64), and 'a grave and noble counsellor' (5.1.182). This wise elder's presence seems appropriate to the play's conclusion in divinely wrought happiness and good fortune.

Escanes is a lord of Tyre. Escanes appears with Pericles' deputy, Helicanus, in 1.3 and 2.4—mute in the former scene and speaking two short lines in the latter. In 4.4.13-16 he is said to be governing Tyre while Pericles and Helicanus are abroad. His presence adds dignity to Helicanus, for whom he serves as a retinue.

In Shakespeare's sources for the play, the character corresponding to Simonides has another name. Why Shakespeare adopted the name Simonides is not: known, but he presumably knew that the name belonged to two ancient poets, Simonides of Amorgos (active c. 660 B.C.) and Simonides of Ceos (c. 556-468 B.C.).

Cleon is the governor of Tharsus and husband of Dionyza. In 1.4 Cleon bemoans the catastrophic famine that has beset Tharsus, and when Pericles brings relief, he is very grateful. He curses anyone who may ever harm his benefactor, and includes 'our wives, our children, or ourselves' (1.4. 103). This remark proves very ironic when Dionyza attempts to murder Pericles' daughter, Marina, who has been left in their care. Cleon disapproves of his wife's deed, but he gives in to her harangue against his cowardice, and, as the head of the family, he eventually receives much of the blame for it. The play's spokesman, Gower, tells us in the Epilogue that Cleon and his entire family have been massacred by the citizens of Tharsus, who were incensed when they learned of the murder. When his bravery is questioned by Dionyza, Cleon resembles Macbeth (in Macbeth 1.7, 2.2, and 3.4) and the Duke of Albany (in King Lear 4.2), but he is a very minor figure whose function is to depict man's weakness in the face of evil.

In 5.1 Lysimachus witnesses the reunion of Marina and her father Pericles. When he learns that she is a suitable bride for a ruler, he asks Pericles for her hand. In the final reconciliations and reunions of 5.3 his engagement to Marina is formally declared, and the couple is assigned the rule of Tyre, though Lysimachus does not speak. He is merely a conventional highborn figure, a suitable husband for the heroine.

Cerimon is a nobleman and physician of Ephesus who revives the seemingly dead Thaisa. Cerimon's benevolence as well as his expertise as a scientist is conveyed in his conversation with two neighbors, in 3.2. He assists a servant who has suffered the great storm of the night before—the storm during which the unconscious Thaisa was mistakenly buried at sea, in 3.1—and he speaks of his long study of 'physic, [the] secret art [of] the blest infusions / That dwells in vegetives, in metals, stones' (3.2.32-36). Today, we might call him an alchemist. He revives Thaisa by invoking the spirit of Aesculapius, the Greek god of healing, which suggests ancient medical wisdom. Cerimon guides Thaisa to the famous Temple of Diana—one of the most important ancient pagan temples—when the revived queen, certain she will never see her husband again, desires 'a vestal livery' (3.4.9). In 5.3 when Thaisa, by then a high priestess at the Temple, is reunited with Pericles, Cerimon is there, and, as the only calm person present, is able to confirm Thaisa's story. This kind and intelligent scholar foreshadows Shakespeare's last great protagonist, the magician Prospero of The Tempest.

Thaliard is an assassin sent by King Antiochus of Syria to kill Pericles. In 1.1 Thaliard accepts his assignment with cool professionalism, but in 1.3, once he has followed Pericles to Tyre, he expresses reluctance. He declares that he only contemplates committing the deed out of fear of punishment if he refuses and a sense of obligation to his oath of loyalty to Antiochus. He is relieved to learn that his quarry has fled. Thaliard, as a potential assassin, represents an unjust fate, but he is also a victim trapped by his place in the world. He thus is a part of a major theme of the play: that humanity is helpless in the face of destiny.

Philemon is a servant of Lord Cerimon. Philemon, summoned by Cerimon, leaves immediately to carry out his master's orders to 'Get fire and meat' (3.2.3) for the victims of a storm He speaks only four words and helps illustrate Cerimon's concerned care for others.

Leonine is the murderer hired by Dionyza to kill Marina. In 4.1 Dionyza urges Leonine to ignore his conscience, for he is reluctant to murder so fine a young woman; however, he agrees to uphold his sworn oath to do so. A civil murderer, he offers Marina time to say her prayers, and while she is doing so, he is interrupted by the coincidental arrival of marauding Pirates, who kidnap his intended victim. Relieved to be freed from his obligation, Leonine nevertheless proposes to tell Dionyza he has in fact done the deed. As we learn in 4.3, Dionyza believed him but she has also poisoned him to ensure secrecy.  Leonine's brief appearance is thus filled with surprises as first his conscience, then his viciousness, and finally his deceit, all prove insufficient. Such ironic changes are found throughout the play, and demonstrate that humanity is helpless before fate, an important theme for Pericles and Shakespeare's late plays in general. .In the Confessio Amantis of John Gower, Shakespeare's chief source for the play. Leonine, which means lionlike, is the name of the Pandar. The playwright presumably transferred the name to the murderer to make better use of its reference to a ferocious beast.

Pandar is the keeper of a brothel who, with his wife, the Bawd, buys the kidnapped Marina. The Pandar is somewhat less hard than his wife. He contemplates retirement from a trade whose practice puts them on 'sore terms ... with the gods'. However, he does have a business to run, and when Marina's glorious innocence begins to produce moral reform among the clientele he despairs. He moans 'I had rather than twice the worth of her she had ne'er come here' (4.6.1-2). He then curses her with a contradictory pair of sexual problems: 'the pox upon her green-sickness' (4.6.13). Thus, the Pandar offers comic relief from the melodramatic romance of the main story.

Boult is a brothel employee responsible for training and advertising the kidnapped Marina.  The energetic Boult ('Performance shal follow' [4.2.59], he says proudly) pretends to be cruel and cynical. When he speaks of Marina's modesty, he declares that these blushes of hers must be quench d with some present practice' (4.2 122-124). However, though he threatens to destroy her innocence through rape, in 4.6, she recognizes that she can appeal to his inner revulsion at his profession and tells him his job would shame 'the pained'st fiend / Of hell- (4.6.162-163). He can only plead, -What would you have me do? go to the wars, would you? Where a man may serve seven years for the loss of a leg and have not money enough in the end to buy him a wooden one?' (4.6.169-172). This brief, compelling outburst demonstrates the breadth of Shakespeare's humanity: he transforms a minor character's crisis into a striking commentary on a pervasive scandal of his times; the distressing status of military veterans Boult agrees to help Marina escape the brothel, which we later learn she does. In addition to helping Marina Boult also contributes to the comic relief from melodrama provided by the brothel scenes.

Dionyza is the would-be murderer of Marina. In 3.3 Pericles leaves his daughter Marina in the care of Dionyza and her husband Cleon. However, Dionyza grows jealous of the girl as she overshadows their own daughter, and in 4.1 she forces her servant Leonine to agree to kill Marina. Though he does not do so, he tells his mistress he has, and in 4.3 Dionyza faces Cleon's horror at her deeds—she has also poisoned Leonine to ensure secrecy. In response to his dread, she says T think you'll turn child again' (4.3.4) and compares his qualms to complaining that 'winter kills the flies' (4.3.50). She clearly resembles her forerunner Lady Macbeth but is a much less developed character. In 1.4 we see her as she echoes her husband's distress over a famine, and her transition to evil seems unmotivated. She is merely a stereotype of the wicked stepmother, evil because the plot requires it.

In the Confessio Amantis of John Gower, Shakespeare's chief source for the play, Thaise is the name of Pericles' daughter, and his wife is nameless. Having selected the name Marina for his heroine, the playwright adapted the daughter's name for the mother The name is traditionally associated with the legendary beauty of Thais, the mistress of Alexander the Great.

Marina's ideal virtue and the simplicity and inflexibility other motives places her in a disturbing contrast with the social reality of the Bawd, the Pandar, and Boult. This contrast is often seen as a defect, but the objection ignores the playwright's allegorical purposes, which are emphasized by the contrast. Like Shakespeare's other late heroines, Perdita and Miranda, Marina represents a sort of redemption, a renewal of life. Her spirit revives that of Pericles, who calls her 'Thou that beget'st him that did thee beget' (5.1.195). Through her, he can transcend the buffetings of fate and be reconciled with a life whose disillusionments have been too much to bear. Her healing nature also effects the customers of the brothel and even the hard-boiled Boult. Moreover, Marina has been symbolically dead: she was believed dead by Pericles and has undergone a journey through the underworld of the brothel. She thus is representative of resurrection, the play's most important motif. She is an appropriate symbol of the spirit of hope and renewal with which the play ends.

Lychorida is the nurse of Marina, servant of Pericles and Thaisa. Lychorida accompanies the pregnant Thaisa and Pericles as they embark on a sea journey.  In 3.1, aboard ship, she presents the newborn Marina to Pericles and reports that Thaisa has died in childbirth. In 3.3 she carries Marina but does not speak when Pericles leaves infant and nurse in Tharsus. Marina's grief at Lychorida's death 14 years later is probably mentioned in 4.1.11, though the text is unclear. In Shakespeare's world the company of a nurse was a regular attribute of a well-born young woman. Through her service to Thaisa and then her daughter, Lychorida embodies dedicated domestic service and contributes to the play's atmosphere of ceremonious and courtly life.

Bawd is the keeper of a brothel in Mytilene, who, with her husband the Pandar, buys the kidnapped Marina. The Bawd is a hardboiled madam. She coolly assesses her wenches as 'creatures . . . [who] with continual action are even as good as rotten' (4.2.6-9). She rejects her husband's scruples: 'Other sorts offend as well as we' (4.2.34), she says grumpily. She is prepared to be friendly with the newly-bought Marina, and assures her that she 'shall live in pleasure [and] taste gentlemen of all fashions' (4.2.72-76). When Marina grieves at her plight, however, the Bawd turns nasty, and declares, 'you're a young foolish sapling, and must be bow'd as I would have you' (4.2.83-85). The Bawd jokes cynically with her employee Boult about the venereal diseases of their clients. This was a traditional subject of humor in Shakespeare's day, but placed in contrast with the virginal Marina it seems shocking. When Marina's virtues begin to encourage moral reform among her customers, the Bawd complains comically, 'Fie, fie upon her! She's able to freeze the god Priapus, and undo a whole generation' (4.6.3-4). In her energetic sinfulness, the Bawd resembles such other Shakespearean ladies of the demimonde as Hostess Quickly and Mistress Overdone, though the underworld of Mytilene is not so developed as those of London and Vienna. The Bawd contributes to the comic—and realistic—relief from the elevated and melodramatic romance of the main plot.

Diana, the ancient goddess of the moon and the hunt, was a familiar theatrical personage in Shakespeare's day. She appears in a number of 16th- and 17th-century dramatic productions, generally clad in a costume decorated in silver with emblems of the moon, and carrying a silver bow (which she mentions here, in 5.1.246). Her appearance in Pericles, the first of Shakespeare's Romances, heralds the supernatural atmosphere and dreamlike quality that characterizes these late plays.

Gower was a minor nobleman who pursued his literary career in London, supported by rents from two small country estates. He wrote major works in Latin, French, and English, though the Confessio (which may have been commissioned by King Richard II) is by far the most important. Its 33,000 lines of eight-syllable couplets constitutes one of the greatest achievements of 14th-century English poetry. Gower was a contemporary and friend of Geoffrey Chaucer, who dedicated his Troilus and Criseyde to him. However, the two poets may have become estranged, for a tribute to Chaucer in the first manuscript edition of the Confessio is omitted from later ones produced in Gower's lifetime.

Finally, there is an attendant of Lysimachus. In 5.1 Lysimachus confers with Helicanus about the speechless despair of Pericles, and a member of his retinue, the First Lord, reminds his master of the extraordinary qualities of Marina, who may be able to 'win some words of him' (5.1.43). This timely suggestion brings about the climactic reunion of Pericles and Marina. The fact that the suggestion is made by a minor figure maintains the dignity of Lysimachus—who should not seem preoccupied with Marina—and adds to the atmosphere of courtly formality with which the play abounds.

Knight are jousters who compete with Pericles for the hand of Thaisa. In 2.2 five Knights—along with Pericles—are presented to Thaisa and her father, King Simonides, and Thaisa describes their elaborate coats of arms. None of them speak. In 2.3 at the banquet that follows, one of the Knights—designated as the First Knight—offers brief courtly remarks to Pericles and the king. In 2.5 each of three Knights—First, Second, and Third—speaks a single line as they leave Simonides' court, having been told that Thaisa refuses to marry. The Knights are required for the jousting, and they add to the ceremony of Simonides' court, but they do not have individual character attributes.

The First Fisherman is the leader of the group; he refers to the Second and Third Fishermen by their names—Pilch and Patch-breech—both humorous terms for raggedy clothes. These labels suggest the general appearance of the Fishermen, which is that of a traditional comic character, the rustic Clown.

Pirates are three buccaneers who kidnap Marina. In 4.1 the Pirates interrupt Leonine, who is about to murder Marina, and take her from her would-be killer. In 4.2 they sell her to a brothel in Mytilene and disappear from the play.  When they effect this melodramatic change in the heroine's fortunes, the Pirates bring about one of the play's many surprises, which helps demonstrate the human dependence upon fate, an important theme. The Pirates, who speak four short lines between them, display an abrupt vigour ('A prize! A prize!' cries the Second Pirate [4.1.93], in his only speech) but their function is mainly to further the plot.

The final group are attendants of Pericles. In 5.1 the Gentlemen are summoned to receive Lysimachus, the governor of Mytilene, who is visiting Pericles' ship. One Gentleman acknowledges the call in four words, but otherwise these courtiers do not speak. They are extras, intended to increase the atmosphere of ceremonious formality that surrounds Pericles.

Messenger is a servant of King Antiochus of Syria. In 1.1 the Messenger informs Antiochus that Pericles—whom the king intends to kill—has fled the country. The Messenger, who speaks only a single line, helps heighten the melodramatic tension of the scene.

The second set are employees of Lord Cerimon. The Servants deliver a large chest that has been washed ashore by a storm It proves to be a coffin that contains the body of the supposedly dead Thaisa. A Servant is sent to fetch the medical supplies with which Cerimon revives her One Servant speaks briefly, but they serve mainly to bring stage properties into the scene.

Sailors are seamen aboard whose ship Marina is born and Thaisa apparently dies. In 3.1, during a raging storm, the Sailors believe that Pericles' wife Thaisa has died, though in fact she is merely unconscious. They demand that she be buried at sea, for they believe that a corpse aboard ship will bring disaster. The distracted Pericles agrees, and Thaisa is cast overboard in a watertight coffin. Thus begins the long separation of husband and wife, a central development in the lay's sequence of exiles and disconnections. The Sailors are hearty seamen, conspicuously unafraid of the storm. The First Sailor addresses it contemptuously, 'Blow, and split thyself (3.1.44), to which the Second Sailor responds, 'But sea-room, and the brine and cloudy billow kiss the moon, I care not' (3.1.45-46). Shakespeare makes it clear that they are not evil; they are merely unknowing implements of fate.