How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #4
I am no viper, yet I feed
On mother's flesh which did me breed.
I sought a husband, in which labour
I found that kindness in a father: (1.1.64-67)
These are the first lines of the infamous riddle. We talk about it in more detail in "Symbols," but here, we want to point out that Antiochus's daughter is associated with a viper that "feeds" on its mother's flesh (because she's been sleeping with her dead mother's husband). What's interesting is how incest is associated with cannibalism and violence.
Quote #5
You are a fair viol, and your sense the strings;
Who, finger'd to make man his lawful music,
Would draw heaven down, and all the gods, to hearken:
But being play'd upon before your time,
Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime. (1.1.81-85)
When Pericles realizes the truth about Antiochus's daughter, he uses a metaphor to compare her to a musical instrument (a viol) that's been "play'd" by the wrong man—her father. Okay, we get it, Shakespeare: making music is a metaphor for sex. Basically, Pericles says that if Antiochus's daughter were married and engaged in a "lawful" sexual relationship with a husband, their lovemaking would be heavenly, instead of "hell[ish]" and sinful. (By the way, in Sonnet 8, Shakespeare totally makes a famous comparison between harmonious music and healthy family relationships among husband, wife, and child.) Here, Pericles associates the incestuous relationship between Antiochus and his daughter with musical discord.
Quote #6
By Juno, that is queen of marriage,
All viands that I eat do seem unsavoury.
Wishing him my meat. (2.3.30-32)
In earlier passages, we saw how desire for food is a metaphor for sexual appetite. Here, we learn that Thaisa is so hot for Pericles that she loses her physical appetite and can't stop telling us all how yummy or "meat[y]" he looks to her. Shakespeare is reminding us that, unlike the daughter of Antiochus (who is compared to a flesh-eating viper), Thaisa expresses her sexual desire in a much healthier way.