# Dionyza — Pericles character guide

> Dionyza in Pericles by William Shakespeare.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Dionyza, cruel Cleon

**First appearance:** 0005-act-i-scene-iv

## Snapshot

Cleon's wife, whose envy of Marina's brilliance curdles into a murder plot dressed in mourning and false tears.

## Who they are

Dionyza watches Marina outshine her own daughter in every grace and decides the comparison is intolerable. She arranges a killing and then stages a monument and a public grief so convincing that Pericles accepts the loss and retreats further into his sorrow. Her villainy matters because it shows how domestic envy can counterfeit the language of mourning, and how the play's worst crime hides behind soft flattery.

## In the story

### [Scene IV: The Relief of Tarsus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pericles_se/chapters/act-i-scene-iv)

Cleon's wife, who shares his grief and confirms the severity of the famine.

### [Scene III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pericles_se/chapters/act-iii-scene-iii)

Promises to treat Marina as dearly as her own child.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pericles_se/chapters/act-iv-scene-i)

Commands Leonine to kill Marina, showing her cruelty and deceit.

### [Scene III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pericles_se/chapters/act-iv-scene-iii)

Coldly justifies Marina's murder, blaming her for overshadowing her own daughter, and devises a cover story to deceive Pericles.

### [Scene IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pericles_se/chapters/act-iv-scene-iv)

Writes the epitaph for Marina's false tomb, perpetuating the lie.

### [Scene I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pericles_se/chapters/act-v-scene-i)

Mentioned as the wicked wife of Cleon who plotted Marina's murder.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pericles_se/characters/dionyza
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pericles_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/pericles_se/characters