The importance of essential / central metaphors

In Scene 5 of Pericles, the central metaphor of the play is expressed during a portion of comic relief in the play. While out sailing, Pericles and his ship is overcome by a terrible tempest in which the audience can recognize the struggle between nature and man. In all his melancholy, Pericles humbles himself to the storm and states, "...remember, earthly man / Is but a substance that must yield to you; / And I, as fits my nature, do obey you." The strength and unpredictability of the storm has overcome Pericles so much that he pretty much admits defeat. And thus defeated, is washed up onto shore by the storm, where he will begin a new.

Upon landing on shore, Pericles is greeted by three fishermen who are in awe at what they have found- a washed up man. As nearly anyone would wonder, the fisherman joked and asked where Pericles, the stranger had come from. The ensuing conversation marks a rebirth of Pericles, him starting with nothing, not even telling the fishermen he is a prince. Pericles gleams with purity at this moment, and this foreshadows possible changes in the following scenes in the play.