So, are you ready?
For what?
Come on man, for the new series! Don’t you want to hear what it’s about?
You’ve got it? That’s awesome, what’s it about?
John Ford’s masterpiece ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore!
… Do you just refuse to take my advice?
I’m sorry, what?
We’ve talked about this more times than I can count. You need to consider the analytics. Nobody’s heard of this play.
This was at least partly an analytics-driven decision! I needed to put out content more frequently, so doing essays on media I know well makes total sense. Plus, it’s very well-known in the theatre world!
Exactly, “in the theatre world”. I’m not even against looking at theatre, but jeez, pick someone with name recognition: Shakespeare, Brecht, Ibsen!
Look, I get this doesn’t have the same name-recognition, but that’s at least in part because of how often the play was suppressed or censored! And I’m glad you brought up Shakespeare actually, because I’m about to make quite a bold claim. ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore is comparable in quality to some of Shakespeare’s greatest works. And more specifically, I’d say that John Ford was actually as strong as Shakespeare within the subgenre of revenge tragedies.
Wow, that’s a bold claim. So what’s this all about?
Well before we can get into ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (TPSW), we should define what a revenge tragedy is. Now, most of us are familiar with Shakespeare and Elizabethan theatre. It was a period lasting from 1588-1642 golden age of English theatre! Much ink has been spilled on defining the period, but most agree Elizabethan theatre is defined by its 5-act structure, minimal props, use of thrust stage and discarding masque. Elizabethan theatre featured primarily comedies, histories, and of course, tragedies.
Now, following this comes the Jacobean and Carolinean eras of English Renaissance theatre. You can think of these periods as the gritty reboot period of English Renaissance theatre. The English audience increasingly wanted sex and violence, not all this everyone-gets-married-and-lives-happily-ever-after BS! As such, the sub-genre that became incredibly popular was the revenge tragedy, one of the most famous examples being Hamlet. As the name suggests, revenge tragedies focused on a wronged, flawed protagonist in their intrigues and violent quest for revenge. Here we come to ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, written and performed at the junction between Jacobean and Carolinean theatre. And hoo boy, let me tell you, it’s dark!
I expected as much based on the title. In a few sentences, what’s the premise?
I assume you know Romeo and Juliet? Well, this tragedy is set in Parma, not fair Verona. I want you to imagine Romeo and Juliet, turn the violence up to 11, triple the number of concurrent plotlines and add innuendo that’s shocking to this day.
Oh, well that doesn’t sound too out there–
Oh, and also the star-crossed lovers are siblings.
I’m sorry, what?
I warned you dude.
And this was written when?
Unclear, but the first performance was somewhere between 1629 and 1633.
How in the world did this ever get performed?
Well like I said, it was (and still is) a common target of censorship. In fact, an old professor of mine was in a production of TPSW in the 80s and faced massive protests! But the show has gone on, Jude Law once playing the protagonist Giovanni!
Well, I’m as equally frightened as intrigued. What goes on in this play?
Well, before I get into that, one of the notable features of revenge tragedies is the multiple, overlapping plot lines. As such, giving a little background to each of the families will make the summary a lot easier to follow.
House of Florio: This is the family we follow primarily. Florio is the head of household and has two children, the incestuous Giovanni and Annabella. Our protagonist Giovanni is a gifted student and deeply in love with Annabella. He is considered to be a bit “over-bookish”, hence his father Florio’s wish to marry off Annabella. For her part, Annabella is a hot commodity, both for her looks and her role as inheritor of Florio’s wealth. As such, she has three major suitors, Soranzo, Grimaldi and Bergetto, but thinks little of them on account of her love for Giovanni. The family also has a servant Putana, a tutor and confidante to Annabella. Putana, as the name may suggest, isn’t exactly a prude and helps Annabella navigate her relationship with her brother.
House of Donado: This family serves as the comedic relief. Donado is close buddies with Florio and is desperately trying to set up his nephew Bergetto with Annabella. Bergetto is comically inept at just about everything and is accompanied everywhere by his servant Poggio. Nobody really takes Bergetto attempt at wooing Annabella seriously, Bergetto included!
House of Grimaldi: Not much of a house, Grimaldi is the only member of his family mentioned and is the only non-Parman family. He is seen as an eligible (if less than perfect) suitor for Annabella, given that he’s a veteran and has close ties to the Catholic church. That said, he is perceived to be less ideal than Soranzo and so there is mutual antipathy between the two.
House of Soranzo: Soranzo, after the passing of his father, recently came to the head of his family. He is seen to be an ideal match for Annabella (the only problem being that she has no interest). He has an incredibly loyal and clever servant named Vasques, a Spaniard. Soranzo also had a liaison with Hippolita while she was still married to Richardetto.
House of Richardetto: This is a family very much in disarray. Following their liaison, Soranzo encouraged Hippolita to get Richardetto out of the picture, promising to marry her afterwards. Hippolita does this by asking Richardetto to take a dangerous trip to pick up their niece Philotis (who’s family recently passed). Richardetto suspects foul play, spreads a rumour that he’s dead and ensures that it arrives in Parma. Hearing of Richardetto’s death, Hippolita assumes Soranzo will then marry her. However, he spurns her and causing bad blood between the two. Richardetto eventually returns to Parma, disguised as a doctor with Philotis in tow, seeking revenge against Soranzo and Hippolita.
The Church: The Catholic church features quite a bit. Friar Bonaventura is a once-tutor and advisor to Giovanni who spends the better part of the play trying to convince him that he shouldn’t sleep with his sister. The unnamed cardinal shows up periodically in often less-than-savoury functions, like getting Grimaldi off the hook for murder.
That’s … intricate. Wouldn’t that make it hard to follow?
That is a problem that revenge tragedies often run into; too many moving parts! Now, the reason revenge tragedies have such complex plots is that it allows for a spectacular finale, often a bloody one, as all the plot lines collide! The genius of John Ford, in my opinion, is that he makes it rather easy to follow these threads, allowing us to enjoy the intrigue and double-dealing. For example, Ford naturally weaves in the background to the Soranzo-Hippolita-Richardetto situation into one of Putana’s monologues how good she imagines Annabella’s suitors are in bed.
So as you can imagine, the central plot is driven both by the conflict between the three suitors as well as by the brother-sister incest. Essentially, the first half of the play revolves around Annabella and Giovanni’s relationship and the conflicts between the suitors (all of whom Annabella spurns). Two of the suitors are eliminated when Grimaldi kills Bergetto in a case of mistaken identity. Predictably, the relationship between Giovanni and Annabella in a pre-contraceptive era leads to her becoming pregnant and–
When you thought it couldn’t get worse … she becomes pregnant by her brother?
Oh yeah. And as you might imagine, having a pregnant, unmarried daughter in 16th century Parma was a bit of a bad look, so Florio quickly arranges a marriage to a thrilled Soranzo (despite Giovanni’s protest). This happiness doesn’t last, however, with Soranzo soon discovering her pregnancy. This infuriates Soranzo who becomes violent with Annabella, ultimately threatening to kill her if she doesn’t reveal the father. Vasques stops Soranzo from doing this, not out of concern for Annabella but out of concern for Soranzo’s image, and promises to help Soranzo discover the father so he can get revenge. Ultimately, Vasques manages to learn about the incest by seducing and ultimately brutalizing Putana.
Jesus…
I told you it was going to be dark! Anyways, Vasques informs Soranzo and they come up with a plan. Soranzo decides to invite all the major families to his birthday party where he will A: reveal the incest, B: renounce his marriage to Annabella and C: kill Giovanni. Speaking of Giovanni, he’s become progressively more unhinged over the course of the play, ultimately deciding to accept the invitation to Soranzo’s party despite knowing it will lead to his death.
But why would he do that?
Well he’s not going to be shamed by Soranzo or have his sister humiliated. He goes to Annabella’s room where the two talk of the afterlife. They finish this conversation and before Giovanni is to rejoin the party, he kills her mid-kiss. Bloodied, he then re-enters the party proclaiming “brave revenge is mine”, that he’s taken revenge on Soranzo by denying him Annabella! This prompts a fight between Giovanni and Soranzo, in which the less-talented Soranzo is easily slain. Vasques then jumps to action and he manages to kill Giovanni. As you might imagine, this causes much panic amongst the crowd, but Vasques assures everyone that all is fine and explains what’s been going on. At the end of the play, the cardinal stands up and proclaims that this whole situation was a shame, so many promising young people killed, and ultimately lays the blame at Annabella’s feet. They finish the play by asking “who could not say, ‘tis pity she’s a whore?”
Well, I’m going to help myself to a drink before I even begin to unpack this.
That’s a common reaction. It is definitely not an upbeat play, but it’s also not quite as grim as that extremely condensed summary might suggest. In interest of brevity, I had to skip over a number of subplots, the comedic relief and other aspects, all of which prevent TPSW from being overwhelmingly dark. I encourage readers to either read the full script here or take a look at my comedic, abridged summary here.
Oh I’m definitely planning to. But maybe you could tell us about a few of your favourite bits from the play?
Taking the words right out of my mouth! Starting with a lighter note, let’s talk about Bergetto. The comedic relief, Bergetto is an absolute fool and incomp. So when Donado is trying to set him up with Annabella, Donado decides it’d be better if he did the work for Bergetto. And for good reason! When Annabella and Bergetto first meet, he declared he loved her “almost as well as he loved parmesan”. Later, when Bergetto hears Donado is writing Annabella a love letter in his name, he decides to write one himself. Some highlights include his declaration he can “board where I see occasion”, bed whomever he sets his sights on, and that he plans to marry her “in spite of her teeth”. Needless to say, this does not do the trick. And when he finally gets rejected by her, he responds he “can have wenches enough in Parma for half a crown apiece”, that he can afford prostitutes. More than that, half a crown in that day is a huge sum of money! That’d be like declaring you can get a handy for “just a few thousand dollars”!
I’m sorry, parmesan, like the cheese? He likes her as well as he likes cheese?
Oh yes. And he has some excellent one-liners as well. Due to a case of mistaken identity, he gets stabbed in the back by Grimaldi. This prompts him to think aloud that he must be bleeding because “I am sure I cannot piss forward and back, and yet I am wet before and behind!” Yes, ladies and gentlemen, John Ford included a joke about pissing yourself.
Speaking of high-brow humour, you mentioned there’s some innuendo in this play?
Flip to a random page of TPSW and you’re more likely than not to encounter some instance of sexual innuendo. Putana, unsurprisingly, is the absolute queen of this. In one instance, she’s summoned by Annabella to her room after Annabella and Giovanni have done the deed. Annabella immediately gushes about how great the experience was. She continues by saying that she’s been missing out until now, wistfully speaking of “what a paradise of joy [Annabella] has passed over”. Ever quick with the innuendo, Putana corrects her, “Nay, what a paradise of joy you have passed under”. As you might have expected, that’s a missionary position joke.
But Putana doesn’t get to have all the fun in that regards. In the Giovanni and Annabella’s post-coital scene, Giovanni waxes poetical about how strange and prudish the customs of Parma are. He wonders aloud why virginity is considered so important for women since as, after sex, “you are still the same”. Annabella teases Giovanni, noting how he’s in quite the upbeat mood now, “now you can talk”, alluding to the burst of energy some experience after sex. She proclaims that Giovanni is clearly horned right up, “oh you are wanton!” Giovanni, always with the clever retort, responds that “music as well consists in th’ ear as in the playing”. That is, it takes two to tango, that they don’t call it the “beast with two backs” for no reason!
And what about the violence you spoke of?
Hey, if you’re looking for violence and combat, this is your show. There are at least four explicit fights that occur in the show and upwards of seven depending on your interpretation! And let me tell you, some of the violence depicted in this show is brutal. After Vasques manages to wriggle the information regarding Giovanni and Annabella out of Putana, he has Putana’s eyes gouged out on stage. But rather than killing her, he (I kid you not) stuffs her in a box for the rest of the show so she can serve as a witness. And at the end of the show, when Vasques is explaining to the cardinal what’s happened, he says that Putana (“whose eyes … I caused to be put out”) is witness to it. The cardinal doesn’t even bat an eye at this and believes Vasques outright, but not before sentencing Putana “to be burnt alive”, “for example’s sake”.
Lordy, big burn-the-witch energy there…
That’s not even necessarily the most brutal violence. In terms of pure shock, I’ve never seen a performance of the scene where Soranzo abuses pregnant Annabella that didn’t horrify me. Oh, and did I ever mention why the image of a heart with a sword through it is the classic image associated with this play?
… No … Is it horrifying?
With this show, the answer to that question is usually yes. Giovanni ultimately kills Annabella to deny her to Soranzo. But more than that, he cuts out her heart and carries it down to the party and tells the group what he’s done, prompting a fatal heart attack in Florio. Not content in his revenge yet, Giovanni asks Soranzo to “see this heart, which was thy wife’s, thus I exchange it royally for thine”, tossing him Annabella’s heart before killing him.
Yep, it was horrifying. But what exactly is TPSW looking at? Like, what are the themes.
As with any piece of art, there are numerous themes you can pull out of it. For example, there’s a lot of focus on sexuality and the idea of perversity. That’s perhaps obvious at the title; why is it a pity that she, Annabella, is a whore? Isn’t Giovanni just as culpable in this incest? And why is there a conflation between perversity and illegality or transgression? Perhaps most controversially, by some readings of the play, the tragedy is that the star-crossed lovers Annabella and Giovanni don’t end up together! TPSW also interrogates questions of honour and honesty. A lot of the plot is driven by an extreme concern to save face, to maintain one’s honour. It pushes Soranzo to sic Vasques on Grimaldi, Florio to marry off his pregnant daughter ASAP, and ultimately for Giovanni to kill Annabella to deny her to Soranzo!
But the theme that is one of the most intriguing to me is shown in Bonaventura’s relationship with Giovanni. Most of their scenes have the same dynamic: Giovanni updates Bonaventura on his relationship with Annabella, Bonaventura implores him to stop, and Giovanni ‘justifies’ the relationship using his school lessons. They consistently end with Bonaventura throwing up his arms, admitting he can’t refute Giovanni’s logic but saying his conclusion (that he should pursue his sister) is clearly wrong. There’s a pure theological reading to this, the danger of human reason divorced of god-given morals. However, I think there’s a broader way of understanding this point, one that is clearly relevant to On Second Glance. That is, the dynamic between Bonaventura and Giovanni investigates the uses (and misuses) of theory!
Ahh, it all comes together. So is that what this series, A ‘Tis Pity 360, is going to look at?
Certainly that will be a theme we will consistently return to. But I’ve got a far more broad goal with this series. I’m planning to look at TPSW through a number of different schools, themes, methods and vectors. By the end of this series, readers will then be able to get a peek behind the curtain of On Second Glance, an understanding of how we do the analysis we do! And in terms of On Second Glance, this series will allow us to claim an achievement: the creators of one of the most in-depth and thorough investigations of TPSW, perhaps in history!
So what are you waiting for, reader? Read ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore and join us on this journey! You won’t regret it!