'Tis Pity She's a Whore (New Mermaids)
by Martin Wiggins (Editor), John Ford (Original author)
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Description
Like Shakespeare's Juliet, Annabella, accompanied by her down-to-earth nurse, is introduced to a series of suitors to her hand. Like Juliet, she finds all of them unsatisfactory - and rightly so, for the audience know that the nastiest of them is having an affair with her domineering aunt. Like Juliet, Annabella is wooed by a sensitive and passionate young man whose love she returns - but this young man happens to be her own brother, Giovanni. When they consummate their love and she, to show more avoid the scandal of extramarital pregnancy, agrees to marry her aunt's lover, the tragic outcome is inevitable. John Ford, writing his psychologically powerful and intellectually challenging tragedies in the early years of King Charles I's reign, is a playwright of the first rank, as 20th-century directors have shown both in the theatre and on film. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
A boy's best friend (with benefits) is his sister, in a Renaissance Italy filled with "banditti," corrupt churchmen, and Machiavellian schemers.
Disturbing, memorable dialogue that mitigates (somewhat) the generally preposterous plot. Think of Shakespeare crossed with a "Grade B" horror film, directed by David Cronenberg.
Disturbing, memorable dialogue that mitigates (somewhat) the generally preposterous plot. Think of Shakespeare crossed with a "Grade B" horror film, directed by David Cronenberg.
comically horrendous play about incest from 1633. I liked the title.
New Mermaids are modernized and fully-annotated editions of classic English plays. Each volume includes:¥ The playtext, in modern spelling, edited to the highest bibliographical and textual standardsÂ¥ Textual notes recording significant changes to the copytext and variant readingsÂ¥ Glossing notes explaining obscure words and word-playÂ¥ Critical, contextual and staging notesÂ¥ Photographs of productions where applicableÂ¥ A full introduction which provides a critical account of the play, the staging conventions of the time and recent stage history; discusses authorship, date, sources and the text; and gives guidance for further reading.Edited and updated by leading scholars and printed in a clear, easy-to-use format, New show more Mermaids offer invaluable guidance for actor, student, and theatre-goer alike. show less
*2015 Reading Challenge*: A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't
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Author Information
Martin Wiggins is Senior Lecturer and Fellow, and Tutor for Research, at The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham.
Ford, the second son of a landed gentleman, did not begin his career as a playwright until 1621, with his collaboration with Dekker on The Witch of Edmonton. As a dramatist, Ford was extremely interested in psychology, especially abnormal psychology, and his best-known plays are studies in frustration and quiet suffering. His plots tend to be show more static and deterministic, with the characters unable to act against a crushing destiny. In The Broken Heart (1629), because all the crucial events are fixed before the play begins, there is a heavy emphasis on pathos. 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (1632) rewrites Romeo and Juliet with brother-sister incest and a violent revenge action. Perkin Warbeck (1633) is the last of the history plays. In it, the pretender to the throne of Henry VII hardly makes much pretense to establish his legitimate claims. Ford writes in an unusually plain, lyric style that resembles that of passionate and melancholy speech. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
All Editions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- New Mermaids : Ford : 'Tis Pity She's a Whore; 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (New Mermaids) (New Mermaids)
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 822.3
- Disambiguation notice
- 0393900967 2003 softcover Norton
0713650605 2008 Methuen Drama
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 264
- Popularity
- 122,683
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.50)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
