Tis Pity Shes A Whore by John Ford Essay -- John Ford Tis Pity Whore

"Tis Pity She's A Whore" by John Ford In this play it would be impossible to accurately assess this idea commenting on Annabella and Giovanni as a single entity. They are extremely different characters with their only common ground being the love they have for each other, and even this is expressed in distinctly different ways with subsequently different consequences. These consequences build up to the conclusion referred to in the question, and so it would also prove hard to answer it directly without having previously discussed what has come before and created such conclusion. At the beginning of the play, I believe that the audience is intended to sympathise with Giovanni. Although his actions are described as 'devilish atheism', this is counterbalanced by his modest language which contrasts greatly to later on in the play. He refers to the Friar as 'Gentle Father' and this humble way of addressing him gives the audience the impression that Giovanni is genuinely asking for help and wants to be 'cured'. Although he argues against much of what the Friar says, his respect for him is obvious as he agrees to take his advice. This may not have carried much weight for the Caroline audience for which this would have been performed, however, as the religion of the English at this time was Protestant, making Catholicism not the favoured denomination. It has even been stated that Ford presented the characters in this play so faulted because of their religious beliefs and nationality, both of which were seen as the enemy. Throughout this scene, Giovanni is attempting to justify his actions and convince the Friar that what he is doing is right, by playing on the religious idea that there is one father, and ... ...how compassion about the consequences of this distorted self-image. (I know I've missed out a bit here, but I think 4 pages is enough and I don't think I could sit here for another  ½ hour.) In conclusion, at the beginning of the play sympathy is possible for both characters. Annabella earns more than this during the course of the play, and is likely to be admired by the audiences from both eras, though would probably have been seem as more promiscuous in the time of writing than would be perceived now. Giovanni on the other hand, through use of apocalyptic figurative language shows a too high opinion of himself and is presented as too self-absorbed to induce anything other than contempt. This is accentuated by the death of Annabella being caused by such traits and highlighted by the irony that she had remained to true to him just to die by his hand.