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'Tis Pity She's a Whore and Other Plays
Ford wrote darkly about sexual and political passion, thwarted ambition, and incest. This selection of four plays also shows his ability to portray the poignancy of love as well as write entertaining comedy and create convincing roles for women. Setting Ford's earliest surviving independently written play, The Lover's Melancholy, alongside his three best-known works, The Broken Heart, 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore, and Perkin Warbeck, this edition includes an introduction with sections on each play, addressing gender issues, modern relevance, and staging possibilities.
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1633
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About the author
John Ford
64 books41 followersJohn Ford (baptised 17 April 1586 – c. 1640?) was an English Jacobean and Caroline playwright and poet born in Ilsington in Devon in 1586.
Ford left home to study in London, although more specific details are unclear — a sixteen-year-old John Ford of Devon was admitted to Exeter College, Oxford on 26 March 1601, but this was when the dramatist had not yet reached his sixteenth birthday. He joined an institution that was a prestigious law school but also a centre of literary and dramatic activity — the Middle Temple. A prominent junior member in 1601 was the playwright John Marston. (It is unknown whether Ford ever actually studied law while a resident of the Middle Temple, or whether he was strictly a gentleman boarder, which was a common arrangement at the time.)
It was not until 1606 that Ford wrote his first works for publication. In the spring of that year he was expelled from Middle Temple, due to his financial problems, and Fame's Memorial and Honour Triumphant soon followed. Both works are clear bids for patronage: Fame's Memorial is an elegy of 1169 lines on the recently-deceased Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devonshire, while Honour Triumphant is a prose pamphlet, a verbal fantasia written in connection with the jousts planned for the summer 1606 visit of King Christian IV of Denmark. It is unknown whether either of these brought any financial remuneration to Ford; yet by June 1608 he had enough money to be readmitted to the Middle Temple.
Prior to the start of his career as a playwright, Ford wrote other non-dramatic literary works—the long religious poem Christ's Bloody Sweat (1613), and two prose essays published as pamphlets, The Golden Mean (1613) and A Line of Life (1620). After 1620 he began active dramatic writing, first as a collaborator with more experienced playwrights — primarily Thomas Dekker, but also John Webster and William Rowley — and by the later 1620s as a solo artist.
Ford is best known for the tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (1633), a family drama with a plot line of incest. The play's title has often been changed in new productions, sometimes being referred to as simply Giovanni and Annabella — the play's leading, incestuous brother-and-sister characters; in a nineteenth-century work it is coyly called The Brother and Sister. Shocking as the play is, it is still widely regarded as a classic piece of English drama.
He was a major playwright during the reign of Charles I. His plays deal with conflicts between individual passion and conscience and the laws and morals of society at large; Ford had a strong interest in abnormal psychology that is expressed through his dramas. His plays often show the influence of Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy.
Ford left home to study in London, although more specific details are unclear — a sixteen-year-old John Ford of Devon was admitted to Exeter College, Oxford on 26 March 1601, but this was when the dramatist had not yet reached his sixteenth birthday. He joined an institution that was a prestigious law school but also a centre of literary and dramatic activity — the Middle Temple. A prominent junior member in 1601 was the playwright John Marston. (It is unknown whether Ford ever actually studied law while a resident of the Middle Temple, or whether he was strictly a gentleman boarder, which was a common arrangement at the time.)
It was not until 1606 that Ford wrote his first works for publication. In the spring of that year he was expelled from Middle Temple, due to his financial problems, and Fame's Memorial and Honour Triumphant soon followed. Both works are clear bids for patronage: Fame's Memorial is an elegy of 1169 lines on the recently-deceased Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devonshire, while Honour Triumphant is a prose pamphlet, a verbal fantasia written in connection with the jousts planned for the summer 1606 visit of King Christian IV of Denmark. It is unknown whether either of these brought any financial remuneration to Ford; yet by June 1608 he had enough money to be readmitted to the Middle Temple.
Prior to the start of his career as a playwright, Ford wrote other non-dramatic literary works—the long religious poem Christ's Bloody Sweat (1613), and two prose essays published as pamphlets, The Golden Mean (1613) and A Line of Life (1620). After 1620 he began active dramatic writing, first as a collaborator with more experienced playwrights — primarily Thomas Dekker, but also John Webster and William Rowley — and by the later 1620s as a solo artist.
Ford is best known for the tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (1633), a family drama with a plot line of incest. The play's title has often been changed in new productions, sometimes being referred to as simply Giovanni and Annabella — the play's leading, incestuous brother-and-sister characters; in a nineteenth-century work it is coyly called The Brother and Sister. Shocking as the play is, it is still widely regarded as a classic piece of English drama.
He was a major playwright during the reign of Charles I. His plays deal with conflicts between individual passion and conscience and the laws and morals of society at large; Ford had a strong interest in abnormal psychology that is expressed through his dramas. His plays often show the influence of Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
April 30, 2020
The introduction is excellent. The Anatomy of Melancholy is also on my reading list for this year, so I appreciated seeing the effect it had on Ford.
The Lover's Melancholy
Much of the humor revolves around cross-gendering and the antics that ensue from the various confusions. There are a few themes that stood out to me, though they could have been developed more powerfully. One was Palador's aversion and distrust of his beloved Eroclea, whose disappearance caused his dreadful melancholy, after she returns and reveals herself to him. The paranoia that grips him, making him think it is nothing but a 'seductive counterfeit' to see his long-lost Eroclea before him, is a very relatable human trait. We often do not allow good things to pass through our shell, because the disappointment that hope inevitably engenders is so much worse than a simple and eternal misery. Also, melancholy and despair are not emotions that are chased away by logic or truth.
The grief of Meleander towards his missing daughter, and his complex relationship to his remaining daughter, Cleophila, was very well done. He was the "insane" character but much of what he said rang true and made more sense than the "sane" characters, who all wore masks. The foolish courtiers, the woeful prince, the false friends, the secretive Eroclea, the random lovers: they all faded into shadows. So many of them were busy with their doublespeak and petty plots it was hard to get swept into their drama. In contrast, Meleander's ranting and honest grief resonated with me. For example:
The reunion of Meleander and Eroclea, as pointed out in the introduction, pales in comparison to that of King Lear and Cornelia. Still, I enjoyed this play and thinking about it.
The Broken Heart
It's interesting how women are portrayed here. I will elaborate further in future edits.
'Tis Pity She's a Whore
This play was great. Highly enjoyable. Ford plays with morality here. It is a form of 'distancing for truth' the way I read it. Incest is a nauseating, reprehensible act. And Ford makes the incestual relationship beautiful, consensual, and right. I was rooting for Giovanni and Annabella, but still grossed out by them. And yet, the idea of a "sister wife" is a common theme in literature and history. It was fascinating how Ford explored that and took it as far as he did. It's outrageous and very well done.
The actual line " 'Tis pity she's a whore!" made me feel like I was reading a sitcom and I laughed through a lot of this play.
Perkin Warbeck
What a powerful play. If I hadn't read the introduction I don't think I would have realized that Perkin Warbeck was a con man. Even so, I still found myself rooting for him.
This play was much tighter than the other 3 in this collection. There were no extraneous words. It is a political drama, but also a personal drama. What defines Kingship? What defines Love?
Also, I recently read an essay in my handy Portable Renaissance Reader about Henry VII, so it was interesting seeing him portrayed from another angle. I hope to elaborate further in future edits.
The Lover's Melancholy
Much of the humor revolves around cross-gendering and the antics that ensue from the various confusions. There are a few themes that stood out to me, though they could have been developed more powerfully. One was Palador's aversion and distrust of his beloved Eroclea, whose disappearance caused his dreadful melancholy, after she returns and reveals herself to him. The paranoia that grips him, making him think it is nothing but a 'seductive counterfeit' to see his long-lost Eroclea before him, is a very relatable human trait. We often do not allow good things to pass through our shell, because the disappointment that hope inevitably engenders is so much worse than a simple and eternal misery. Also, melancholy and despair are not emotions that are chased away by logic or truth.
The grief of Meleander towards his missing daughter, and his complex relationship to his remaining daughter, Cleophila, was very well done. He was the "insane" character but much of what he said rang true and made more sense than the "sane" characters, who all wore masks. The foolish courtiers, the woeful prince, the false friends, the secretive Eroclea, the random lovers: they all faded into shadows. So many of them were busy with their doublespeak and petty plots it was hard to get swept into their drama. In contrast, Meleander's ranting and honest grief resonated with me. For example:
Meleander: But I’ll outstare ‘ee all; fools, desperate fools!
You are cheated, grossly cheated; range, range on
And roll about the world to gather moss,
The moss of honour, gay reports, gay clothes,
Gay wives, huge empty buildings, whose proud roofs
Shall, with their pinnacles, even reach the stars.
Ye work and work like moles, blind in the paths
That are bored through the crannies of the earth,
To charge your hungry souls with such full surfeited
As being forged once, make ‘ee lean with plenty.
And when ye have skimmed the vomit of your riots,
Y’are far in no felicity but folly;
Then your last sleeps seize on ‘ee. Then the troops
Of worms crawl round and feast; good cheer, rich fare,
Dainty, delicious—
—John Ford, The Lover’s Melancholy, 2.2.83
The reunion of Meleander and Eroclea, as pointed out in the introduction, pales in comparison to that of King Lear and Cornelia. Still, I enjoyed this play and thinking about it.
The Broken Heart
It's interesting how women are portrayed here. I will elaborate further in future edits.
'Tis Pity She's a Whore
This play was great. Highly enjoyable. Ford plays with morality here. It is a form of 'distancing for truth' the way I read it. Incest is a nauseating, reprehensible act. And Ford makes the incestual relationship beautiful, consensual, and right. I was rooting for Giovanni and Annabella, but still grossed out by them. And yet, the idea of a "sister wife" is a common theme in literature and history. It was fascinating how Ford explored that and took it as far as he did. It's outrageous and very well done.
The actual line " 'Tis pity she's a whore!" made me feel like I was reading a sitcom and I laughed through a lot of this play.
Perkin Warbeck
What a powerful play. If I hadn't read the introduction I don't think I would have realized that Perkin Warbeck was a con man. Even so, I still found myself rooting for him.
This play was much tighter than the other 3 in this collection. There were no extraneous words. It is a political drama, but also a personal drama. What defines Kingship? What defines Love?
Also, I recently read an essay in my handy Portable Renaissance Reader about Henry VII, so it was interesting seeing him portrayed from another angle. I hope to elaborate further in future edits.
October 2, 2017
John Ford had not an atom of morality. Today, while ethical standards are disappearing, we see his resurrection from a well-merited obscurity. Ford had to struggle in the shadow of Shakespeare. If only he had fallen into his warranted abyss! Instead, he is heralded by an aficionado of antiquated perversity and exposed to the limelight. If you read him, you must endure debauchery and suspend any reference to decent human behavior. Perhaps there is a hidden agenda behind the editor’s praise.
The Lover's Melancholy
Background before the play begins: king of Cyprus attempts to rape his son’s intended, she flees, her chancellor father is imprisoned to prevent disclosure, and the king dies. Play begins. New prince depressed because his love has been missing for two years. (But, he never tried to discover her where-abouts.) She assumes the aspect of a boy and returns to Cyprus. Various members of royalty pursue unrequited love. Daughter announces return to prince. Joy ensues. So?
The Broken Heart
Sparta. Somehow Ford ignores the historical notoriety of its two king system. A hero’s twin sister, promised to her lover-since-childhood (the protagonist - also the hero's best friend) winds up married to a buffoon at the hero’s insistence. The heart-sick protagonist retreats to Athens to be tutored by a philosopher. He returns in disguise to Sparta. The hero confesses love to the affianced only child of the king and his love is reciprocated even though the princess is promised in marriage to the king of Argos. The protagonist confronts the hero with his betrayal and the hero confesses his guilt. Meanwhile, the hero’s sister starves herself to death because she can’t love the protagonist. The protagonist traps the hero in a chair – no kidding, a chair – and stabs him to death. The king dies; the princess becomes queen, orders the death of the protagonist, doesn’t want to live without the warrior and kills herself after making sure Sparta is handed over to Argos. Makes sense doesn’t it?
'Tis Pity She's a Whore
Ford’s most famous drama is the vilest play I have ever read. Incest between a brother and sister, a vengeful adulterous wife betrayed and abandoned by her ex-lover, a loyal maid’s eyes gouged out and nose slit by the ex-lover’s servant, the marriage of the sister with the traitor, disembowelment of the sister by the brother, violent deaths by assassins and the most foul character escapes by a Cardinal’s complicit mercy. Coupled with the editor’s continuous, unwarranted disparagement of the Church in the introduction and the footnotes, this play reflects poorly on today’s state of drama-appreciation.
Perkin Warbeck
An impostor to the English throne convinces King James of Scotland to join him in fighting Henry VII. Warbeck marries the daughter of a Scottish Lord who harbors resentment at the match made by James. This is so insipid a play that I need not go on. Ford has a habit of promoting the abnormal as blessed. Known to history as a traitorous scoundrel, Warbeck is painted with a revisionist’s brush. It would be as though some half-witted modern playwright ennobled Aaron Burr.
The Lover's Melancholy
Background before the play begins: king of Cyprus attempts to rape his son’s intended, she flees, her chancellor father is imprisoned to prevent disclosure, and the king dies. Play begins. New prince depressed because his love has been missing for two years. (But, he never tried to discover her where-abouts.) She assumes the aspect of a boy and returns to Cyprus. Various members of royalty pursue unrequited love. Daughter announces return to prince. Joy ensues. So?
The Broken Heart
Sparta. Somehow Ford ignores the historical notoriety of its two king system. A hero’s twin sister, promised to her lover-since-childhood (the protagonist - also the hero's best friend) winds up married to a buffoon at the hero’s insistence. The heart-sick protagonist retreats to Athens to be tutored by a philosopher. He returns in disguise to Sparta. The hero confesses love to the affianced only child of the king and his love is reciprocated even though the princess is promised in marriage to the king of Argos. The protagonist confronts the hero with his betrayal and the hero confesses his guilt. Meanwhile, the hero’s sister starves herself to death because she can’t love the protagonist. The protagonist traps the hero in a chair – no kidding, a chair – and stabs him to death. The king dies; the princess becomes queen, orders the death of the protagonist, doesn’t want to live without the warrior and kills herself after making sure Sparta is handed over to Argos. Makes sense doesn’t it?
'Tis Pity She's a Whore
Ford’s most famous drama is the vilest play I have ever read. Incest between a brother and sister, a vengeful adulterous wife betrayed and abandoned by her ex-lover, a loyal maid’s eyes gouged out and nose slit by the ex-lover’s servant, the marriage of the sister with the traitor, disembowelment of the sister by the brother, violent deaths by assassins and the most foul character escapes by a Cardinal’s complicit mercy. Coupled with the editor’s continuous, unwarranted disparagement of the Church in the introduction and the footnotes, this play reflects poorly on today’s state of drama-appreciation.
Perkin Warbeck
An impostor to the English throne convinces King James of Scotland to join him in fighting Henry VII. Warbeck marries the daughter of a Scottish Lord who harbors resentment at the match made by James. This is so insipid a play that I need not go on. Ford has a habit of promoting the abnormal as blessed. Known to history as a traitorous scoundrel, Warbeck is painted with a revisionist’s brush. It would be as though some half-witted modern playwright ennobled Aaron Burr.
September 5, 2009
This collection of four plays by John Ford is a bit of a mixed bag.
The Lover's Melancholy is a wonderful play for people who think that the best thing about Shakespearean comedy is the cross-dressing. There are some laugh out-loud funny scenes generated by all the gender confusion - for example, there's a scene where a female character, finding her sexual advances rejected by the heroine (disguised as a boy), berates "him" at length for his lack of manliness. Doubly funny when you remember that all these parts would have been played by boys pretending to be girls in the first place. Otherwise, the play is pretty forgettable, but if I ever got the chance to see it performed, I think I'd take it.
I really struggled with The Broken Heart. Part of it is that it has a very large cast of characters, and I simply had trouble keeping track of who was who. (The dramatis personae, which I assume is reproduced faithfully from the first edition, doesn't help by giving characters rather short and cryptic descriptions. We have characters described as "flower of beauty", "honour of loveliness", "noise", "trusty", and "vexation".) Second, the tragedy of this piece revolves entirely around the female characters' inability to command their own destiny and secure their own happiness against the wills of their fathers, husbands, and brothers. This is a common thread in Jacobean/Caroline drama, but I found that Ford never brought the female characters sufficiently to life for me to really feel sympathy for them. I kept finding myself wishing that they'd take a hint from the heroine of The Lover's Melancholy - run away, come back dressed as a man, and use their counterfeit male privilege to secure a better outcome for themselves. (Maybe this is a danger or reading the same author's comedies and tragedies in close succession.)
I'm willing to bet that I'd like The Broken Heart much better if I actually saw it performed, with good actors to breathe life into the characters. It does have a rather gripping ending, with a rather inventive revenge killing - I'm sure it would stage very well.
'Tis Pity She's a Whore reminded me a lot of Middleton's Women Beware Women, a play with which it shares the plot devices of brother/sister incest and an man trying to marry off a particularly idiotic ward. I think Middleton writes more sympathetic female characters. In 'Tis Pity, I didn't much care for the rather hapless Annabella, who manages to seem like a bit of a doormat even when she's conceiving a forbidden passion for her own brother. I preferred Hippolita, an older woman who sets out for vengeance when her lover dumps her to marry the younger and better socially connected Annabella. Ford doesn't allow her to succeed in her vengeance, but at least she gets to take an active part in the play.
Perkin Warbeck is an oddity - a history play written in the 1630s, when history plays had long been out of fashion. And rather unexpectedly, it was probably my favorite play in this volume. Unless you're very up on your early Tudor history, you'll probably want to read this with Wikipedia or a good history book on the period close at hand. Perkin Warbeck was a pretender to the throne of England who claimed to be Richard, the younger of Edward IV's two sons. (These two sons being the "princes in the tower" whose deaths suspiciously paved the way for Richard III to take the throne of England.) Warbeck raised a rebellion against Henry VII, which Henry promptly crushed. It makes a good story, but the most interesting thing is probably Ford's portrayal of Henry VII. I don't know a lot about the historical Henry VII - any monarch who falls between Richard III and Henry VIII really has to fight for attention. The Henry VII portrayed by Ford is crafty, determined to hang onto his throne, but also desperately longing for peace and willing to be merciful nearly to a fault. It's tempting to think that Ford meant to hold up Henry VII as a model for his own monarch, Charles I, who faced his own threats to the legitimacy of his rule with less good grace.
The Lover's Melancholy is a wonderful play for people who think that the best thing about Shakespearean comedy is the cross-dressing. There are some laugh out-loud funny scenes generated by all the gender confusion - for example, there's a scene where a female character, finding her sexual advances rejected by the heroine (disguised as a boy), berates "him" at length for his lack of manliness. Doubly funny when you remember that all these parts would have been played by boys pretending to be girls in the first place. Otherwise, the play is pretty forgettable, but if I ever got the chance to see it performed, I think I'd take it.
I really struggled with The Broken Heart. Part of it is that it has a very large cast of characters, and I simply had trouble keeping track of who was who. (The dramatis personae, which I assume is reproduced faithfully from the first edition, doesn't help by giving characters rather short and cryptic descriptions. We have characters described as "flower of beauty", "honour of loveliness", "noise", "trusty", and "vexation".) Second, the tragedy of this piece revolves entirely around the female characters' inability to command their own destiny and secure their own happiness against the wills of their fathers, husbands, and brothers. This is a common thread in Jacobean/Caroline drama, but I found that Ford never brought the female characters sufficiently to life for me to really feel sympathy for them. I kept finding myself wishing that they'd take a hint from the heroine of The Lover's Melancholy - run away, come back dressed as a man, and use their counterfeit male privilege to secure a better outcome for themselves. (Maybe this is a danger or reading the same author's comedies and tragedies in close succession.)
I'm willing to bet that I'd like The Broken Heart much better if I actually saw it performed, with good actors to breathe life into the characters. It does have a rather gripping ending, with a rather inventive revenge killing - I'm sure it would stage very well.
'Tis Pity She's a Whore reminded me a lot of Middleton's Women Beware Women, a play with which it shares the plot devices of brother/sister incest and an man trying to marry off a particularly idiotic ward. I think Middleton writes more sympathetic female characters. In 'Tis Pity, I didn't much care for the rather hapless Annabella, who manages to seem like a bit of a doormat even when she's conceiving a forbidden passion for her own brother. I preferred Hippolita, an older woman who sets out for vengeance when her lover dumps her to marry the younger and better socially connected Annabella. Ford doesn't allow her to succeed in her vengeance, but at least she gets to take an active part in the play.
Perkin Warbeck is an oddity - a history play written in the 1630s, when history plays had long been out of fashion. And rather unexpectedly, it was probably my favorite play in this volume. Unless you're very up on your early Tudor history, you'll probably want to read this with Wikipedia or a good history book on the period close at hand. Perkin Warbeck was a pretender to the throne of England who claimed to be Richard, the younger of Edward IV's two sons. (These two sons being the "princes in the tower" whose deaths suspiciously paved the way for Richard III to take the throne of England.) Warbeck raised a rebellion against Henry VII, which Henry promptly crushed. It makes a good story, but the most interesting thing is probably Ford's portrayal of Henry VII. I don't know a lot about the historical Henry VII - any monarch who falls between Richard III and Henry VIII really has to fight for attention. The Henry VII portrayed by Ford is crafty, determined to hang onto his throne, but also desperately longing for peace and willing to be merciful nearly to a fault. It's tempting to think that Ford meant to hold up Henry VII as a model for his own monarch, Charles I, who faced his own threats to the legitimacy of his rule with less good grace.
September 8, 2023
Tis Pity She's a Whore is a powerful and (especially towards the end) moving exploration of a couple in besotted sexual love with one other who happen to be brother and sister. The intellectual games Giovanni plays to prove that normal social rules don't apply to him remind me of Humbert Humbert in Lolita or Raskolnikov in Crime & Punishment (or Trump, Bolsonaro or Johnson in real life), and almost work. The Friar seems to come to the same self-realisation as the James Stewart character in Rope. There is so much of this play that prefigures our age, and the key literary moments of the last 150 years.
The final love scene is beautifully written, and is strikingly similar to the final love scene of Romeo & Juliet, and (whereas Giovanni sees himself as a warrior of truth who can do no wrong) Annabella is a woman desperate and desperately in love. She is phenomenally written (and the idea that she was originally played by a teenage boy is staggering), and is the emotional heart of the play. Whoever is the whore in this play, it is clear it ain't her.
A play about toxic masculinity and the dangers of the patriarchy.
I really want to see The Broken Heart performed on a stage. It has just about everything in it that you want from an Early Modern play.
The most-used words in the play, used in a multitude of senses, are "Pleasure" and "Time", and, in this play, none of the characters seem to have any of either.
But what this play really has (more than any other Early Modern play) is a depiction of the after-effects of marital rape. The character Penthea is clearly traumatised by being raped by her husband, after a forced marriage away from her lover. It is as if we are seeing Romeo and Juliet, where neither character has died, but Juliet is forced to marry Paris after all, and Romeo turns into Vindice or Hieronimo. More than any other EM play I have read, this play shows the after-effects of trauma, ending in self-destruction, depression, anorexia, and death.
While clearly Ford knows what he is writing about (Penthea is "raped" and "ravished" from her intended), EM writers clearly had limited ways of expressing the concept of marital rape (which, given the number of upper-class arranged marriages, must have been more common than one would now suspect), and he is struggling to express on stage a concept that simply wasn't available. The ending of the play reflects that confusion (which is why this play docked a star for me).
But magnificent.
The Lover's Melancholy is an odd play: it's a tragicomedy in that it keeps looking like it's going to end in disaster (though the disaster is always a bit minor), but then swerves towards a happy ending, that really seems to have been achieved by the end of Act Four, leaving Act Five for the recovery of Meleander.
The notes suggest that Ford had been reading Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, and wished to create a play with all the themes in place, so it's a medical play, of sorts, but...
The comedy scenes are the best in the play, and some of the poetry is really lovely, but as a play...?
There is also an undercurrent of incel-ness in some of the young men characters: I love you, so why don't you love me back? All women are so fickle! when there was no evidence that the women showed any more interest in them than "hello, my brother's friend". Are we supposed to believe their love is real? Nobody's emotions seem really to mean anything: they're going through it because they've got nothing better to do. This is why rich people need proper jobs.
Perkin Warbeck is a fantastic play, and I would love to see it on stage. Henry VII is a Putin-figure, crying crocodile tears over a "friend" he has just sent to execution, offering "mercy" to the wives of the defeated that essentially requires them to become his sex-slaves, making everyone betray their own interests to serve his Kingdom, having no interest but his own power and money, using every opportunity to execute the children of his enemies. I have no idea if the real Henry VII was like this, but oh my god is he creepy in this play.
And I kept waiting for Perkin to say "It was all a con" (like La Pucelle does in Henry VI part one), but he doesn't. Whether he really is Richard, Duke of York, or not (and the play is certainly ambiguous on this question, even if the text calls him Warbeck throughout), he is certainly the most noble, most honest character in the play, whereas the "real" Kings (Henry of England, James of Scotland) are political opportunists, backstabbers and betrayers, who have their power only through fear and violence.
And the relationship between Perkin and his noble wife, Katherine, is really moving.
As good as any (I would say any) of Shakespeare's History plays.
I know John Ford is only known for Tis Pity She's a Whore (I had not heard of this play till about six months ago), but this is wonderful.
The final love scene is beautifully written, and is strikingly similar to the final love scene of Romeo & Juliet, and (whereas Giovanni sees himself as a warrior of truth who can do no wrong) Annabella is a woman desperate and desperately in love. She is phenomenally written (and the idea that she was originally played by a teenage boy is staggering), and is the emotional heart of the play. Whoever is the whore in this play, it is clear it ain't her.
A play about toxic masculinity and the dangers of the patriarchy.
I really want to see The Broken Heart performed on a stage. It has just about everything in it that you want from an Early Modern play.
The most-used words in the play, used in a multitude of senses, are "Pleasure" and "Time", and, in this play, none of the characters seem to have any of either.
But what this play really has (more than any other Early Modern play) is a depiction of the after-effects of marital rape. The character Penthea is clearly traumatised by being raped by her husband, after a forced marriage away from her lover. It is as if we are seeing Romeo and Juliet, where neither character has died, but Juliet is forced to marry Paris after all, and Romeo turns into Vindice or Hieronimo. More than any other EM play I have read, this play shows the after-effects of trauma, ending in self-destruction, depression, anorexia, and death.
While clearly Ford knows what he is writing about (Penthea is "raped" and "ravished" from her intended), EM writers clearly had limited ways of expressing the concept of marital rape (which, given the number of upper-class arranged marriages, must have been more common than one would now suspect), and he is struggling to express on stage a concept that simply wasn't available. The ending of the play reflects that confusion (which is why this play docked a star for me).
But magnificent.
The Lover's Melancholy is an odd play: it's a tragicomedy in that it keeps looking like it's going to end in disaster (though the disaster is always a bit minor), but then swerves towards a happy ending, that really seems to have been achieved by the end of Act Four, leaving Act Five for the recovery of Meleander.
The notes suggest that Ford had been reading Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, and wished to create a play with all the themes in place, so it's a medical play, of sorts, but...
The comedy scenes are the best in the play, and some of the poetry is really lovely, but as a play...?
There is also an undercurrent of incel-ness in some of the young men characters: I love you, so why don't you love me back? All women are so fickle! when there was no evidence that the women showed any more interest in them than "hello, my brother's friend". Are we supposed to believe their love is real? Nobody's emotions seem really to mean anything: they're going through it because they've got nothing better to do. This is why rich people need proper jobs.
Perkin Warbeck is a fantastic play, and I would love to see it on stage. Henry VII is a Putin-figure, crying crocodile tears over a "friend" he has just sent to execution, offering "mercy" to the wives of the defeated that essentially requires them to become his sex-slaves, making everyone betray their own interests to serve his Kingdom, having no interest but his own power and money, using every opportunity to execute the children of his enemies. I have no idea if the real Henry VII was like this, but oh my god is he creepy in this play.
And I kept waiting for Perkin to say "It was all a con" (like La Pucelle does in Henry VI part one), but he doesn't. Whether he really is Richard, Duke of York, or not (and the play is certainly ambiguous on this question, even if the text calls him Warbeck throughout), he is certainly the most noble, most honest character in the play, whereas the "real" Kings (Henry of England, James of Scotland) are political opportunists, backstabbers and betrayers, who have their power only through fear and violence.
And the relationship between Perkin and his noble wife, Katherine, is really moving.
As good as any (I would say any) of Shakespeare's History plays.
I know John Ford is only known for Tis Pity She's a Whore (I had not heard of this play till about six months ago), but this is wonderful.
July 16, 2018
Hippolita was the night not woman of substance in this play as she attempts to stand up for herself and to exact revenge. She is not successful but she had a voice so kudos to her. Annabella was quite irritatingly placid, accepting her deranged, incestuous brothers decision to take her heart as no one else can have it but him. Male dominance at its worst is presented here. Additionally, women’s loyalty to each other as well as their value on themselves is also up for question as Putana lives up to the meaning of her name. Having had the pleasure or misfortune based on the perspective of listening to an audio version online ( https://youtu.be/DKMKNMPluDM) which sort of made my skin crawl each time Giovanni spoke. I do believe the reaction is in keeping with what is expected however. It was an interesting read and suitably shocked the A level pupils that had the pleasure, or not, of reading it.
February 9, 2017
The Perkin Warbeck play was decent - the pretender to the English throne - although I wish he had been successful, that would've been something cool. But I love how he entirely immersed himself in the role of Prince Edward, up until the very end to his execution.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 19, 2021
'Tis Pity She's a Whore read 11th May 2021 - 3*
The Broken Heart read 16th May 2021 - 3.5*
The Broken Heart read 16th May 2021 - 3.5*
October 19, 2021
Good story. And my first actual play- the language was too much for me :'v couldn't understand many things. Will not buy it :((
Read
July 9, 2024The Lover's Melancholy 1628 (earliest)
The Broken Heart,
'Tis a Pity She's a Whore,
and Perkin Warbeck,
The Broken Heart,
'Tis a Pity She's a Whore,
and Perkin Warbeck,
May 27, 2025
genuinely just a very good play but you might get weird looks reading it
December 30, 2016
The Lover's Melancholy: This is a fine romance. It didn't really grab me, I think in part because so much of the conflict happened well before the play actually begins and the play is dealing with the resolution of those conflicts. Prince Palador--the titular melancholy lover, who is actually not on stage that much despite his conflict being the central thread of the plot--is separated from his beloved Eloclea because his father tried to rape her, but her father interceded to save her, and was therefor banished from court, stripped of his titles, and imprisoned in his castle. Eloclea, for her part, disappeared and no one knew what had become of her. But this all happened before Ford's play actually begins. I'm not sure why he reduced such a compelling story to mere report.
What actually is in this play is mostly interesting for the number of people cross-dressed in disguise. Of course, this is a common technique in Renaissance comedy (and romance to a lesser extent), but Ford really goes for it. Eloclea dresses as Parthenophill, and several women fall in love with her in her male disguise. Grilla is actually a boy dressed as a girl and serving as Cuculus' female page (which he thinks is a cool innovation, even though everybody else mocks him), and in one scene Grilla actually performs three other female roles as Cuculus rehearses talking to three women he plans to court.
The Broken Heart: Quite a strange and complex play, with a variety of love and revenge relationships interwoven. I think this is one of those plays that would be a lot easier to follow in seeing it performed than in reading it, because the set of relationships is so complex. However, one interesting thing here is that one of the major plot lines--the Bassanes-Penthea marriage--seems to be built on a standard comedia d'ell arte plot. In the comedia, one common storyline is that a young and beautiful woman is married to an old and terrible man, but the marriage cannot separate her from her true love, and the lovers end up together with all the old man's money. Here that plot is grafted into a revenge tale. Ithocles prevents his sister Penthea from marrying Orgilus, her true love, and has her instead marry the old and jealous Bassanes. Instead of the comedia's happy ending, however, Penthea ends up starving herself to death, Bassanes goes into mourning after seeing the error of his ways, and Orgilus murders Ithocles in revenge for thwarting his and Penthea's happiness.
'Tis Pity She's A Whore: Definitely the best of Ford's plays (though I haven't read Perkin Warbeck yet). 'Tis Pity is a lot easier to follow that The Lover's Melancholy or The Broken Heart, because basically everything revolves around Annabella's sexual/romantic relationships. The basic premise of the plot is that Annabella and her brother Giovanni become lovers, unknown to all but her chamber woman and his teacher/friar/confessor. But their father is trying to find a husband for her, and when she gets pregnant with her brother's baby she agrees to marry one of the suitors. When the incestuous relationship is discovered by Annabella's new husband and his Spanish servant, things really go dark fast. I won't give away then ending, but it is definitely a good revenge tragedy.
Perkin Warbeck: According to the notes to this play, English renaissance dramatists more or less stopped writing history plays after 1613 (when Shakespeare's Henry VIII premiered). While the Elizabethans seemed to enjoy history plays, the Jacobeans and Carolinians apparently didn't have much taste for them (generally, I think, preferring bloodier revenge tragedies). But in the late 1620s or early 1630s, Ford took up the task of writing a new history play. And he did it really well. Perkin Warbeck is a political play, a philosophical play, a romantic play, an heroic play. It is interesting and complicated, particularly for an era ruled by an unpopular king (who would become more unpopular as time went on). What makes it interesting is the rather ambivalent political stance Ford seems to take--he seems to see the merits of all sides and, with the exception of a few characters who betray immediate oaths, the play doesn't seem to strongly condemn or support anyone. Warbeck is presented as a probably not noble but certainly admirable figure who goes to his death admirably maintaining his integrity (contra the real Warbeck who did confess to being an imposter, though he confessed under duress). Henry VII is somewhat tyrannical, somewhat weak-willed, but overall presented as a just, merciful, and generally good king. James IV of Scotland, though he eventually leaves Warbeck's cause, gets the ostensible prince a pretty good deal in allowing him free and unmolested passage out of Scotland, and of course James has done what's best for his kingdom and his people.
What actually is in this play is mostly interesting for the number of people cross-dressed in disguise. Of course, this is a common technique in Renaissance comedy (and romance to a lesser extent), but Ford really goes for it. Eloclea dresses as Parthenophill, and several women fall in love with her in her male disguise. Grilla is actually a boy dressed as a girl and serving as Cuculus' female page (which he thinks is a cool innovation, even though everybody else mocks him), and in one scene Grilla actually performs three other female roles as Cuculus rehearses talking to three women he plans to court.
The Broken Heart: Quite a strange and complex play, with a variety of love and revenge relationships interwoven. I think this is one of those plays that would be a lot easier to follow in seeing it performed than in reading it, because the set of relationships is so complex. However, one interesting thing here is that one of the major plot lines--the Bassanes-Penthea marriage--seems to be built on a standard comedia d'ell arte plot. In the comedia, one common storyline is that a young and beautiful woman is married to an old and terrible man, but the marriage cannot separate her from her true love, and the lovers end up together with all the old man's money. Here that plot is grafted into a revenge tale. Ithocles prevents his sister Penthea from marrying Orgilus, her true love, and has her instead marry the old and jealous Bassanes. Instead of the comedia's happy ending, however, Penthea ends up starving herself to death, Bassanes goes into mourning after seeing the error of his ways, and Orgilus murders Ithocles in revenge for thwarting his and Penthea's happiness.
'Tis Pity She's A Whore: Definitely the best of Ford's plays (though I haven't read Perkin Warbeck yet). 'Tis Pity is a lot easier to follow that The Lover's Melancholy or The Broken Heart, because basically everything revolves around Annabella's sexual/romantic relationships. The basic premise of the plot is that Annabella and her brother Giovanni become lovers, unknown to all but her chamber woman and his teacher/friar/confessor. But their father is trying to find a husband for her, and when she gets pregnant with her brother's baby she agrees to marry one of the suitors. When the incestuous relationship is discovered by Annabella's new husband and his Spanish servant, things really go dark fast. I won't give away then ending, but it is definitely a good revenge tragedy.
Perkin Warbeck: According to the notes to this play, English renaissance dramatists more or less stopped writing history plays after 1613 (when Shakespeare's Henry VIII premiered). While the Elizabethans seemed to enjoy history plays, the Jacobeans and Carolinians apparently didn't have much taste for them (generally, I think, preferring bloodier revenge tragedies). But in the late 1620s or early 1630s, Ford took up the task of writing a new history play. And he did it really well. Perkin Warbeck is a political play, a philosophical play, a romantic play, an heroic play. It is interesting and complicated, particularly for an era ruled by an unpopular king (who would become more unpopular as time went on). What makes it interesting is the rather ambivalent political stance Ford seems to take--he seems to see the merits of all sides and, with the exception of a few characters who betray immediate oaths, the play doesn't seem to strongly condemn or support anyone. Warbeck is presented as a probably not noble but certainly admirable figure who goes to his death admirably maintaining his integrity (contra the real Warbeck who did confess to being an imposter, though he confessed under duress). Henry VII is somewhat tyrannical, somewhat weak-willed, but overall presented as a just, merciful, and generally good king. James IV of Scotland, though he eventually leaves Warbeck's cause, gets the ostensible prince a pretty good deal in allowing him free and unmolested passage out of Scotland, and of course James has done what's best for his kingdom and his people.
January 26, 2015
I read the Digireads.com edition of these plays, and while I liked the larger format (decent-sized text, good space, and plenty of room for notes – not something frequently found in editions of English Renaissance plays), the lack of notes and historical detail for the plays, in addition to the number of typos, makes me wish I had opted for the Oxford edition. It’s enough of a challenge to read early seventeenth-century plays without having to figure out if a word is simply out of use or a typo.
But on with the plays:
The Lover’s Melancholy
Thank goodness for Wikipedia. Given the sheer amount of backstory, I would have been tremendously confused if not for the brief summary posted on Wikipedia. The Lover’s Melancholy is a bit Twelfth Night: The Prozac Edition, with depression, women dressing as men (and men as women, in one of the comedic subplots), and star-crossed lovers. It’s a decent play, but not one that I’ll be disappointed if I never see live. All in all, it reads like a lesser imitation of some of Shakespeare’s best works (perhaps explaining later rumors that Ford stole the play from Shakespeare’s papers).
The Broken Heart
This feels like a different author wrote this play. The plot, the characters, the story – all are leagues stronger than Melancholy. This, again, is drama with a capital D. There are some great character arcs, and I especially like the prevalence of interesting female characters. Penthea is a tragic character, and I’m honestly surprised the play isn’t better known for the simple reason that Penthea would be such a fascinating character to play.
My one caveat is there isn’t one strong, overarching plot. Rather, this is a play with a unifying theme (see the title). But more theatre groups should perform this play.
Tis Pity She’s a Whore
One of the last of the English Renaissance plays before the English Civil War (and the closing of the theatres), one critic referred to this incest-centered tragedy as “effectively closing the coffin lid on one of the most macabre episodes of the English stage.” That’s not an overstatement: this play about Giovanni and his incestuous affair with his younger sister includes corrupt Church officials, mistaken murders, torture, and vital organ kebabs, to name a few of its perversities. Ford lacks Shakespeare’s command of subtext, making the play easier to unpack because the dialogue isn’t double (and even triple) layered with meaning. The play does feature some lovely turns of phrase, and the first scene between Giovanni and Annabella is wonderfully romantic (and all the more creepy as a result).
My book club had a blast discussing this play and the various commentaries on morality, society, and social constructs (and yes, my book club is a bunch of bibliophilic nerds).
The Chronicle History of Perkin Warbeck
Definitely a play I need to read again at some point. Also, the least twisted of the four plays in this collection (While I know he’s been dead for centuries, I do worry about Ford’s mental state). A history play, Perkin Warbeck deals with an infamous pretenders to the English throne.
Perkin Warbeck hinges entirely on the actor playing the titular character. How he (and the director) interpret Warbeck will inform the rest of the play – it’s the keystone to the entire production. To some extent, that’s also true of Katherine.
As my familiarity with history plays from this period didn’t expand beyond Shakespeare prior to reading this play, I enjoyed seeing how another playwright tackled this genre.
I’m glad I finally sat down and finished this collection (it’s been over two years since I first read Whore). I come away impressed by Ford’s interest in the psychology and inner workings of the human mind. He was, in some ways, ahead of his time. His female characters are especially notable, as they’re more fleshed out than many from comparable plays. His writing lacks the depth of Shakespeare (who’s doesn’t?), but overall, the stories are riveting. It’s a shame they aren’t performed more. Recommended.
But on with the plays:
The Lover’s Melancholy
Thank goodness for Wikipedia. Given the sheer amount of backstory, I would have been tremendously confused if not for the brief summary posted on Wikipedia. The Lover’s Melancholy is a bit Twelfth Night: The Prozac Edition, with depression, women dressing as men (and men as women, in one of the comedic subplots), and star-crossed lovers. It’s a decent play, but not one that I’ll be disappointed if I never see live. All in all, it reads like a lesser imitation of some of Shakespeare’s best works (perhaps explaining later rumors that Ford stole the play from Shakespeare’s papers).
The Broken Heart
This feels like a different author wrote this play. The plot, the characters, the story – all are leagues stronger than Melancholy. This, again, is drama with a capital D. There are some great character arcs, and I especially like the prevalence of interesting female characters. Penthea is a tragic character, and I’m honestly surprised the play isn’t better known for the simple reason that Penthea would be such a fascinating character to play.
My one caveat is there isn’t one strong, overarching plot. Rather, this is a play with a unifying theme (see the title). But more theatre groups should perform this play.
Tis Pity She’s a Whore
One of the last of the English Renaissance plays before the English Civil War (and the closing of the theatres), one critic referred to this incest-centered tragedy as “effectively closing the coffin lid on one of the most macabre episodes of the English stage.” That’s not an overstatement: this play about Giovanni and his incestuous affair with his younger sister includes corrupt Church officials, mistaken murders, torture, and vital organ kebabs, to name a few of its perversities. Ford lacks Shakespeare’s command of subtext, making the play easier to unpack because the dialogue isn’t double (and even triple) layered with meaning. The play does feature some lovely turns of phrase, and the first scene between Giovanni and Annabella is wonderfully romantic (and all the more creepy as a result).
My book club had a blast discussing this play and the various commentaries on morality, society, and social constructs (and yes, my book club is a bunch of bibliophilic nerds).
The Chronicle History of Perkin Warbeck
Definitely a play I need to read again at some point. Also, the least twisted of the four plays in this collection (While I know he’s been dead for centuries, I do worry about Ford’s mental state). A history play, Perkin Warbeck deals with an infamous pretenders to the English throne.
Perkin Warbeck hinges entirely on the actor playing the titular character. How he (and the director) interpret Warbeck will inform the rest of the play – it’s the keystone to the entire production. To some extent, that’s also true of Katherine.
As my familiarity with history plays from this period didn’t expand beyond Shakespeare prior to reading this play, I enjoyed seeing how another playwright tackled this genre.
I’m glad I finally sat down and finished this collection (it’s been over two years since I first read Whore). I come away impressed by Ford’s interest in the psychology and inner workings of the human mind. He was, in some ways, ahead of his time. His female characters are especially notable, as they’re more fleshed out than many from comparable plays. His writing lacks the depth of Shakespeare (who’s doesn’t?), but overall, the stories are riveting. It’s a shame they aren’t performed more. Recommended.
June 9, 2016
Writing in the 1620s, well after Shakespeare and Marlowe, John Ford is now little read and rarely produced. Which is a shame as his plays have a dramatic power and tension that recall some of the gothic barbarity of Webster, though in much simpler language.
The highlight of this collection is 'Tis Pity She's a Whore: set in Italy, it tells the story of incestuous love between Giovanni and Annabella, brother and sister, and the sexual jealousy that ensues when she is forced into marriage. Stark, dark and bloody, this builds to a predictable but still shockingly visual climax.
With intertextual references to Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and classical literature such as Ovid's Metamorphoses, this weaves its own taut and tense spell over the reader. Short but memorable.
The highlight of this collection is 'Tis Pity She's a Whore: set in Italy, it tells the story of incestuous love between Giovanni and Annabella, brother and sister, and the sexual jealousy that ensues when she is forced into marriage. Stark, dark and bloody, this builds to a predictable but still shockingly visual climax.
With intertextual references to Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and classical literature such as Ovid's Metamorphoses, this weaves its own taut and tense spell over the reader. Short but memorable.
July 23, 2011
'Tis Pity She's a Whore: 4
This is really delightful. Written in 1633 (about 17 years after Shakespeare's death), this bawdy play deals with a brother and sister who fall in love with tragic consequences. There's nothing quite like Jacobean invective, and Act IV Scene 3 is an absolute delight. Surprising in its open treatment of the themes, given the time period. Highly recommended.
The Lover's Melancholy: 3
Also good but not quite as great. There is some pretty striking gender-bending that goes a step further than Shakespeare ever got.
This is really delightful. Written in 1633 (about 17 years after Shakespeare's death), this bawdy play deals with a brother and sister who fall in love with tragic consequences. There's nothing quite like Jacobean invective, and Act IV Scene 3 is an absolute delight. Surprising in its open treatment of the themes, given the time period. Highly recommended.
The Lover's Melancholy: 3
Also good but not quite as great. There is some pretty striking gender-bending that goes a step further than Shakespeare ever got.
May 9, 2015
I was pleased to read 'Tis a Pity but I cannot say that I am in a rush to read more of Ford's plays. The recent Red Bull Theatre's production was a laudable effort to produce a rarely seen work but the cast was somewhat uneven and the production did not have the remarkable ability to highlight the qualities of the play being produced as did the Fiasco Theatre's production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
January 17, 2024
The story concerns the incestuous love of Giovanni and his sister Annabella. When she is found to be pregnant, she agrees to marry her suitor Soranzo. The lovers’ secret is discovered, but Soranzo’s plan for revenge is outpaced by Giovanni’s murder of Annabella and then Soranzo, and Giovanni himself is murdered by Soranzo’s hired killers. The play exhibits an eloquent and glowing sympathy for the lovers, despite the unlawful nature of their union.
June 28, 2007
i read this while I lived in London. a great alternative to shakespeare. also great to produce-- i saw it with Jude Law in London in Fall 1999.
August 5, 2007
Read this for a "tragedy in drama" class in college. Lots of innuendos - gloves being dropped so they can be placed back on their hands. ;)
August 6, 2011
Pretty interesting play. Good one for looking at in relation to some of the theories of Luce Irigaray's of the feminine commodity.
December 1, 2011
Look, you see a title like that... You know you have to read the play. You just have to!
July 22, 2012
well what's not to be completely disgusted about the incest, dark sexual passion set in the Elizabeth England...
January 16, 2013
Part star crossed lovers, part revenge, part corrupt church...with some incest mixed in...interesting and quick read. Not sure how I'd feel seeing it performed??
February 6, 2014
...the fuck did I just read??
May 28, 2009
Does the name not say it all? 'Tis Pity it's not Shakespeare or more people would've read't.
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April 12, 2015Only read The Broken Heart
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews