In his play "It's a Pity She's a Whore", John Ford explores themes related to desire, religion, incest and betrayal. The play analyzes the dynamics between family relationships, servant-master relationships, and man's relationship with religion. Ford ensures that the human body is the center of the audience's attention throughout the play, both through its depiction of violent revenge and through sexuality and desire. The play primarily focuses on the confused and loathsome relationship between lovers and siblings, Giovanni and Annabella. Their sexual and familial relationship is at the forefront of the play and dictates the climaxes of the plot. Elements of the human body act as symbols throughout the piece, relating to the key themes Ford uses to tell this convoluted story. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Annabella's body is the center of desire for the characters in the play and, as such, is for the audience's attention. From the beginning of the play, we understand that Annabella is essentially sold to the most eligible suitor. Her virginal virtue is essential to the male characters and, as such, her body is the trophy that each suitor attempts to attain throughout the play. Women are viewed in a sexual manner throughout the play, and they are treated as objects of the male characters, at their disposal and easy to remove. The three central female characters are murdered by male characters; Hippolita is poisoned, Annabella is stabbed, and Putana is tortured and burned. Not only is Annabella's body used as an object of desire for the male characters, but in the play she is subjected to incestuous sex, pregnancy, and violent murder. Her body is a vessel that carries her brothers' unborn child, the secret of their copulation, and the promise of marital union to her suitors. Annabella's body in the short play acts as a means of demonstrating the circle of life, she begins as a girl becomes a lover, is pregnant and shortly after she dies. Her body is the most important object in Act 3 Scene 2. Soranzo's language, although intended to be affectionate, is misogynistic. He refers to Annabella as "mistress", using phrases such as "chaste" and "unfruitful". However, the scene of course ends with the protagonist "starting to get sick" due to her pregnancy. The language Soranzo uses is ironic, because Annabella is everything he says she is not. Furthermore, his dialogue foreshadows the disappearance of the protagonist, twice in the scene he speaks from his heart, stating that he is "sick and sick at heart", while it is Annabella who is "sick" in the scene . He also wishes that Annabella could "see his heart", but later in the play, he is the one who physically sees Annabella's heart. Soranzo inversely mirrors Annabella. The names of the characters in the play are indicative of how the audience perceives them and their bodies. The fact that there is a mistress called Hippolita is symbolic, as the ancient Greek goddess Hippolyta is said to have had an incestuous relationship with her grandfather, Zeus, and became pregnant, like Annabella. In addition to the motifs, the names are a subtle nuance throughout the piece that allude to the aforementioned overarching themes that dictate the progression of the piece. The fact that Annabella's guardian is named Putana is of course extremely important to how the audience perceives her. Putana in Italian translates to a range ofprofanities, namely slut, prostitute and whore. Two of the names of the central female characters evoke incest or prostitution and we can thus denote that the female characters are not considered with as much respect as the male characters. To a contemporary audience, the double standards are obvious, although Soranzo is initially portrayed as genuinely caring for Annabella, he deplores her for the actions he has also committed. In Act 5, Scene 3, he describes the female protagonist as a "whore, famous whore!" » which is “adultery”. Yet Soranzo himself engaged in an affair with Hippolita when she was married to Richardetto. The bodies of the male characters are neither judged nor denied by their immoral actions. Additionally, in act 4, scene 3, Putana is captured by the Banditti, with Vasques ordering them: "Come, gentlemen, take this damn old witch from me, gag her instantly and put out her eyes, quickly, quickly ! ". Vasques accuses him of condoning this incestuous relationship and not denouncing it. However, Ford shows the irony of this situation, because the brother, who also knew about Giovanni and Annabella's dating from the beginning, was not punished. Vasques rapes Putana's body, disabling her and removing one of her bodily senses as punishment. The violent nature of the male characters causes the female characters to appear vulnerable throughout the play. They could be killed for their immodest behavior and as such we are constantly aware of their whereabouts and movements. Throughout the play, the characters offer their hearts in many dramatic ways. Hearts are a central motif and accessory, representing love and loyalty. In his essay The Heart and the Banquet: Imagery in Ford's 'Tis Pity and The Broken Heart, Donald K Anderson Jr asserts that the action of Giovanni ripping out Annabella's heart in act five "is foreshadowed throughout the piece, for the heart. . . appears figuratively. Giovanni refers to himself and Annabella as sharing "one heart", and in the same scene states: "I will tell her that I love her with all my heart", concluding his speech by stating: "Tear my breast , you will see there. , A heart in which the truth that I speak is written. "It's as if he sees their hearts connected and so when he admits his love, he shares it, and when he kills her, he knows he will soon die too. However, the heart's motive is not only used to evoke love, but also to evoke betrayal Upon hearing of his wife's incestuous betrayal in Act 4, Soranzo declares: "I will tear your heart apart. Many male characters foreshadow the fate of. 'Annabella. It is as if she is more vulnerable, her heart being both the metaphorical and physical target of her male suitors, and the audience can take the measure of this. Furthermore, the heart is used to repent of sins. the same ones he mentioned, After confessing his sins to the brother, Giovanni is invited to “cry out to your heart every word you speak, In tears (and if it is possible) of blood”. of the play, Ford repeats the symbol of the heart and blood. Giovanni's heart is full of incestuous desire, and as such, he must use his same heart to repent of his "(almost) indignant blasphemy." Alan Dessen, in his essay, The Raw and the Cooked in Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, recounts how, at a performance of the play at Yale, the audience "erupted into laughter when someone heard in the auditorium whisper very audibly: "My God, it's a heart on its dagger!" » ». Dessen states that this “moment risks comedy in order to confront the audience with the disjunction between bodies..