Tis Pity She's A Whore: A critical guide

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John Ford's tragedy 'Tis Pity She's A Whore was first performed between 1629 and 1633 and since then its themes of incest, love versus duty and forbidden passion have made it a widely studied and performed, if controversial, play.

This guide offers students an introduction to its critical and performance history, including TV and film adaptations. It includes a keynote chapter outlining major areas of current research on the play and four new critical essays. Finally, a guide to critical, web-based and production-related resources and an annotated bibliography provide a basis for further individual research.

Reviews

"A collection of many fine critical insights, these new essays should fuel discussion of 'Tis Pity for years to come." - Richard Abrams, Department of English, University of Southern Maine, USA
"Lisa Hopkins has long been an outstanding authority on John Ford. In this excellent critical guide she provides an accessible introduction, which lays out the complexities of classifying both Ford and his plays, a critical backstory of Tis Pity, which includes the reworking of aspects of the play in fiction and film, and an engaging essay on the social and civic use of Ford's stage. She has also collected a range of stimulating essays by accomplished academics that tackle some of the dominant issues of the period in original ways: incest, anatomy, and the survival of prohibited Catholic beliefs and practices in Protestant England. The volume also effectively summarises scholarship of the play since C17, its performance history, and recent critical research and theoretical approaches. The collection is particularly innovative in its inclusion of teaching resources and the variety of ways Tis Pity has been incorporated into university syllabi throughout the world. This is an essential text for anyone studying or teaching Tis Pity She's a Whore." - Professor Robyn Bolam, St Mary's University College, UK
"A noted authority on dramatist John Ford, editor Hopkins has assembled an outstanding collection of essays dealing with Ford's famous tragedy 'Tis Pity She's A Whore. Contributors summarize the performance history of the play since it was first preformed almost 400 years ago, and deal with issues the play raises, including incest, anatomy, and the survival of banned Catholic beliefs and practices in Protestant England. The editor herself contributes a critical backstory, which looks at how aspects of the play have been reworked in fiction and film, as well as an engaging essay on the social and civic use of Ford's stage." -Eithne O'Leyne, BOOK NEWS, Inc.

Author Bio

Lisa Hopkins is Professor of English at University of Sheffield Hallam. She has published numerous works on Shakespeare including her most recent work, Beginning Shakespeare (2005) and has written on film adaptations including Screening the Gothic. She is the Senior Editor of the online journal, Early Modern Literary Studies.