'Tis Pity She's A Whore (New Mermaids)

There is a wonderful academic aura about this book that really helps the reader to understand the extremes of what appears to be a normal world.Fun. Sexy. Vulgar. Ugly. At its core it is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet in a society that a purity of love can only be foundin the incestuous relationship of a brother and sister.

About as dark of a play as you could find in Elizabethan theater, a twist of a romance focusing on incestuous siblings.

The book came right on time and the pages smell like sweet oranges. I've opened a book that smelled like this. Were the pages made with orange pulp? Would buy for my girlfriend if this came as a fragrance.Update: There were a number of typographical errors, no line numbers, no foot-notes, no introduction what so ever, and no dramatis personae page. The formatting was strange in several places and there were numbers which I suspect belonged to hyperlinks from some online PDF version of the book, which the publisher forgot to delete in certain places, and that was mildly annoying (especially since I'd like to have seen the footnotes that went with the links). I was a bit disappointed. This isn't really useful if you want to use this for performance or if do a scholarly reading either, since there are no line numbers to refer to. I wish there had been some sort of commentary, but I guess if you just want the bear bones text, this is for you... but I'm pretty sure you could find a better rendering of this text online somewhere that actually gives you some context (like whatever PDF the text was ripped off from). Also, the orange scent faded.

Barely okay. Not a good edition.

Had there been no Shakespeare, John Ford's play "'Tis Pity She's a Whore" would never have been written--but Shakespeare's tremendous example not only provided part of context of this play, but also obscures it. "'Tis Pity" is not as good as Shakespeare's very best works (the great tragedies and romances). Ford struggles to match Shakespeare's second-best works (e.g., the great comedies such as "As You Like It").But judging Ford in comparison with Shakespeare is unfair. Perhaps a few score of writers really match Shakespeare: Homer, Sappho, Ovid, Virgil, perhaps Dante. I wouldn't give Shakespeare a five-star rating and give, say, Pope, Keats, or Austen a four-star rating. Nor would I give Ford a three-star rating next to Shakespeare's five-star and Keats' and Austen's four-star ratings.In the bell curve of literature, Shakespeare and Homer (in my opinion) occupy the vanishingly small right side of the curve. Very few writers match Ford's achievement in "'Tis Pity." The play is powerful, cleanly plotted, and brilliantly written. In particular, Ford does a great job in creating sympathy for all of his major characters, and in particular for the incestuous lovers at the heart of the play. The play suffers only by comparison with Shakespeare and perhaps a handful of other great dramatists.More important, the New Mermaids edition is very useful. The introduction is thoughtful and thorough; the page layout is clear (especially important with drama); and the footnotes are generally useful. The editor, Wiggins, sometimes elucidates matters that are perfectly clear--but I would rather the editor take that approach than leave me in the dark.In short, serious students of literature will want to read this play, and the New Mermaids edition provides a well-annotated text using modern English spelling.

I was reluctant to pick up this book because of the title, but I decided to read it because it was around. I was mildly entertained and finished the book very quickly due to the short length. It is a tragedy in which almost all are killed in the end. I did not care much for the plot, which involves an incestuous relationship between brother and sister. After reading the beginning, it was rather easy to predict the ending. It is not tremendously detailed or emotional. I'm not sure if this is a title that would often come up in conversations between friends or colleagues, but avid readers might want to pick up the title to have read it.

Incest and dirty double hearted deeds that led all to this tragedy!In cattle and horses siblings are breed that good genes double and bad ones die out.In humans it engenders a madness of the superego that leads to downfall and disgrace for all." Get thee to a nunnery " is the other side of "Tis Pity She's A Whore".There is no wrong save "they" said it were so.For men are but animals and their empty moralsall useless inventions?We would better in these latter days trust to DNA science than outmoded conventions.

This play is an excellent example of incest in the Renaissance. It's also fairly short and very readable. Bergetto is an interesting character and provides much needed comic relief in this play which is ultimately quite tragic. The title is misleading in many ways, but female sexuality is problematic throughout.

The most remarkable thing about this play is its language. In my review of The Shoemaker's Holiday, I noted how simplified the language was (at least in comparison to Shakespeare), but that certainly is not the case with 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore. The language, rhythm and rhyme all came together in a beautiful manner that, if I was judging this play on its language alone, could have easily led me to mistake it for one of Shakespeare's tragedies. It's extremely well written, which makes its story easier to appreciate.The story itself is... unique. I honestly didn't know very much about this play before I started reading it, so its focus on incest came as a huge surprise. Ford doesn't go into that much detail about the relationship itself, but there are still enough descriptions and romantic speeches to make you feel uncomfortable. That probably should be a bad thing, but it actually made me appreciate the play a lot more; it's just so powerful, and its ability to make you feel uncomfortable is, in a weird way, a part of its charm.For the most part, the characters in this play are also very engaging. There's one particular character - Vasques - who is just so evil. He's the generic Machiavellian character that so often appears in plays written during this period, but there's something about Vasques - perhaps a level of detail - that makes his actions truly haunting.What I Didn't Like:Although I really enjoyed Vasques' character, I did, at times, find his motivations a little difficult to understand. He only really explains his reasons for doing things at the end of the play, but I would have appreciated a few explanations earlier on. This was probably the case with a few of the characters in this play, particularly towards its conclusion - everything just happens so quickly, and it can be hard to make sense of it all.My other main complaint with 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore is a bit of a strange one: in a way, it doesn't feel like one play, but two. There is the light-hearted play where several suitors all compete for Annabella's affections, and then there is the one that comes after - the one where the light-heartedness really is a thing of the past, as violence takes over.Overall:'Tis a Pity She's a Whore is shockingly original. It's well written, fantastically engaging and conveys a huge amount of drama in only a few pages. The scenes are short, the characters are varied (although all a little bit evil), and, strikingly, it's not all that outdated. Its surprising, but there is still a lot of relevance to this play (the incest aside).

This is a text for A-level English Literature, the e-book was bought for home reference.It isn't very well set out for Kindle - line numbers appear in the middle of dialogue and odd words of dialogue are shifted into the character name area, but the notes are present and it seems complete. A little annoying though - I wish I'd ordered the paperback, but trying to cut back on all the books around the house!

Do not buy this version if you intend to use it in any kind of academic essay - there are no line numbers. Heck, don't buy it if you actually want to read it, because it doesn't have any commentary either.

Using this for A-Level English. Arrived perfectly on time and great quality. Bought a used copy and it looked new!

Bought for my Daughter for her A levels, she is enjoying it very much

Perfect for the A Level course

Just what I needed

no line numbers

'tis...

Perfect quality and arrived in a reasonable amount of time :)

Came in great condition, very happy with my purchase.

Good copy with useful annotations and introduction.

Exactly as adverttised

was a great read!!

good