By Lucie Murataj
Both John Ford’s tragedy‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore and John Webster’s revenge tragedy The Duchess of Malfi explore the taboo theme of incest in the context of a Catholic, Italian society. The playwrights depict this religious social setting to demonstrate how decadence arises in response to moral persecution.‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore initially provides a sympathetic and innocent portrayal of Giovanni and Annabella’s incestuous love story in the face of religious opposition. The Duchess of Malfi, however, portrays the theme of incest as a destructive force to the Duchess and Antonio’s exogamous relationship. Despite their differing treatment of the theme, both plays’ female protagonists are victims of their brothers’ manipulation and violence. While the Duchess is pressured by Ferdinand and the Cardinal not to remarry, Annabella is compelled by Giovanni to vow to never love another man. Through the metaphors of blood and the body, Giovanni and Ferdinand justify their familial and sexual connection to their sisters. The brotherly emphasis on this incestuous ‘blood connection,’ in turn, highlights their narcissistic intentions, as Giovanni and Ferdinand regard their sisters as extensions of themselves. Their self-serving manipulation of Annabella and the Duchess is further stressed in the plays through Ferdinand and Giovanni’s objectification and idolization of their sisters, which later serves as ammunition for their possessive, vengeful violence. With the bloody endings of ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore and The Duchess of Malfi, in which both women are killed by their brothers, the playwrights suggest that incestuous male desire stems from a selfish and possessive impulse, resulting in vengeful acts of violence against their sisters.
Both the Duchess of Malfi and ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore introduce the theme of incest through the sexual intentions of the female protagonists’ brothers. When we first meet the Duchess in The Duchess of Malfi, she is being lectured by her brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal, who urge her not to remarry. The Duchess’ brothers try to control her sexual desires and agency, as they compare a wedding night to “the entrance into some prison” (Webster 1.2.256-257). In addition to portraying sex as criminal to their sister, Ferdinand and the Cardinal go so far as to say that intimate thoughts can ruin her reputation, as they tell her that “your darkest actions – nay, your privat’st thought – will come to light” (1.2.247-249). Within the context of a Catholic Italian society, the Duchess’ reputation as a chaste and respectable woman was essential to maintain. Ferdinand and the Cardinal’s intimidation is thus two-fold: not only are sex and sexual desires intrinsically immoral, but they also have the power to threaten her reputation. To ensure that their sister will not remarry, the Duchess’ brothers emphasise the commitment they feel she has towards them, as she is first and foremost their sister rather than some “lusty widow” (1.2.272). The intensity of Ferdinand and the Cardinal’s manipulation of their sister’s sexual agency is reflected in her conceding to their demands, as she promises “I’ll never marry” (1.2.233). Although Ferdinand and the Cardinal do not expressly state that they are sexually or romantically interested in their sister, their obsession with controlling her sexual agency – particularly Ferdinand’s – is anything but conventional. Ferdinand’s manipulation of his sister is thus influenced by incestuous desire, whether he is aware of it or not.
Similarly, incest is introduced in ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore through Giovanni’s romantic desires for his sister Annabella. Ford highlights the thematic significance of incest by opening the play with a debate between Giovanni and the Friar on the moral dilemma of incest. While the Friar is adamant in his belief that incest and incestuous desire are sinful, Giovanni justifies his sexual intentions for Annabella as destined and natural. In the first scene, Giovanni inverts the conventional romantic notion that “two halves make a whole” to support his incestuous agenda by claiming that he and Annabella have never been separate beings and are but “one soul, one flesh, one love, one heart, one all” (Ford 1.1.32-33). When describing their births as identical, since they have the same “one father, say one womb gave both us life and birth” (1.1.28), Giovanni suggests incestuous, romantic attraction to be inevitable and innocent, as they are “each to other bound so much the more by nature” (1.1.30-31). Through Giovanni’s visual metaphor of two lovers as a singular bodily entity, he argues that brothers and sisters are a romantic ‘whole.’ To deny them their romantic destiny is thus unnatural, as it would turn the already existing ‘whole’ into two severed halves. In Unnatural and Unconventional Liaisons in English Renaissance Drama, Friedrike Schmiga explains the social significance of the play’s opening scene. When Giovanni defends his romantic interest in his sister, he is effectively “undermining the relevance or significance of established notions and views” in Italy’s Catholic society (142). By voicing his incestuous desires to a member of the clergy, Giovanni chooses to fight against the social constructs that prevent him from romantically pursuing Annabella. Giovanni therefore serves as ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’s unconventional, incestuous romantic antagonist that threatens the social structure of the play’s society.
Ford emphasises the innocent nature behind Giovanni and Annabella’s incestuous romance when describing how their attraction for the other began. When we first meet Annabella, she is fought over by suitors, Soranzo and Grimaldi, who want her hand in marriage. Despite their willingness to quarrel to get her attention, Annabella remains uninterested in her admirers, as she tells her servant Puttana that “such a life gives no content to me, my thoughts are fixed on other ends” (Ford 1.2.74-75). Annabella further stresses her disinterest in her courtiers when calling Bergetto – another courtier – an “idiot” that “haunts” her (1.2.139). Despite her blatant disinterest in courting these male characters, she cannot help but admire another, a “blessed shape of some celestial creature” (1.2.150-151). Ford’s use of religious imagery to describe Annabella’s initial attraction to her brother without knowing it is him is ironic. Although Annabella’s religious society deems incest to be sinful, Ford suggests incestuous attraction to be an uncontrollable force that supersedes societal constructs. When Annabella realises that she is describing her brother, she, unlike Giovanni, feels “heaviness and fear” in her soul (1.2.162). When Annabella and Giovanni finally confront each other about their mutual desires, they portray their attraction as undeniable and uncontrollable. Giovanni explains that he has “too long suppressed the hidden flames that have almost consumed” him and can hide his romantic connection with Annabella no longer (1.2.42-43). This hellish imagery depicts Giovanni’s burning passions and suggests that although Giovanni is aware that he may face eternal condemnation, his incestuous desires overpower his faith. Annabella and Giovanni’s confession effectively turns into a religious wedding ceremony, during which they kneel in front of each other and Annabella tells Giovanni: “love me, or kill me” (1.2.276). By swearing that denying their love for each other would be worse than death, Giovanni and Annabella turn their romance into a form of worship that replaces the Catholic religion condemning them. Through his portrayal of Giovanni and Annabella’s passions as so powerful that it becomes their new form of faith, Ford suggests that incestuous desire is an uncontrollable and powerful force.
Unlike Ford, Webster portrays incest as a destructive power in the Duchess and Antonio’s exogamous relationship. Despite his lack of wealth and noble birth, the Duchess ignores their class differences when she claims Antonio as a worthy husband. The mutual respect between the two characters is seen in their informal marriage ceremony when the Duchess hands him her wedding ring shortly before Antonio kneels before her. By asking Antonio to “raise yourself, or if you please, my hand to help you,” the Duchess declares Antonio to be her equal in their marriage (1.2.351-352). The Duchess is thereby the driving force behind this scene’s eros, which was particularly unconventional for Renaissance drama. There is thus a parallel between Giovanni and Annabella’s ceremony and Antonio and the Duchess’s, as both couples choose to defy societal expectations and act upon their desires instead. In his critical piece, Friedrike Schmiga explores the relationship between birth and merit in determining one’s social status, and whether marriages should be based on love or family interests (Shmiga 46). In the case of the Duchess and Antonio, the literary critic suggests that “worth is determined by objective criteria” (47). According to Schmiga,
although Antonio is socially inferior [to the Duchess], they are perfectly suited for each other and their mutual attraction is solidly founded upon their respective personal excellence – this impression is enhanced by the negative representation of the Duchess’ brothers, who may be noble by birth but are both base by character.
(47)
Unlike the ‘lowly’ but worthy Antonio, the noble and manipulative Cardinal and Ferdinand have “the devil [that] speaks in them” (1.2.118). Although the Duchess’ non-noble exogamous relationship is unconventional, Webster presents their marriage as respectable by portraying Antonio as ‘morally worthy,’. Ferdinand and the Cardinal’s incestuous desire to control their sister’s sexual agency is therefore a destructive force to Antonio and the Duchess’ agreeable union.
Additionally, by exploring the brotherly desire to manipulate or be involved in their sisters’ sexual agency, the playwrights suggest that the male characters’ incestuous intentions are self-serving. Ferdinand and the Cardinal’s attempt to control the Duchess’ sexual desires by refusing to let her remarry is explored in The Duchess of Malfi through the symbol of blood. When the Duchess asks why she should not remarry since she is the respected ruler of Malfi, her brothers have no real answer. As their sister, Ferdinand and the Cardinal feel that it is the Duchess’ responsibility to ensure that their “blood, the royal blood of Arragon and Castile, [not] be thus attainted” (Webster 2.5.22-24). As the three characters are connected through their bloodline, Ferdinand and the Cardinal see the Duchess as an extension of themselves, and thus her promiscuity as an addition to their own sins. When they lecture the Duchess on sexual morality, they are in fact protecting their own reputation. However, it is not the Duchess, but her brothers who have ‘tainted’ the family bloodline. While Antonio compares Ferdinand to a manipulative spider that turns his metaphorical cobweb into “a prison to entangle those who shall feed him,” the Cardinal is described as a morally compromised churchman who is having an affair with Julia, a married woman (1.2.112-112). The previously established thematic link between sex and prison during the brothers’ lecturing is thus ironically linked back to Ferdinand, to whom the social pressures of reputation do not apply. In his analysis of The Duchess of Malfi, Boklund details the hypocrisy in the brothers’ manipulation of the Duchess to discourage her from remarrying. The critic compares the siblings’ interaction to “cats [that] are playing with the mouse, each according to his own method” (Boklund 84). Through this bestial image – in which Ferdinand and the Cardinal are the cats and the Duchess is the helpless mouse – Boklund implies that the brothers’ lecturing comes from a self-serving place. While “Ferdinand harps upon sexual matters, constantly associating marriage with vice and foulness,” the Cardinal passes “obscene comments and sinister threats” at their sister, to, in turn, cage the Duchess’ sexual agency (Boklund 84). By using their bloodline as a justification for the manipulation of their sister, Ferdinand and the Cardinal reveal their intentions to be possessive and entirely selfish.
‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore similarly explores selfish male intentions in incestuous relationships through Giovanni. When Giovanni decides to reveal his affections to Annabella, he fails to recognise the more significant risks that she faces if they act on their passions. As Schmiga explains in his critical work, “Annabella has to bear the greater burden for three reasons: first, she runs the risk of getting pregnant, second, she is more likely than her brother to be pressured or forced to get married and third, as a woman, her stakes are higher because of the importance with which female sexuality and virginity are endowed” (167). It is not Giovanni who bears the responsibility of marrying to cover up an illegitimate pregnancy, it is Annabella. While Annabella tries to repent for her sins as she asks the Friar if “there is no way left to redeem [her] miseries,” Giovanni’s thoughts are preoccupied by how he can avoid sharing his sister with another man (Ford 3.8.32). Much like Ferdinand, who is sickened by the thought of seeing the Duchess “in the shame act of sin” with another man, Giovanni refuses to allow his sister take on another lover (Webster 2.5.41). From the very beginning of their play, Giovanni ensures that Annabella will remain committed to him by making her promise “that thou wilt live to me, and to no other” (Ford 1.2.29). In his critical guide to ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Schmiga argues that this oath has further morally compromised Annabella, as her second “vow of loyalty to Soranzo – ‘I do, and vow / To live with you and yours’ – is founded upon the breaking of another” (152). Giovanni’s preoccupation with how he can keep Annabella all to himself rather than how she might be physically or socially impacted by their relationship therefore highlights his self-serving intentions.
The male characters’ selfish intentions towards Annabella and the Duchess are only worsened by their idolization and objectification of their sisters. In The Duchess of Malfi, the Duchess’ ‘sexual worth’ is compared to that of a diamond. While the Duchess argues that “diamonds are of most value, they say, that have been passed through most jewellers’ hands,” Ferdinand claims that “whores, by that rule, are precious” (Webster 1.2.232-235). Through the objectification of women as diamonds, Ferdinand suggests that women lose their ‘sexual value’ after being involved with a myriad of men. His intention to discourage the Duchess from remarrying suggests that Ferdinand wants to maintain the Duchess’ ‘sexual worth’ to possess it all himself. The controlling nature behind Ferdinand’s rhetoric implies that he does not see his sister as an independent, active being, but as an idolized object that he must own. The significance of the diamond as symbol for women’s sexual virtue is however overturned at the end of the play following the Duchess’ murder, when Ferdinand exclaims, “my sister! Oh, my sister! There’s the cause on’t: ‘Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, like diamonds we are cut with our own dust’” (5.5.72-75). Since diamonds are only capable of being cut by other diamonds, Ferdinand transforms the diamond into a symbol for self-destruction.
By desiring to objectify and possess the Duchess, so much so that he ordered her execution to ensure that Antonio could not be with her, Ferdinand has, in turn, cut himself. His incestuous possession of his sister has thus led him to destroy the object of his affection. Similarly, Giovanni’s objectification and idolization of Annabella suggests that he does not recognise her as a living agent, capable of making her own decisions. When describing his admiration for Annabella’s beauty, he compares her to treasure, with “for jewels, eyes; for threads of purest gold, hair” (Ford 2.5.52). This material idolization reveals Giovanni’s possessive sexual intentions, as he only sees value in Annabella because he is the sole man with whom she has shared sexual intimacy. Giovanni’s idolized objectification of his sister develops in the play to a spiritual level, as he turns Annabella into an object of worship when comparing their love to “a god, and worship it!” (1.2.170). Ferdinand and Giovanni’s idolization and objectification of their sisters therefore highlights their possessive selfishness, as they fail to see the Duchess and Annabella as anything other than objects of their affection.
Both plays suggest that self-centred, incestuous male desire is uncontrollable, and therefore inevitably leads to vengeful violence. Once Ferdinand discovers that the Duchess has secretly married Antonio and birthed his children, he is fuelled by rage, claiming that he “could kill her now” (Webster 3.163). Ferdinand even goes so far as to detail the violence with which he plans to torture them both, as he “would have their bodies burned in a coal-pit, […] or dip the sheets they lie in, in putch or suflur, wrap them in’t, and then light them a match” (3.1.68-74). His focus on the sheets that the Duchess and Antonio lay on highlights the fact that Antonio’s rage stems from his jealousy of Antonio as the Duchess’ lover. Ferdinand’s incestuous attraction for his sister effectively turns him into the play’s unconventional scorned lover and revenge hero, as he plans to punish both the Duchess and Antonio for defying his wishes. The extent of Ferdinand’s irrational, jealous rage is emphasised by the Cardinal’s concerns, as he tells him to calm down and “put yourself in tune” (3.1.61). Webster therefore portrays Ferdinand’s incestuous revenge plot as unjustified, and his ordering of the torture of the Duchess and her children as cruel. Much like Ferdinand, Giovanni’s incestuous attraction for his sister pushes him towards violence. Once he discovers that Annabella is to marry Soranzo, Giovanni decides that he would rather kill his sister himself than let her marry another man. After entering her chambers, Giovanni justifies the murder of his sister by claiming that he is protecting her honour, and “to save thy fame, and kill thee in a kiss. Thus die, and die by me, and by my hand. Revenge is mine” (Ford 5.6.83-86). The excessive use of possessive pronouns in this passage suggests that Giovanni is solely thinking of himself and his personal revenge agenda rather than of saving his sister’s honour when killing her. The revenge hero’s self-centeredness is further emphasised by his sense of indifference after seeing her dead – “She’s dead; alas […] I must not dally” (5.6.94-97). With the tragic endings of ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore and The Duchess of Malfi, both playwrights suggest that incestuous male desire is inheritably self-centred and intertwined with violence.
Moreover, both plays suggest that selfishness, manipulation, and violence are entangled with incest. Although we are at first sympathetic towards Giovanni and Annabella’s incestuous Romeo and Juliet-like love story, Giovanni’s manipulation and murder of his sister leads us to question the innocence of their relationship. Similarly, Ferdinand and the Cardinal’s moral condemnation of their sister initially appears to be protective. However, once we discover the hypocrisy behind their moral lecturing, their desire to control the Duchess’ sexual agency – particularly Ferdinand – appears as entirely irrational, self-serving, and stemmed from incestuous desire. As a result of their jealousy and possessiveness, Giovanni and Ferdinand are therefore turned into the plays’ unconventional scorned lovers and revenge heroes. The tragic ending of both these plays, in which Annabella and the Duchess are killed at the hands of their brothers, suggests that women are the victims of their brothers’ incestuous, selfish, and violent impulses.
Works Cited
Boklund, Gunnar. Duchess of Malfi: Sources, Themes, Characters. Harvard Univ Press, 2013, https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674733282.
Ford, John. “‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore.” Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments, edited by Arthur F. Kinney, Blackwell, 2005, pp.842-879.
Schmiga, Friederike. Unnatural and Unconventional Liaisons in English Renaissance Drama: The Duchess of Malfi, Women Beware Women and ‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore. Traugott Bautz Verlag, 2015.
Webster, John. “The Duchess of Malfi” Renaissance Drama: An Anthology of Plays and Entertainments, edited by Arthur F. Kinney, Blackwell, 2005, pp.646-698.