160,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock πŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ 

Happy Halloween! Join us this weekend for some spooky fun and sweet treats! πŸŽƒ

'Tis Pity She's A Whore

Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
'Tis Pity She's a Whore is a controversial tragedy by John Ford exploring forbidden love and revenge. The play delves into the complex and dark theme of sibling incest against a richly drawn historical backdrop, revealing the dangerous consequences of passion and obsession.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3299
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for students and scholars seeking a thorough understanding of Ford's tragedy, as well as readers interested in early modern drama and critical literary analysis.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

A fully modernized, annotated edition of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Ford's tragedy centred on sibling incest and complex revenge plots. The introduction gives students a wealth of contextual and critical material to help their understanding of this complex drama.

A fully modernized, annotated edition of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Ford's tragedy centred on sibling incest and complex revenge plots. The introduction gives students a wealth of contextual and critical material to help their understanding of this complex drama.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A fully modernised, annotated edition of Tis Pity She's a Whore, Ford's controversial tragedy of sibling incest and complex revenge plots. As with all Arden editions, detailed on-page commentary notes help the student understand and appreciate the play both in performance and as a many-layered literary text.

The lengthy, illustrated introduction offers a wealth of critical and contextual information about the play, and explores its theme of incest from an early modern perspective. Sonia Massai reveals the startling originality of the play, which is far more than a dark rewriting of Romeo and Juliet, and the reasons for its appeal to modern audiences.

Series: Arden Early Modern Drama

View all
  • The Duchess of Malfi
    The Duchess of Malfi is one of the major tragedies of the early modern period and remains popular in the theatre as well as in the classroom. The story of the Duchess's secret marriage and the cruel revenge of her brothers has fascinated and appalled audiences for centuries. This new Arden edition offers readers a comprehensive, illustrated introduction to the...
    Paperback
    $2899
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Philaster
    Philaster is a tragicomedy by Beaumont and Fletcher which has much in common with Shakespeare's late plays such as The Winter's Tale. Set in a fictionalised Sicily, it has the complex plot of love, disguise, and the threat of death much loved by early modern theatre-goers. This edition provides an authoritative, modernised text by a leading scholar with detailed on-page...
    Paperback
    $3699
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Spanish Tragedy
    A major new edition of Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, an outstanding landmark of Elizabethan drama. In its time, it quickly became a box office success and probably inspired Shakespeare to write Hamlet, as it contains a ghost, murders that demand revenge and a hero that hesitates and contemplates suicide. As a revenge tragedy, it set up the salient features...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Volpone, Or, The Fox
    Volpone, Or, The Fox is Ben Jonson’s great parable of greed, self-interest and inheritance. Using animal fable to satirise the wealthy and the greedy, it remains one of his most distinctive and compelling dramatic works. Jonson wrote the play for performance in 1606, and orchestrated its publication the following year. In it, the wealthy Venetian Volpone pretends to be on...
    Paperback
    $4099
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Dutch Courtesan
    The Dutch Courtesan is a riotous tragicomedy that explores the delights and perils afforded by Jacobean London. While Freevill, an educated young Englishman and the play's nominal hero, frolics in the city's streets, taverns and brothels, Franceschina, his cast-off mistress and the Dutch courtesan of the play's title, laments his betrayal and plots revenge. Juxtaposing Franceschina's vulnerable financial position against...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Tragedy of Mariam
    The Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry is a Jacobean closet drama by Elizabeth Tanfield Cary. First published in 1613, it was the first work by a woman to be published under her real name. Never performed during Cary's lifetime, and apparently never intended for performance, the Senecan revenge tragedy tells the story of Mariam, the second wife...
    Paperback
    $4099
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The White Devil
    Adultery, intrigue, murder, revenge: the densely-packed plot of The White Devil touches on topics that are representative of the atmosphere of Jacobean tragedy. Part tragedy, part satire of a corrupt political world, the play explores the relations of the powerful to the disempowered; the opportunities and constraints of women trying to survive in a male-dominated society; the complex distribution of...
    Paperback
    $3899
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • 'Tis Pity She's A Whore
    A fully modernised, annotated edition of Tis Pity She's a Whore, Ford's controversial tragedy of sibling incest and complex revenge plots. As with all Arden editions, detailed on-page commentary notes help the student understand and appreciate the play both in performance and as a many-layered literary text. The lengthy, illustrated introduction offers a wealth of critical and contextual information about...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Edward II
    Vivid and daring in Marlowe’s time and ours, Edward II has captivated generations of readers, audiences, and performers with its evocative portrayal of passionate friendship, kingly power, and brutal retribution. Leading scholar Jeffrey Masten’s new edition of Marlowe’s great tragedy distils its importance for the history of queer sexuality, historical drama, and modern performance alike. Drawing on new research into...
    Paperback
    $3899
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Arden of Faversham
    Based on the true story of the murder of Thomas Arden by his wife, her lover and accomplices in 1551, Arden of Faversham is one of the earliest domestic tragedies and a play which has continued to thrill audiences since its first staging. This comprehensive edition situates the play in its social, cultural and political context while exploring its performance...
    Paperback
    $3699
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • A Woman Killed With Kindness
    The most studied of Thomas Heywood's plays, A Woman Killed With Kindness explores the boundaries of marital punishment and the moral weight of mercy. This major new edition of this startling domestic tragedy offers the standard, depth, and range associated with all Arden editions. The on-page commentary notes explain the language, references, and staging issues posed by the text while...
    Paperback
    $3899
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Everyman and Mankind
    Everyman and Mankind are morality plays that mark the transition from the medieval period to the early modern era, with their focus on the individual. Everyman follows a man's journey towards death and his efforts to secure a life thereafter, whilst Mankind depicts a man battling with temptation and sin, often with great humour. Both texts are modernised here and...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised for its detailed annotations and contextual insights, this edition meets the high standards of Arden Shakespeare. Experts highlight its strong commentary and modern appeal, with critics noting its nuanced exploration of gender, power, and desire in an early modern setting.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781904271505

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 October 2011

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: The Arden Shakespeare

Contributors:

  • Edited by Sonia Massai

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 15.0mm

Width: 124.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 322g

Pages: 288

About the Author

Sonia Massai is Reader in Shakespeare Studies at King's College, London.

Also by John Ford

View all
  • Four Revenge Tragedies
    Francis Bacon described revenge as a β€˜kind of wild justice’. Then as now, early modern playwrights and their theatre-going public were fascinated by the anarchic energies that a desire for retribution unleashes. Rather than rehearsing familiar conventions, each of these plays presents a unique social and cultural milieu where dark fantasies of revenge are variously played out. In Kyd’s The...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

More from Education & Reference

View all
  • Revenge of the Tipping Point
    Twenty-five years after the publication of his groundbreaking first book, Malcolm Gladwell returns with a brand new volume that reframes the lessons of The Tipping Point in a startling and revealing light. What does the heartbreaking fate of the cheetah tell us about the way we raise our children? Why do elite universities care so much about sports? What is...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Body Keeps the Score
    The Body Keeps the Score by Dr Bessel van der Kolk is a compelling and compassionate exploration of the deep-seated impact of trauma on the human body and mind. This groundbreaking work delves into the complex causes of trauma and paints a vivid picture of the revolutionary treatments that are enabling countless individuals to reclaim their lives filled with purpose...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    12% off
    One Last Question, Prime Minister
    From Muldoon to Luxon, untold stories from the House of Parliament Barry Soper has spent close to five decades questioning New Zealand's prime ministers.From the imposing, larger-than-life characters of Rob Muldoon and David Lange, to the golden age of Helen Clark and John Key, and the post-Covid era of Jacinda Ardern and the 'Chrises', Soper's insight and nose for a...
    Paperback
    $2800
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (6)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    Song of the Birds
    A stunning and panoramic history of native birds in Aotearoa, from the bestselling author of The Meaning of Trees For millions of years, the song of the birds echoed throughout Aotearoa, with no one around to hear it. While the arrival of humans would transform their story forever - birds may have changed us even more. In this beautiful and...
    Hardback
    $4499
    Elsewhere:
    $5500
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Lucky You're Tough
    New Release
    Lucky You're Tough
    Lucky You're Tough chronicles the early life of helicopter pilot and NZSAS soldier Mark Law, from growing up in the rural wilds of Whangamōmona through to surviving a series of life-threatening events that would shape his life and career. After a career as a badged soldier in the NZSAS that led to an intriguing stint with the British SAS and...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Hormone Health is Mental Health
    New Release
    Hormone Health is Mental Health
    Hormone Health is Mental Health is a lifechanging guide to understanding perimenopause and midlife women's mental health - and how understanding your hormones is the first step to feeling like yourself again. This book is for women in their thirties, forties, and fifties who feel like they're falling apart. Women who feel like their brains and bodies are betraying them,...
    Paperback
    $3299
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    American Hagwon
    β€˜Profoundly generous and humane’ DOUGLAS STUARTβ€˜Engrossing … brilliantly imagined’ COLM TΓ“IBÍNβ€˜Breathtaking … I adored it’ ELIF SHAFAKβ€˜Extraordinary’ TARA WESTOVERMin Jin Lee, the acclaimed author of Pachinko, returns with a breathtaking contemporary epic that follows one family as they reckon with personal dreams and familial duty. John and Helen Koh and their three children – Bo, DH and Mido – are...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Age Code
    What if the food you eat could rewind your biological clock? 'Clear and compelling' β€” Chris van Tulleken 'Really interesting and insightful' β€” Joe Wicks 'Fascinating' β€” Tim Spector From the rising incidence of cancer in the under-50s to increased infertility rates, there are signs everywhere that growing numbers of us are ageing too quickly. Why? Many believe there’s one...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Kitchen Confidential
    The classic bestseller from the star of Parts Unknown and No Reservations: 25th Anniversary edition, with a new introduction by Irvine Welsh. BEFORE THERE WAS THE BEAR, THERE WAS BOURDAIN. β€˜Elizabeth David written by Quentin Tarantino’ β€” A.A. Gill β€˜Fantastic: as lip-smackingly seductive as a bowl of fat chips and pungent aioli’ β€” Daily Telegraph After twenty-five years of sex,...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    The Cauldron
    How did an elderly cleric overthrow the Shah of Iran and change the world?Why did Bin Laden attack the USA - and why did the USA destroy Saddam?How did Britain and France carve up the Middle East - and why did the Kurds never get their own state? THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE MAKING OF TODAY'S MIDDLE EAST: A SPELLBINDING...
    Hardback
    $4999
    Elsewhere:
    $6000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The 48 Laws Of Power
    The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene is a modern classic that delves into the complexities of power dynamics and strategies for gaining and maintaining power. Greene meticulously examines the principles that have driven those who wield power, from ancient rulers and military leaders to modern-day figures. The book unfolds through historical anecdotes, examining the tactics, victories, and mistakes...
    Paperback
    $3400
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Fungi of Aotearoa
    The complete introduction to finding, identifying and using mushrooms and other fungi in New Zealand. Enter and explore the fascinating world of fungi. In this practical and up-to-date guide, forager and fungus enthusiast Liv Sisson shares her top tips and takes the reader on a journey to discover the unique and diverse fungi Aotearoa has to offer. Discover how to...
    Paperback
    $3200
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 160,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.