Happiness Against All Odds

Abstract

John Ford’s play ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore offers a compelling rendering of the state of happiness. Its scandalous plot, which revolves around the incestuous relationship between the two siblings Giovanni and Annabella, confronts the audience with an intricate discussion of early modern notions of happiness. Situated in the ambiguous sphere between a secular and a theological reading of what it means to be happy, Ford’s play stages the conflicts and the calamities that derive from its protagonists’ eager attempt to attain and to live their own version of happiness.