Rhetorical Devices In Tis Pity Shes a Whore

Rhetorical Devices In ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore BY RUV

Irony – The expression of ones meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite. • One of the most obvious examples of irony in TPSAW is Soranzo’s attitude towards adultery • In Act 2 Scene 2 when Hippolita confronts Soranzo about his “hatred and contempt” - he criticizes her for “her monstrous life” and tells her to “learn to repent” and that he “hate thee and thy lust” • This is ironic because despite Hippolita being a married woman, Soranzo had a desire and lust for her, he had initiated the ‘adulterous’ acts which highlights his hypocrisy • This scene parallels his discovery of Anabella’s pregnancy where he insults her, calling her a “strumpet, famous Whore!” – He describes her as “adulterous” despite him having wooed a married woman. • With the use of this irony, Ford may be critizing the double standards held for women and emphasizing the hypocrisy of men in the Jacobean era.

Allusion • You can identify that ''Tis Pity She's A Whore' alludes to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, they're both about romance, and both have a tragic end to them (romance tragedy) but there is also another Shakespeare's play which it alludes to; Richard III.

Comparison RICHARD III Gloucester: Lo, here I lend thee this sharppointed sword; Which if thou please to hide in this true bosom. And let the soul forth that adoreth thee, I lay it naked to the deadly stroke, And humbly beg the death upon my knee. He lays his breast open: she offers at it with his sword… Take up the sword again, or take up me. Lady Anne: Arise, dissembler: though I wish thy death, I will not be the executioner. 'TIS PITY SHE'S A WHORE Giovanni: Here. Offers his dagger to her. Annabella: What to do? Giovanni: And here’s my breast. Strike home! Rip up my bosom; there thou shalt behold a heart in which is writ the truth I speak.

Continued • As well as alluding to Romeo and Juliet, Ford also alludes to Richard III • By associating Giovanni's character with both Romeo and Richard III Ford may be implying that though Giovanni is comparable to Romeo in terms of romance, he is significantly more villainous • Which is especially the case since he his motivated by lust and desire for Anabella

Other rhetorical devices • Assonance - Ford has used assonance to emphasise Hippolita’s fury “with supple words to smooth the grossness of my abuses. ” The anger is conveyed through the repeating ‘s’ sound, and where assonance is pleasing to the audience’s ear, in this line it works as a hiss which gives the audience a chilling effect.