Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Passion, Lust, and Bloodlust
Desire vs. Duty
Injustice
Religious Piety vs. False Idols
Female Sexuality vs. Social Expectation
Summary
Analysis
Soranzo, Vasquez, and the Banditti enter. Vasquez commands them to be merciless and bloody. He tells them that Soranzo will ensure their pardons and make them free, and he gives them money in addition. Vasquez tells them to wait for the watchword. They exit, to hide.
The Banditti return once again as lawlessness and violence seem to saturate the play more and more. The fact that they are the play’s means of doling out justice only reinforces the extent to which the society has failed the characters.
Themes
Soranzo asks Vasquez if the guests will all come. Vasquez assures him they will and reminds Soranzo of all the wrongs that have been done to him by Annabella, Giovanni, and Hippolita. He tells Soranzo to let Giovanni have Annabella once more so that he may be sent to Hell in the very act that will damn him.
Though Vasquez is a loyal and logical servant to Soranzo, he does still encourage Soranzo to get vengeance and to give into his passions. Vasquez’s motivations are unclear, but the difference between him and Soranzo—that is, the fact that Vasquez seems immune to both a desire for sex and a desire for revenge—is what ultimately leads to Soranzo’s death and Vasquez’s survival, even as they plan to commit equally immoral acts.
Themes
Giovanni enters and Soranzo welcomes him. Giovanni asks how Annabella is, and Soranzo tells him that she is still getting ready for the feast. He tells Giovanni to go to Annabella’s chamber and Giovanni exits to get her. The Cardinal, Florio, Donado, and Richardetto enter. Soranzo greets each of them and invites them in.
Soranzo sets up the pieces for the final scene, clearly drawing lines in the sand: the men who have convened at the feast are meant to judge and punish Giovanni and Annabella when they arrive together and are revealed. Yet Soranzo underestimates Giovanni’s intelligence, as he anticipates Soranzo’s plot.
Themes
