'Tis Pity She's a Whore: Personification 2 key examples

'Tis Pity She’s a Whore begins with a portentous conversation between Giovanni and the Friar that introduces some of the central themes of the play—in particular, the tensions between desire and duty. Their argument in Act 1, Scene 1 as they debate the ethics of Giovanni’s incestuous love for his sister Annabella foreshadows Giovanni’s eventual death as a result of his inappropriate and lustful desires:

O Giovanni, hast thou left the schools 

Of knowledge to converse with Lust and Death?

For Death waits on thy lust. Look through the world, 

And thou shalt see a thousand faces shine 

More glorious than this idol thou ador’st. 

Leave her, and take thy choice; ’tis much less sin,

Though in such games as those they lose that win.

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The tragedy of 'Tis Pity She’s a Whore reaches its zenith in Act 5, Scene 5 as Giovanni grows increasingly desperate in the face of Annabella’s repentance and Soranzo’s discovery of their illicit affair. Finding himself presented with ever-dwindling options, he determines that killing Annabella will function as the best means of preserving her reputation. Just before he pulls out his dagger, Giovanni metaphorically describes the deed he is about to commit:

Be dark, bright sun,

And make this midday night, that thy gilt rays 

May not behold a deed will turn their splendour              

More sooty than the poets feign their Styx.

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