Characters in 'Tis Pity' and 'Paradise Lost'

Tis Pity She's A Whore
1. Annabella
  1. Important Quotes
    1. "Love me, or kill me, brother"
    2. "She kneels"
    3. "Live"
    4. "what you will"
    5. "how all suitors seem to my eyes hateful"
    6. "wretched woeful woman's tragedy"
    7. "she is quick"
    8. "I begin to sicken"
  2. Weak/Victim
    1. She is manipulated into the relationship by Giovanni and controlled when they are together.
      1. Giovanni kills her, he tells her that she is to be married, he lies to her.
    2. She becomes desperate when she realises that she is pregnant and seeks the help of the Friar - showing that she is dependent on others.
    3. She is young and naiive and is some what obsessed with the idea of being with her brother.
    4. Her manipulation fits in to what would be expected from the time - women weren't meant to have any power.
  3. Strong
    1. She decides that Giovanni will "live" and "she kneels" first showing that she is taking control in their relationship.
    2. She holds her own against Soranzo when he threatens her, refusing to tell him who her lover is.
    3. She is able to take control of her own future, and has some freedom to do what she wants, unlike Philotis.
  4. Annabella is the main cause of everything - they are bartering over her body, and she is the reason for the bloody scene at the end of the play.
2. Hippolita
  1. Representing what is going to happen to Annabella if her relationship with Giovanni is revealed to the world.
  2. Shows how women suffer within a corrupt society - she was promised a husband, but she is not going to get that.
  3. Powerful female figure as she stands up against Soranzo and vows to get her revenge on him - not being pushed around.
  4. It completely driven by revenge which eventually leads to her downfall.
3. Giovanni
  1. Important Quotes
    1. "celestial creature"
    2. "I have asked the counsel of the Holy Church and I may love you"
    3. "You must be married mistress"
    4. "For that I am her brother born, should my joys be ever banished from her bed?"
    5. "revenge is mine"
    6. "love me or kill me sister"
    7. "Me. my tortured soul."
    8. "sister no more"
    9. "pretty toy called maidenhood"
    10. "a noble creature, so angel-like, so glorious"
  2. Giovanni is obsessed with being with his sister and he does not care that religion is against them being together.
  3. He is controlling of Annabella - he makes her sleep with him, he makes her marry someone else and then he gets jealous.
  4. He is manipulative of his sister - he lies to her about their being together and he acts perfectly normal around other people.
  5. He takes his possession with Annabella so far that he has to have complete possession over her heart by ripping it out.
  6. His jealousy of Ssoranzo leads him to kill him and then he dies in the process.
  7. Tragic Hero: there are some qualities to suggest that he is a tragic hero but there is no sympathy for him.
  8. He is selfish as he completely ruins his sister - she is forced into a horrible relationship and then has to die because she has his baby.
  9. There s suggestion from the Friar that Giovanni was intelligent before he became corrupted.
4. Friar
  1. Representation of the Catholic Church - not shown as being especially corrupt, he's caring and protective of Giovanni.
  2. Father figure for Giovanni - trying to stop him from going down the wrong path.
  3. Also looks after Annabella and tries to push her away from going into incest.
5. Soranzo
  1. Represents the typical controlling man that an audience would expect to see at the time - he control Annabella and acts violently towards her.
  2. He betrays his promise to Hippolita because he found someone younger and pretty than her - he has no respect for women.
  3. He is cowardly - he does not fight Grimaldi, dies when Giovanni fights him and does not win Annabella fairly.
6. Putana
  1. Putana loves to gossip and spread rumours about people and at the end she has her eyes and tongue taken away which means she can no longer do that.
  2. Acts as a mother figure for Annabella but she takes it too far and actually takes interested in her sex life.
7. Vasques
  1. Loyal - he fights Grimaldi on behalf of his master and he then backs out of his plan with Hippolita for his master.
  2. Manipulation - he manipulates Hippolita into her own death and he manipulates Putana into telling him about the incest.
  3. He only does what is best for him.
  4. Representing how men would totally take control of women.
  5. Theme of violence and revenge
  6. Theme of masters and servants
8. Philotis
  1. She is there to show the other side of women - she is the side that is pushed around and told what to do by men.
  2. Goes into the nunnery to escape her a fate like Annabella's - is it better for women to totally avoid this?
  3. "Shall I resolve to be a nun?"
  4. Representing what women were expected to do at the time of writing.
9. Florio
  1. Humble and caring man, he only wants what is best for his children.
  2. He wants Annabella to marry for love which would have been quite controversial for the time.
    1. "I would not have her marry wealth, but love."
  3. "I will not marry my daughter against her will"
Paradise Lost
1. Satan
  1. Obsessed with the idea of having revenge against God - he goes about it through Mankind.
  2. Temptation - wants to make Eve do the one thing that she promised that she would not do.
  3. Important Quotes
    1. "guileful tempter"
    2. "serpent, subtlest beast of all the field"
    3. "a surging maze"
    4. "his brutal sense"
    5. "seven nights he rode"
    6. "malicious foe"
    7. "his fraudulent temptations begun"
  4. Master manipulator - he knows that he can get Eve do what he wants, he just has to say the right things.
  5. He deliberately doesn't go for Adam because he knows that Adam is clever than Eve and he doesn't want to fail.
  6. Milton crates a certain amount of sympathy for the character - he is the maim character and could be considered a hero?
  7. He is intelligent and he knows how he can get Mankind to do what he wants.
  8. He uses trickery and deceit to tempt Eve, but because Milton shows so much of him, the audience to drawn into what he is saying.
  9. His speeches became really famous, and have seductive and impressive language.
2. Adam
  1. Adam is the sensible one and does not what to have to separate because he knows that something bad is going to happen.
  2. The fact that Adam knows suggest that he is more dominant person in the relationship.
  3. Important Quotes
    1. "I warned thee"
    2. "higher intellectual"
    3. "limb of heroic build"
    4. "not formidable"
    5. "exempt from wound"
    6. "To do what God expressly hath forbid
    7. "patriarch of Mankind"
    8. "In woman, than to study household good, and good works in her husband to promote"
  4. He cares for Eve - he takes the downfall with her because he does not want to suffer alone.
  5. He believes in the more traditional marriage with him having the power and Eve following her.
  6. He is the rule follower and does not want to displease God in any way. He is also wary of Satan and wants to try and protect Eve from any danger.
  7. He tries to warn Eve about what is going to happen - does this imply that he does not trust Eve? he feels the need to tell her?
3. Eve
  1. Eve is naiive which is why she falls for the temptation against Satan.
  2. But, she does show some strength when she wants to divide their labors even though Adam does not want to.
  3. Important Quotes
    1. "her looks sums up all delight"
    2. "her heavenly form"
    3. "her graceful innocence"
    4. "fairest unsupported flower"
    5. "sovereign mistress"
    6. "mother of science"
    7. "opened eyes, new hopes, new joys"
    8. "let us divide our labours"
    9. "sweet accent renewed"
    10. "not capable of death nor pain"
  4. She has a streak of rebellion in her as she is so drawn to the Tree of Knowledge.
  5. She uses her femininity against Adam to get her way.
  6. She convinces herself to eat the Fruit by asking continuous questions and then taking it herself.
  7. She is drawn into the Tree in an almost seductive way - she is seduced by Satan.
  8. She would be the typical woman that an audience would recognise as women were not meant to have any power.
  9. Suggestion that John Milton wrote her as being all feminine because he dislike women.
  10. The perfect domestic wife - she works with Adam, they have sex frequently and she is going to give him children.
  11. The downfall of mankind was her fault because she was too silly to notice that it was Satan that was tempting her.

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Characters in 'Tis Pity' and 'Paradise Lost'

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	Created by eleanor.gregory over 11 years ago