Themes

Themes

1. Transgression

   • Annabella wants to break free from the normal traditions of a woman her age.
   • Eve does exactly want she was told not to and eats from the tree, being tempting by Satan and then being outcast from Eden.
   • Giovanni goes against what "the holy counsel" told him and still sleeps with his sister.

2. Order

   • The Cardinal and the Friar are desperately trying to keep order throughout the play but, neither of them succeed.
   • God wants to keep order - casting Satan out and telling Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree.
     • Doesn't try every hard?

3. Temptation

   • Giovanni temps her sister into loving him and participating in an incestious relationship
   • Giovanni's plea with his is sister is one-sided - he is guilt tripping her.
   • Satan wants to tempt Mankind into eating form the Tree so that he can have his revenge against God.
   • Satan goes for Eve because he believes that she is the weaker sex and that she will drag Adam too.
   • Satan's temptation is complicated and well thought out showing his dedication to what he wants to do,
   • Temptation is shown as a bad thing in both texts as they both have bad after effects.

4. Fall

   • Adam and Eve's literal fall from Eden.
   • Giovanni and Annabella's fall from society and their death.
   • Both the falls are foreshadowed throughout the text - deaths of characters, assonance.
   • Ford does not offer any opinions to whether the characters are good or bad, when Milton wants to "justify the ways of God to man".

5. Punishment

   • Both the texts have a destructive ending, where the two main characters are punished.
   • Adam and Eve fall.
   • Giovanni and Annabella's punishments are their deaths (bloody ending).
   • The punishments are because they have done something wrong - Eve and Adam are literally being punished by God.
   • The punishments are foreshadowed throughout the texts - repetition of down, and Hippolita's death.

6. Pride

   • All the characters have lost their pride because they have become obsessed with another aim.
   • Annabella has no pride when she goes mad in Soranzo's chamber.
   • Hippolita has no pride when she agrees to murder the man that she had once loved.
   • Satan has no pride - he uses trickery and deception to get what he wants.
   • Adam possibly manages to retain some pride as he is not tricked by Satan, but he gives that up when he falls with Eve.

7. Desire

   • Satan's desire for revenge.
   • Giovanni and the other suitors have a desire for Annabella - Giovanni will do anything do get hold of her.
   • Eve's desire for the tree and for the fruit that Satan promises her.
   • Adam's desire to be with Eve so much so that he gives himself up and falls with her.
   • Hippolita's desire for revenge against Soranzo.

8. Passion

   • Giovanni and Annabella
     • Giovanni feels very passionately about his sister.
     • He wants to totally own her: ripping out her heart is his final possession.
     • Their relationship is driven by sex and desire, even though it goes against what is acceptable for the time.
   • Eve's femininity and sexuality
     • She uses a "sweet accent renewed" to persuade Adam to let them work alone.
     • She finds the tree "alluring" implying that she is being seduced by it.
     • The language that Satan uses, assonance, repetition of 's', is seducing her.
     • Adam and Eve have a passionate relationship, they are going to have children and Adam will give everything up for Eve.

9. Relationships

   • Giovanni and Annabella
   • Annabella and her suitors
   • Eve and Satan
   • Adam and Eve

10. Women

    • Philotis
      • "shall I resolve to be a nun?"
      • Representing everything that a woman was expected to be when it was written.
      • She is virtuous, good, honest and does what the male characters to do.
    • Hippolita
      • Bitter older character who becomes obsessed with the idea of revenge which eventually ends in her death.
      • Representing what Annabella might become - disrespected "old mole" that no one wants to be around.
    • Annabella
      • Rebelling against the typical stereotypes of a woman.
        • Florio is going to allow to pick any husband that she wants - "I would not have her marry wealth"
      • Young and naiive - believing what Giovanni tells hers and going along with the relationship even though it will end in her death.
      • Sticking up for herself against Soranzo, not giving away who Giovanni, and not wanting to marry her suitors.
      • Subverting the traditional idea of a woman.
    • Eve
      • Satan views her as the inferior sex, which is why he decides to tempt her, but she does show some strength.
      • She manages to persuade Adam to let them work together and she does hold her own against Satan for a while.
      • Seen as naiive because she is the reason why Mankind is doomed after them.
      • The way Milton describes her is very feminine - she hidden by a cloud of perfume, and Satan calls her "empress"
      • She is also the perfect wife - she works with her husband, and is going to provide him with children.

11. Setting

    • Eden
      • Makes Satan's presence feel wrong and alien.
      • Adam and Eve are being cast out of somewhere wonderful making their sin seem even worse than it was.
      • Eden becomes all dark and miserable after the tree - their fall literally hurting the setting.
    • Foreign Setting
      • Used to make the audience feel better about where they lived.
      • Showing the corrupt Catholic religion in other countries.
      • Context with Romeo and Juliet - "fair Verona"
      • Makes the play feel exotic and exciting for an audience - escaping from their normal lives.

12. Tragedy

    • 'Tis Pity' is set in another country and shows the corrupt nature of that country mainly through religion.
    • The end of the play has many deaths fitting with the revenge tragedy.
      • Annabella's heart being ripped out would be shocking to an audience.
    • Subplot - Hippolita and Vasques have the subplot which clashes with the main plot at the end of play.
    • Although the end of Paradise Lost does not fit with a traditional tragedy, because of what happens with Adam and Eve it could still considered tragic.
    • Because Satan wins and God fails.