This tragedy is not what the strange title might make you think, but a play about the love between brother and sister. The author never condemns this relationship: he simply presents it as an unstoppable force of nature. Moreover, the lovers are very pure, like Romeo and Juliet, and form a strong contrast to the vileness and corruption that surrounds them.
The play's open treatment of the unsettling subject made it one of the most controversial works in English literature. The play was revived early in the Restoration era (Samuel Pepys saw a 1661 performance at the Salisbury Court Theater), but it soon stopped being performed and languished for more than 250 years in the archives before being revived in 1923. It was omitted from an 1831 "complete" edition of Ford's plays. The offensive title has often been changed to something euphemistic such as "Giovanni and Annabella" or "The Brother and Sister." Indeed, until well into the 20th c., critics were usually harsh in their condemnations of the play; the subject matter offended them, as did Ford's failure to condemn his protagonist. As one critic wrote, "instead of stressing the villainy, Ford portrays Giovanni as a talented, virtuous, and noble man who is overcome by a tumultuous, unavoidable passion that brings about his destruction". Since the mid-twentieth century, scholars and critics have generally shown more appreciation of the complexities and ambiguities of the work, though the treatment of the main subject still is considered as "unsettling."
Annabella has no fewer than four suitors. One of them is a Roman military man, Grimaldi. Secondly, Annabella’s father Florio favors the nobleman Soranzo as a match for his
daughter. Donado, a citizen of Parma, is pushing his dimwitted but affable nephew Bergetto to
be Annabella’s husband. And on top of that, Annabella’s own brother
Giovanni is in love with her - more than a normal
brother should be.
Giovanni confesses his forbidden passion to Friar Bonaventura, but the man of the cloth doesn’t seem to be able to find the right arguments. The Church is great at punishments and scaring people, but not at intelligent debate with people
who think for themselves.
When Isabella is found to be pregnant, she agrees to marry her suitor Soranzo to hide her condition, although there are doubts about his character. And indeed, Soranzo pursued a married woman named Hippolita, who then encouraged her
husband Richardetto to head out on a dangerous mission from which he
conveniently didn’t return. Once Hippolita was available, however,
Soranzo was no longer interested. Now Hippolita is
plotting her revenge against Soranzo. But she’s not the only one - her
husband Richardetto didn’t die after all. He returns in disguise
and has only one purpose (with the assistance from his naughty niece Philotis): to take down
Soranzo.
Given the number of people after him, it is a wonder Soranzo
manages to make it alive to the end of the play. He receives crucial support from his devoted servant Vasques, who takes
up arms against Grimaldi, beds Hippolita, tricks Annabella’s loyal
servant Putana into revealing damning information (and then puts out her eyes as punishment for the terrible acts she has willingly overseen and encouraged), wangles absolution
out of the local Cardinal, and all in all proves to be Giovanni’s
most dangerous adversary.
When Soranzo discovers Annabella's pregnancy, he confines her to her room and plots with Vasques to avenge himself against his cheating wife and her unknown lover. But it is also his birthday and a big party is hosted. Giovanni visits Annabella in her room and stabs her to death her while kissing her. He then enters the feast, at which all remaining characters are present, wielding a dagger on which his sister's heart is skewered (ugh!). Her father Florio dies immediately from shock. Soranzo attacks Giovanni verbally whereupon Giovanni stabs and kills him. Vasques intervenes, wounding Giovanni before ordering his henchmen to finish the job. So much blood streams down the stage, it almost drips down on the spectators. Following the massacre, the cardinal orders Putana to be burnt at the stake, Vasques to be banished, and the Church to seize all the wealth and property belonging to the dead (that is what the Church was waiting for all the time). Richardetto finally reveals his true identity to Donado and the play ends with the cardinal speaking of Annabella the words of the title of the play: "who could not say, 'Tis pity she's a whore?"
Of course, on the contrary, Isabella is not like that at all. She is a strong-willed woman who defies convention. Her brother Giovanni is in contrast an intemperate figure who puts momentary instinct before long-range planning. The play exhibits an eloquent and glowing sympathy for the lovers, despite the unlawful nature of their union - it is a study of the irresistible force of strong passion.
P.S. Peter Greenaway has said that the play provided him with the main template for his famous 1989 film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, but in fact besides the cruel revenge there is not much the two works have in common.