Ford, John - Clifford Leech (essay date 1957)

Clifford Leech (essay date 1957)

SOURCE: Leech, Clifford. “Ford and Jacobean Tragedy.” In John Ford and the Drama of His Time, pp. 41-64. London: Chatto & Windus, 1957.

[In the following essay, Leech discusses Ford's drama within the context of Jacobean tragedy, asserting that in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore Ford comes closest to recreating the Jacobean tragic spirit.]

If 'Tis Pity She's a Whore can be described as belonging with the Jacobean tragedies of Shakespeare, Chapman, Webster and Middleton, we must approach it by considering the attitude to the nature of things that underlies those plays. The attitude, of course, will vary to some extent from writer to writer, even from play to play—it would be absurd to equate the dominant feelings and effects of Hamlet, Bussy d'Ambois and Women Beware Women—yet it is possible to speak in general terms that have a validity for the whole body of major tragic writing...

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