In this course, Professor John Lennard explores John Ford’s 17th-century tragedy, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore. The course begins by thinking about john Ford himself, about whom we know very little, and his literary output, before moving on to explore the structure and language of the play itself. In the fourth module, we focus on the central theme of the play—that of incest—while in the final module, we think about attitudes towards Ford’s play—and incest more generally—today.