Author Description

Little is known about the life and career of the Caroline dramatist, John Ford. This book draws on new research to place him and his plays in some unexpected new contexts, and enables the works to be read in the light of some of the major political and religious controversies of the age. Lisa Hopkins traces Ford's hitherto unknown family connections and his association with an aristocratic coterie marked by Catholic sympathies and opposition politics. Setting Ford in the context of his relatives and dedicatees allows for a newly-politicized reading of "Perkin Warbeck" as a Stuart-succession play which may even be hinting at the pretender's legitimacy. "'Tis Pity She's a Whore" and "The Broken Heart" can also be seen as passionate indictments of Protestant language and ritual. The light shed not only on Ford's own life and work, but on the political and religious struggles of the 17th century, aims to ensure a wide readership amongst historians as well as literary critics.