"Led to ruin, by an unnatural brother" : brother-sister relationships in Webster and Ford

Unnatural brother-sister relationships are the most striking examples of familial disorder in Webster's and Ford's major tragedies, and both playwrights use these unnatural relationships to emphasize and reflect societal disorder. . In Webster's The White Devil, a brother acts as his sister's pander for his own preferment and makes her an infamous whore. She is ultimately executed a condemned whore. In The Broken Heart, Ford uses a variation of the brother-pander theme. In this play, the brother forces his sister to break a legally binding betrothal to a man she loves and makes her marry another man for his own advancement. She becomes a notorious strumpet in her own eyes and commits suicide--becomes, as it were, her own executioner. . In Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, the unnatural brother is sexually obsessed with his sister and will not let her love, live with, or marry another man. When he finds out that his sister has had a child by another man, he has her executed in a ritual in an effort to purge his own incestuous obsession as well as to consummate his sadistic sexual desire. In 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Ford also uses the theme of incest between brother and sister. . But in Ford's play the brother seduces his sister--brother and sister actually become lovers-until she repents for fear of damnation and breaks up their sexual relationship. The brother then kills her in a ritualistic murder and dismembers her body as he literally tears her heart from her body. In a way this murder symbolizes not only the cruel exploitation by these unnatural brothers of their sisters' bodies and souls, but also the complete ruin that these sisters are led to by their brothers. In using a perverse and unnatural brother sister relationship, Webster and Ford emphasize how pervasive societal corruption is in their stage worlds and, moreover, add unusual dramatic excitement to a not uncommon familial disorder theme.