Act 1, Scene 1 Summary

The action of this play is built around an incestuous sexual relationship between a brother and sister, Annabella and Giovanni. As they become more and more intensely involved, the consequences of their involvement become more intensely tragic, taking the play into the realm of the revenge tragedy. This is a genre of drama in which sudden violent deaths result from vengeful desires in the characters, these deaths being viewed by the survivors (and in many cases by the play's theme) as the only fitting justice for immorality, such as that apparently practiced by Giovanni and Isabella.

Giovanni struggles to convince the Friar that his deep and sexual attraction to his sister Annabella is as valid and as deserving of respect as the love of any man for any woman. He also argues that because he and Annabella came from the same...