Consumed With Sex: Sin and Guilt

Through critical reading and analysis, Frankford has been seen as less of the expected authority figure and more of a kindly gentleman, which as Orlin states “provokes a series of unhappy consequences” (173), causing the affair between Anne and Wendoll. The sexual affair between Anne and Wendoll is much more than Frankford’s ignorance, for Heywood allows readers an insight into how Anne is viewed as “property” and therefore, able to be consumed and vulnerable to such consumers as Wendoll. When reading Heywood’s play in this light, readers are compelled to see Anne as nothing more than another piece of the well- furnished household represented in “A Woman Killed With Kindness.”

Once Wendoll receives permission to treat Frankford’s household as his own, he immediately seeks out Anne, a character Heywood has not given much detail to. Anne does not seem to put up much fight against Wendoll’s proposal, is she not then deemed the consumed? True, both Wendoll and Anne are consumed in sin, but Wendoll seeks Anne out, which makes him the consumer, making Anne the consumed, and lastly, making Frankford’s possessions/relationships the consumable. Frankford sets up this scene by giving full possession of his household to Wendoll, but it is Wendoll who takes advantage of such beholding, taking Anne down with him.

It is ironic to see Anne as the consumed of the sexological part of “A Woman Killed With Kindness,” because it is Wendoll who says, “For you I’ll live, and in your love I’ll die” when proposing the affair (371). Wendoll was not at all consumed by their sin, for he suffered not punishment, but instead it is Anne who suffers and eventually ends her own life due to the guilt she feels. Wendoll suffers no death as he proclaims he would, but instead, Anne becomes literally so consumed with her guilt that she punishes herself with not consuming food. Heywood sets up this scene of the consumable through a sexological aspect in his play, which in turn leads to the downfall of the characters introduced throughout the play.