A Woman Killed With Kindness

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, gender discrimination, rape, sexual harassment, death by suicide, sexual content, and suicidal ideation.

John Frankford is the play’s protagonist and a wealthy gentleman who has just married at the beginning of the play. He is friends with everyone in town and loves his new wife, Anne, whom he says completes his contentedness. He has wealth and space to spare, allowing him to house and feed his friend Wendoll in an act that also establishes his generosity and trust. 

When Nick tells Frankford that Wendoll and Anne are having an affair, it upends Frankford’s life, and he sets out to learn whether Nick is correct. Part of what distinguishes Frankford’s character from the others in the play is this ability to pause and reflect before taking action. Before entering the house to spy on Wendoll and Anne, before waking Wendoll and Anne after discovering them, and before delivering judgment on Anne, Frankford pauses, prays, and asks for patience. Unlike Wendoll and Anne, who succumb to sexual temptation, or Charles, who rashly indulges his rage, Frankford does not let his emotions get the better of him. 

The culmination of Frankford’s reflection is the titular “kindness”: the decision to banish Anne, which culminates in her death by suicide.