'Tis Pity She's a Whore

In John Ford's tragedy, the crux of the drama (star-crossed sibling/lovers) easily could be seen as an easy way to raise the cauckles of a Jacobean audience. Then again, the maleability of gender upon the stage and the thinness of sexual distinctions might have had a bearing on the way this relationship was "read." (Remember that Webster's play last week was originally performed entirely by male children.) How do meta-theatrical and early modern performance expectations work upon our interpretations?