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Act 5, Scene 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The White Devil, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
External Virtue vs. Internal Truth
Double Standards of Desire
Class and Corruption
Leading by Example vs. Leading by Force
Punishment and Repentance
Summary
Analysis
Lodovico asks Francisco to leave Padua to spare himself any shame from the bloody events that are about to occur. Francisco agrees, promising to redeem Lodovico’s reputation (“[I] shall in the ashes keep alive thy name”). Hortensio, Flamineo’s friend, overhears some of this, and he decides to inform those in town of what he has just witnessed.
In contrast to Brachiano, Lodovico has repented and tried (to some extent) to reform. Unlike the fallen duke, “forgotten before the funeral sermon,” Lodovico will remain “alive” in the memories of others. On a structural note, Webster once again does not know what to do with Hortensio, who overhears key gossip but never reports it to Flamineo
Themes
