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Machiavellian
The term Moor was used as a catch-all to refer to people who were either (or both) Black and of North African descent, or Muslim. Zanche is described as a Moor.
Moor Quotes in The White Devil
The The White Devil quotes below are all either spoken by Moor or refer to Moor. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 5, Scene 3
Quotes
FLAMINEO:
Had women navigable rivers in their eyes,
They would dispend them all. Surely, I wonder
Why we should wish more rivers to the city,
When they sell water so good cheap. I ’ll tell thee
These are but Moorish shades of griefs or fears;
There ’s nothing sooner dry than women’s tears.
Why, here ’s an end of all my harvest; he has given me nothing.
Court promises! let wise men count them curs’d;
For while you live, he that scores best, pays worst.
FRANCISCO:
Sure this was Florence’ doing.
FLAMINEO:
Very likely:
Those are found weighty strokes which come from th’ hand,
But those are killing strokes which come from th’ head.
Oh, the rare tricks of a Machiavellian!
He doth not come, like a gross plodding slave,
And buffet you to death; no, my quaint knave,
He tickles you to death, makes you die laughing,
As if you had swallow’d down a pound of saffron.
You see the feat, ’tis practis’d in a trice;
To teach court honesty, it jumps on ice.
Related Characters:
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The White Devil LitChart as a printable PDF.
Moor Term Timeline in The White Devil
The timeline below shows where the term Moor appears in The White Devil. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 5, Scene 1
...Brachiano and Vittoria have gotten married and are holding court in Padua. An impressive young Moor named Mulinassar, accompanied by two young Capuchin monks from Hungary, has come to visit the...
(full context)
...previously been involved with Zanche. Francisco (still dressed as Mulinassar) enters, and Zanche, herself a Moor, decides she wants to talk to her “countryman” in their shared language.
(full context)
