Previous
Setting
Act 2, Scene 5
Explanation and Analysis—Lost Souls:
In Act 2, Scene 5, the Friar attempts once more to convince Giovanni that he must turn away from his sinful path of destruction. However, in a moment of situational irony, just as the Friar is about to finish stating his point, Giovanni cuts him off to make a statement of his own:
Friar: Why, leave her yet.
The throne of mercy is above your trespass.
Yet time is left you both –
Giovanni: To embrace each other;
Else let all time be struck quite out of number.
She is like me, and I like her, resolved.
Friar: No more; I’ll visit her. This grieves me most:
Things being thus, a pair of souls are lost.
In the passage above, Giovanni interrupts the Friar, twisting the priest’s unfinished phrase to argue in favor of deepening his relationship with his sister Annabella. The conclusion Giovanni reaches is so unexpected and opposite to the augment the clergyman was attempting to impart that he gives up on his counseling efforts. Seeing that all hope of convincing Giovanni is lost, the Friar instead declares Giovanni’s soul is lost as well.
The Friar’s expression of disappointment in Giovanni leads to a comically bleak moment of dramatic irony in the very next scene (Act 2, Scene 6), as Florio inquires about Giovanni’s whereabouts:
Florio: Where’s Giovanni?
Annabella: Newly walked abroad,
And, as I heard him say, gone to the Friar,
His reverend tutor.
Florio: That’s a blessèd man,
A man made up of holiness. I hope
He’ll teach him how to gain another world.
Unfortunately for Florio, his expression of hope that the Friar will be of assistance to his son comes too late. His ignorance to the fact that the Friar has already forsworn his son as a lost cause serves as a reminder to the audience that Giovanni currently possesses a pristine reputation—and likewise illustrates just how far he will fall once his depravity is revealed.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 6
Explanation and Analysis—Lost Souls:
In Act 2, Scene 5, the Friar attempts once more to convince Giovanni that he must turn away from his sinful path of destruction. However, in a moment of situational irony, just as the Friar is about to finish stating his point, Giovanni cuts him off to make a statement of his own:
Friar: Why, leave her yet.
The throne of mercy is above your trespass.
Yet time is left you both –
Giovanni: To embrace each other;
Else let all time be struck quite out of number.
She is like me, and I like her, resolved.
Friar: No more; I’ll visit her. This grieves me most:
Things being thus, a pair of souls are lost.
In the passage above, Giovanni interrupts the Friar, twisting the priest’s unfinished phrase to argue in favor of deepening his relationship with his sister Annabella. The conclusion Giovanni reaches is so unexpected and opposite to the augment the clergyman was attempting to impart that he gives up on his counseling efforts. Seeing that all hope of convincing Giovanni is lost, the Friar instead declares Giovanni’s soul is lost as well.
The Friar’s expression of disappointment in Giovanni leads to a comically bleak moment of dramatic irony in the very next scene (Act 2, Scene 6), as Florio inquires about Giovanni’s whereabouts:
Florio: Where’s Giovanni?
Annabella: Newly walked abroad,
And, as I heard him say, gone to the Friar,
His reverend tutor.
Florio: That’s a blessèd man,
A man made up of holiness. I hope
He’ll teach him how to gain another world.
Unfortunately for Florio, his expression of hope that the Friar will be of assistance to his son comes too late. His ignorance to the fact that the Friar has already forsworn his son as a lost cause serves as a reminder to the audience that Giovanni currently possesses a pristine reputation—and likewise illustrates just how far he will fall once his depravity is revealed.
Related Themes:
Act 4, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Put Out Her Eyes:
In Act 4, Scene 3, following Soranzo’s discovery of Annabella’s pregnancy, Vasquez endeavors to assist his master in determining who fathered her child. Although he promises Puttana both protection for herself and relief for her mistress in return for a confession regarding the identity of Annabella’s lover, his attitude quickly takes a violent turn once he receives the information he seeks. In a swift and sudden moment of situational irony, Puttana’s desire to assure the safety of herself and the woman she serves instead results in her own immediate demise:
Vasquez: Come, sirs, take me this old, damnable hag, gag her instantly, and put out her eyes! Quickly, quickly!
[The Banditti seize Puttana.]
Puttana: Vasquez, Vasquez!
Vasquez: Gag her, I say! ’Sfoot, d’ee suffer her to prate? What, d’ee fumble about? Let me come to her. I’ll help your old gums, you toad-bellied bitch!
[He gags Puttana.]
Sirs, carry her closely into the coal-house, and put out her eyes instantly. If she roars, slit her nose. D’ee hear? Be speedy and sure.
Forgoing all of the promises he gave Puttana mere moments prior to her confession, Vasquez violently betrays her trust by ordering a gruesome mutilation as a punishment for her encouragement of the incestuous relationship between Annabella and Giovanni. The cruel repercussions he visits upon Puttana for acts that were not truly her own are extreme and shocking, hammering home the consequences that befall her for her complicity.
Related Themes:
