Literary magazine
Also, by emphasising the
Her sexuality gets her no-
scarlet robes of a cardinal,
where in the end but in this
Vittoria further inverts the
scene she dominates, win-
traditional view of the
ning the respect and support
churchman by portraying
of the play’s audience and
him as some devilish crea-
shining light on the true na-
ture, which seems to fit with
ture of Monticelso and his
CLOSE ANALYSIS
what we have seen of Monti-
court. The fact that she is
celso’s angry and grasping
unfairly silenced through her
nature during the trial. Final-
incarceration in house of
ly, Vittoria makes a mockery
convertites only reinforces
of an appallingly egoistic
the power of her words.
court thinly veiled behind a
veneer of civilised Christiani-
ty, “Let me appeal then from
this Christian court to the un-
civil Tartar.” The “uncivil tar-
tar” is likely the near contem-
porary Russian ruler Ivan
the Terrible, and Vittoria at-
tempts to show that for all
their talk of civilisation in
Rome, the way they behave
is no different from the court
of the most notoriously brut-
ish ruler in the known world.
Monticelso’s true role as a
spokesman of the corrupt
church shielding the corrupt
court through a guise of reli-
gious legitimacy is laid bare
by Vittoria’s wit, again re-
minding the audience of un-
comfortable truths closer to
home. It must be concluded
therefore that verbal wit is
Vittoria’s strongest weapon.
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