Francisco Flashcards
Francisco and Monticelso arguing with Bracciano re: Vittoria
Eagle = Bracciano
Isabella = Sun
Vittoria = Dunghill bird
‘hawking phrase’ - suggests language of B mirrors his inner sinfulness encapsulated in beast
B should look to better himself (machiavellian - irony bc M is present) through Isab. (virtuous woman) but lowers himself to being w V - sinful woman
Irony - the medici family rose in rank from merchants to higher nobles themselves and yet Francisco is insisting Isab. is better than V
‘I’ll answer you in your own hawking phrase. Some eagles that should gaze upon the sun seldom soar high, but take their lustful ease, since they from dunghill birds their prey can seize’
Francisco w Monticelso and Bracciano after Giovanni enters
Could be that underneath it all we are beasts but on the surface, we choose how to appear: as beast or as man - difference between appearance and reality - Fran. is telling B to alter his habits so G can adhere to machiavellian order
Themes of nurture v nature suggests that nature has no saying how G turns out - he will lean the machiavellian ways
‘a good habit makes a child a man, whereas a bad one makes a man a beast’
Francisco and Monticelso arguing with Bracciano re: Vittoria
Birds shedding plumage used as metaphor for men losing their hair - references to venereal disease - when B’s hair falls out he’ll see that V is a prostitute
Once a few ppl have VD it spreads throughout society from prostitutes to noble men who are lascivious - represents corruption of society passing onto next generation
Doesn’t matter if man is immoral - woman has child therefore if she’s immoral the child will be too - poisoning of blood (lineage)
'’bout moulting time I mean, we shall be certain to find you sure enough’
Francisco when arguing with Bracciano mirrors Marcello and Flamineo arguing
Similarities - both Francisco and Marcello say this to preserve reputation and honour, and to protect the patriarchy
Polarisation of women - as good as dead when dishonoured in the slightest (evidence only circumstantial)
‘would I had given both her white hands to death… when I gave thee but one’
‘I would my dagger’s point had cleft her heart when she first saw Bracciano’
Francisco at Vittoria’s arraignment, joining in Monticelso in accusing Vittoria of being a whore
M+F present female sexual infidelity as worse than murder bc it threatens patriarchy and lineage - confirmed through Lodo’s crimes that inc. murder that he wasn’t punished for
Homophone of ‘bear’ and ‘bare’ - V as animalistic as she’s bare and succumbs to baser instincts and to bear children who are demonised too as bastards
LINK - heat as inciting promiscuity as in PL - ‘hour of noon drew on and waked an eager appetite’
‘one summer she shall bear unsavoury fruit’
Francisco and Monticelso talking after Vittoria’s arraignment re: revenge against Bracciano for Isabella’s murder
Fran at first doesn’t want revenge but is tempted by sin - LINK to PL - Monti mirrors Satan convincing Eve to eat the fruit - Monti convinces Fran to commit grave sin of revenge
Ref to society as a garden - that corruption and sins will be passed onto next generation so he shouldn’t sin - irony - just after V’s unjust trial Fran condemns injustice
‘he that unjustly caused it first proceed, shall find it in his grave and in his seed’
Francisco after talking with Monticelso after Vittoria’s arraignment re: revenge against Bracciano for Isabella’s murder
Links to the dumb show - B getting amusement and satisfaction from seeing Isab’s and Cam’s murders - both B and Fran have grudge against each other and this foreshadows their downfall - sin as a spectacle
LINK to PL - ‘only in destroying, I find ease’
‘my tragedy must have some idle mirth in’t’
Bracciano when Flamineo intercepts Francisco’s letter to Vittoria
Irony - Francisco aligns himself with classical gods bc Christian God would never sanction revenge PLUS Monti enc. him to get revenge - church is just an appearance of extravagance with a corrupt and decaying inside
Capitalisation of ‘G’ for Christian God but not for classical - highlights lesser values Fran has to adhere to
‘let’s have no more atheists, for God’s sake’
‘the gods never wax old’
Francisco after he has finished talking to Zanche, disguised as Mulinsar the moor
Rhyming couplet at end of scene should represent morally didactic function but covers 2.5 lines = not adhering to structure and thus immoral
Machiavellian - the end justifies the means - partridge purges itself by eating laurel which is also symbol of fame - the disease of revenge will be cured by the fame it will bring
like the partridge, purge the disease with laurel, for the fame shall crown the enterprise and quit the shame’
Francisco, still disguised as Mulinsar, mocks Cornelia’s mourning
Cornelia is watching over Marcello’s dead corpse w candles burning - tradition inc. disappearing in 17th C = Webster presenting archaic and thus corrupt and dark nature of Catholicism
‘superstitious howling’
