Isabella, Zanche & Cornelia

Isabella
1. Brachiano's wife, Francisco's sister & Giovanni's mother
2. Devoted to her husband even after their divorce
  1. Kissing his picture every night - murdered
3. Devoted mother - nursing son at time when aristocratic women rarely did
4. Willing to pretend to divorce husband in public to prevent a war
  1. "Let the fault remain with my supposed jealousy"
5. Believes in the power of love for reconciliation
  1. "These arms shall charm his poison... and keep him chaste from an infected straying"
6. Regrets her female weakness
  1. "O that I were a man, or that I had power / to execute my apprehended wishes"
  2. But fierce words "I would whip some with scorpions"
    1. Suggests she has these bitter feelings, despite claiming it is an act
7. Parting words spoken as aside
  1. Those are the killing griefs which dare not speak"
    1. Pity/sympathy from audience
Zanche
1. Vittoria's servant & Flamineo's mistress
2. Quick-witted, lively and changeable, trying to make her way in the world
3. Is a Moor - from Africa
  1. At the time, cultural associations surrounding people of colour were negative
    1. Webster plays with contrasting ideas of black and white - suggesting interchangeability
4. Sexual promiscuity is assumed of her
  1. Monticelso believes her Vittoria's "bawd"
  2. Called "devil" by Marcello "why doth this devil haunt you?"
    1. Tells Flamineo "She is your shame"
  3. Cornelia calls her a "haggard" - meaning promiscuous woman
    1. Tells her to fly to the "stews" - meaning brothel
5. Cornelia & Marcello object to her relationship with Flamineo, on grounds of her colour
  1. Strike her - inappropriate treatment
  2. Flamineo treats her badly, admitting he promised marriage but doesn't intend to honour it
    1. "I made to her some such dark promise and in seeking to fly from't I run"
6. When Francisco adopts a Moorish disguise, she confesses her love and is willing to leave with him
7. When Flamineo is dying, she gloats, telling him he is going to "most assured damnation"
8. Makes a joke when facing death
  1. "Death cannot alter my complexion / For I shall ne'er look pale"
Cornelia
1. Mother of Flamineo, Vittoria and Marcello
2. Represents voice of conventional Christian morality
  1. Disapproval of affair between B & V
    1. "most adulterous Duke"
    2. "May'st thou be envied during his short breath / and pitied like a wretch after his death"
3. Accepts marriage - is part of celebrations
4. Voices disapproval of Flamineo's relationship with Zanche
  1. Difference in attitude to Zanche and to Brachiano
    1. Fearlessly condemned Brachiano to his face
    2. Strikes Zanche - on account of gender and social inferiority and colour
5. Attempts to shield Flamineo from the blame for Marcello's death - last remaining son
6. Descent into madness, modelled on Ophelia's madness in Hamlet, that causes Flamineo to feel "Compassion"

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Isabella, Zanche & Cornelia

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