I was introduced to this play back when I was at college in 2015, studying Gothic Literature. This play, by Webster is what is known as a Pre-Gothic piece that derived from the Jacobean era. The genre of theatre this piece was classified as was a "revenge tragedy". I was greatly intrigued by what this play would have to offer.
The play focuses on a politically corrupt Rome. The main characters, Bracciano, Duke of Rome and Vittoria Corombona, are having an affair. In order to be together, their spouses, Isabella and Camillo are murdered. The events that surround this create a great spiral of chaos, murders and plots to kill people end up taking place left, right and centre in order to avenge the other characters. It is very interesting!
I will admit now that I became greatly obsessed with this play towards the end of the term when we studied it. I found the characters and their lack of black and white morality fascinating as almost every character went into interactions with anterior motives that the audience would be aware of through dramatic irony.
I reread this piece and found myself completely re-invested in the domino-effect of murders!
I found that the greatest hindrance of the piece would have to be the language, if you are not well versed in older theatre, I would recommend starting off with a different piece of literature as this play plays with a lot of olden Italian phrases as well as language you would find in Shakesperian works. I found this play an amazing one to read, as I spent hours upon end translating essential phrases in the text into modern English in order to memorise them for my exam.
For Example:
Flamineo: Am I your dog?
Flamineo: Am I your bitch?
However, I believe that the reason I enjoyed reading this play as much as I did was for that same reason, because I translated the language and found myself investing myself in the story even more.
All in all, I would 110% recommend this play! Just be sure you know what the characters are saying!
Thank you for reading! See you in two weeks for another instalment of Monday Book Reviews!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra
-Imogen. L. Smiley
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