The green world is a place where wild and absurd things
occur during the play; it is a world of conflict.
In The Venetian Twins the confusion and miscommunication is the largest portion of the green world, but there is one aspect of the green world I think we may overlook. Pancrazio is a character of lust and deceit. He never truly knows there is both Tonino and Zanetto, but he tries his best to put Zanetto off of marrying Rosaura so that he can have her to himself. The whole play he tries to deceive Zanetto into believing marriage is bad. His trickery and lies place him squarely in the realm of the green world.
In The Venetian Twins the confusion and miscommunication is the largest portion of the green world, but there is one aspect of the green world I think we may overlook. Pancrazio is a character of lust and deceit. He never truly knows there is both Tonino and Zanetto, but he tries his best to put Zanetto off of marrying Rosaura so that he can have her to himself. The whole play he tries to deceive Zanetto into believing marriage is bad. His trickery and lies place him squarely in the realm of the green world.
Pancrazio is ruled by his passions and cannot be freed from
his nature that drives him to deceive Zanetto. As stated in The Argument of Comedy Pancrazio is one
of the character types that, “…do not fully know what they are doing, who are
slaves to a predictable self-imposed pattern of behavior.” (452) Considering he
is a slave to his nature is he considered evil or is he just that: a slave? His
nature compels him to kill Zanetto in order to obtain Rosaura. However when
Rosaura marries her cousin Lelio, Pancrazio kills himself. The reason he kills
himself is because his desires are cut off from him. He cannot obtain what his
nature compels him to, so in order to quell his nature he commits suicide.
Considering the green world ends and the normal world begins when everyone is
happy, and Pancrazio kills himself, Pancrazio is obviously an element of the
green world and cannot be a part of the normal world. With Pancrazio being a
part of the green world he is then obviously a slave and should not be
considered “evil” in the sense of a purposefully terrible person.
With this being said, Zanetto could also be the same type of character who is ruled by his passions and is not in control of his own nature. He lusts after Rosaura but his attentions are turned to Beatrice when he is rejected by Rosaura. His nature is sex, lust, and also self preservation. As his passions compel him throughout the play, and considering he dies right before everyone is reconciled, it shows that he is also of the green world.
I don't know that I like the idea that people are completely part of the green world in this play. Pancrazio felt these emotions before the green world was entered and acted according to that. Because of this, I don't think that he is a slave and should be judged according to his actions.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was reading the play, I didn't pick up on the similarities between Pancrazio and Zanetto. Now that you have pointed it out, I can see that both men are single-minded and everything they do revolves around their desires to get married.
ReplyDeleteI, for some reason, really enjoynthe perspective that you provided about Pancrazio being a slave rather than an evil character. Under some of the points that you noted though, could Florindo also be considered a slave of his need for lust? For the main portion of the play, he too is obsessed with the thought of stealing a woman from another man. I do note the difference where one cannot stand the thought of another woman, Florindo accepts the fate that he will not be with Beatrice. I enjoyed this viewpoint and the comments about the Green World.
ReplyDeleteVery eye-opening, Danielle! Along with setting, I analyze in my research how comedies end, and you, I believe, rightly argue that Pancrazio is absent from the resolution because he cannot live in the "normal word". We'll explore the characteristics of this "normal world" and who belongs to it in class. Rachel, you bring up an interesting point: why is Florindo allowed to survive when he has engaged in some of the same behavior that marked Pancrazio for death, some might say? Great points, everyone!
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