Tonino = Arrogance

According to Merriam-Webster, arrogance is “an insulting way of thinking that comes from believing that you are better, smarter, or more important than other people.” In think that word best describes Tonino in The Venetian Twins.

A few times during the play, Tonino proclaims to others that he is a “gentleman” and a “honest man.” An example is after he is given Zanetto’s jewels and money by Arlecchino, “A casket of jewels, a purse full of money, it would have made a good haul for somebody, but I’m an a gentleman, and I don’t take other people’s things.” However, I believe his true character shows as the play progresses. Not long after he acquires the money and jewels and swears to find who they belong to, he uses them for his own amusement at the Professor’s house, “she’s [Colombina] picked the wrong pigeon this time. But this could be fun” and decides to play detective. He also revokes his friendship with Florindo after seeing that he is trying to steal Beatrice from him and insults those he views as inferior to him, (to Lelio) “what about you, you little caricature.” Tonino does redeem himself by defending his friend Florindo before he is murdered in the street and with his speech on why women and marriage do not destroy a man, but instead men allow themselves to be destroyed. In between these great actions, though, he seems to strut about the place finding the faults in others while not realizing his own.

In my opinion, Tonino’s character was one that the audience could learn a lesson from. That lesson being: no one is perfect, no matter how much one thinks they are. People in the 18^th century may have seen how heroic and kind-hearted a person Tonino was at the beginning of the play, when he saved Florindo, and thought to themselves, “this character is just like me” and by the end of the play had them thinking, “I know I try to do good, but what am I doing that is causing harm to others?”

Carnival Plays: Perception or Reality?

            In The Farmer with the Blur, the farmer’s perception was manipulated so heavily. He was so sure he saw something that was real but someone came along and told him otherwise. He experienced what is called a psychological manipulation. It is a social influence where someone or something tries to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive tactics. 

            We all get caught up in our stories. Most of us think we are our stories. It is when those stories take on a life of their own, and that life is not the one we want, and things start to suck.

If there is no link between perception and reality, you could think that there is no reality at all, that there are infinite realities, or that there are just images that we mistake for the real thing.

            Most of us are naïve realists at heart. We assume that the external world maps perfectly onto our internal view of it. But really there is no such thing as a reality. There’s only “your” version of it, which is essentially just your perception. Remember that what you believe to be true is only as true as your worldly experience and it does not go any further than that. It is important to note that how you choose to perceive things is how they come across to you. I believe that your power to choose how to perceive things makes them appear that way to you. Your reality is much more different than my reality.

So was it really just his reality, or was it just his perception? Knowing what he saw was so real, will you let someone come in and tell you otherwise? So many people will go a long way to make others believe something. What do we call those people? Liars? Deceitful? Conniving? Or just plain evil?