Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

ISABELLA

in The White Devil (Vittoria Corombona) — Webster, John

Metadata

PlayThe White Devil (Vittoria Corombona)
AuthorWebster, John
Year (catalogued)1612
First performance1612
Decade1610s
GenreTragedy
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyQueen Anne's Men
Speech prefix(es)ISAB. | ISA.
Words628
Characters3240
Typicality0.48 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA14875
BritDrama no.1689
ClusterCluster 4 — Constant hearts & virtuous ladies

Important excerpts

No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).

Full speech

Not yet sir. I do beseech you entreat him mildly, Let not your rough tongue Set us at louder variance, all my wrongs Are freely pardoned, and I do not doubt As men to try the precious Unicorns horn Make of the powder a preservative Circle And in it put a spider, so these arms Shall charm his poison, force it to obeying And keep him chased from and infected straying And above health To see my Lord well, Devotion my Lord. It's burdened with too many, and I think The oftener that we cast our reckonings up, Our sleeps will be the sounder. Nay my deer Lord I will not have you angry, Does not my absence from you two months, Merit one kiss? Oh my loved Lord, I do not come to chide; my jealousy, I am to learn what that Italian means, You are as welcome to these longing arms, As I to you a Virgin. You have oft for these two lips Neglected Cassia or the natural sweets Of the Spring-violet, they are not yet much whithered, My Lord I should be merry, these your frowns Show in a Helmet, lovely but on me, In such a peaceful enterueiw me thinks They are to too roughly knit. Never my deer Lord. I pray sir burst my heart, and in my death Turn to your ancient pity, though not love. Oh to too far you have cursed. Forbid it the sweet union Of all things blessed; why the Saints in heaven Will knit their brows at that. Oh my winding sheet, Now shall I needs thee shortly, deer my Lord, Let me hear once more, what I would not hear, Never. Oh my unkind Lord may your sins find mercy, As I upon a woeful widowed bed, Shall pray for you, if not to turn your eyes, Upon your wretched wife, and hopeful son, Yet that in time you'll fix them upon heaven. No my deer Lord, you shall have present witness, How I'll work peace between you, I will make My self the author of your cursed vow I have some cause to do it, you have none, Conceal it I beseech you, for the weal Of both your Dukedoms, that you wrought the means Of such a separation, let the fault Remain with my supposed jealousy, And think with what a piteous and rend hear, I shall perform this sad ensuing partly. Sir you shall not, No though Vittoria upon that condition Would become honest. By my life sir no, I swear by that I do not care to lose. Are all these ruins of my former beauty, Laid out for a whores triumph? Oh that I were a man, or that I had power To execute my apprehended wishes, I would whip some with scorpions. To dig the strumpets eyes out, let her lie Some twenty months a dying, to cut off Her nose and lips, pull out her rotten teeth, Preserve her flesh Like Mummia, for trophies Of my joust anger: Hell to my affliction Is mere snow-water, by your favour sir, Brother draw near, and my Lord Cardinal, Sir let me borrow of you but one kiss, Henceforth I'll never lie with you, by this, This wedding ring. And this divorce shall be as truly kept, As if in thronged Court, a thousand ears Had herd it, and a thousand Lawyers hands, Sealed to the separation. Let not my former dotage, Make thee and unbeliever, this my vow Shall never on my soul be satisfied With my repentance, manet altam mente repositum. No sir I'll presently to Padua, I will not stay a minute. "Unkindness do thy office, poor heart break, "Those are the killing griefs which dare not speak.

Plot summary

Plot — The White Devil (Vittoria Corombona)
Count Lodovico is banished from Rome after a career of drunkenness, riot, and murder; but, he comments, not all malefactors fall foul of the law, for the Duke of ===== PAGE 257 ===== 1612 Bracciano seems to be getting away with his designs against the honour of Vittoria Corombona. In this, Bracciano is abetted by Vittoria’s brother Flaminio, who persuades her husband Camillo that their sleeping apart will make her more amorous. Vittoria tells Bracciano of a dream which seems to suggest the murder of Camillo and the Duchess Isabella; but the liaison is forestalled by the intervention of Vittoria’s mother, Cornelia. Flaminio inveighs against Cornelia for compromising his chances of preferment. Isabella comes to Rome to effect a reconciliation with her husband. Cardinal Monticelso and the Great Duke of Florence also put pressure on him to fulfil his responsibilities, both marital and political. In a private interview with Isabella, Bracciano vows never again to sleep with her, but she tries to limit the political damage by making the same vow herself in public. Florence and Monticelso plan to tempt Bracciano into adultery by getting Camillo out of Rome on public business, but Bracciano plots murder: Isabella is killed when she kisses a poisoned picture of Bracciano, and Flaminio breaks Camillo’s neck. Vittoria is arrested and arraigned before an ecclesiastical court; unable to prove her complicity in Camillo’s murder, it convicts her of adultery and commits her to a house of convertites. Flaminio feigns madness to evade interrogation. Lodovico witnesses Isabella’s murder. He returns to Rome illegally to bring Florence the news, but his pardon is signed after the event. He and Flaminio meet and quarrel. Florence borrows from Monticelso a list of villains, in order to select an agent of vengeance. By writing a letter feigning love for Vittoria, he induces Bracciano to contrive her escape from the house of convertites, disguised as a page. Monticelso is elected Pope; his first act is to excommunicate Bracciano and Vittoria. Florence sends Lodovico to Padua to assassinate Bracciano, and by trickery makes it appear that Monticelso supports the conspiracy. Bracciano marries Vittoria and accepts into his court Mulinassar, a Moorish soldier, who is actually Florence in disguise. Marcello challenges Flaminio toa duel over the latter’s liaison with Zanche the Moor, but Flaminio kills him without ceremony. Instead of a pardon, Bracciano grants him only a daily lease of…