The Jealous Isabella can be more clearly identified with a single source play than can most of Scala’s scenarios, namely Gl’ingannati, written in 1532 by a member or members of the Academy degli Intronati di Siena. Andrews helpfully details the relationship between Gl’ingannati and The Jealous Isabella1 I examine the scenario, quite different from Gl’ingannati, in its own right as one of Scala’s very inventive works, just as others have examined Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s play, also based on Gl’ingannati. Gl’ingannati went through fifteen editions before the end of the sixteenth century and was perhaps the most influential Italian play of the period. Nonetheless, despite its wide popularity we cannot be certain that Scala, much less Shakespeare, knew Gl’ingannati directly rather than through intermediate borrowings.
Unlike the two previous scenarios, the action of which I have attempted to reconstruct, The Jealous Isabella has no tricks. There are two major misunderstandings that intertwine the two plots, one resulting from a disguise. No conflict is established until scene 5. The scenario is nonetheless very tightly plotted.
Day 25
The Jealous Isabella
COMEDY
Argument
In Rome there lived a Venetian merchant named Pantalone Bisognosi, a man who liked to have a good time [and was] given to overindulgence and conversations. The aforementioned Pantalone had two children by his wife in one load [i.e., twins], a male named Fabrizio, and a female called Isabella. The boy had been taken away from her by one of his [Pantalone’s] brothers, about whom no news at all was ever received; the girl lived in his house, with habits very different from those of the father.
And, while she remained thus idle, it came about that she fell in love with a very modest young man of means, named Orazio, who likewise lived in love with the aforementioned young lady.
They went through infinite travails in their loves; in the end, her brother, named Fabrizio, returning to his home city, was mistaken for her because of the great similarity between them; finally he was recognized by his father, and she was married with her lover.
Scala seems to suggest that upper-class girls’ lack of useful activity and their confinement to needlework and devotional literature led to the romantic involvements their fathers so feared.
Characters in the Comedy |
Properties for the Comedy |
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PANTALONE Venetian ISABELLA daughter FABRIZIO son, who looks just like Isabella PEDROLINO servant GRAZIANO Doctor FLAMINIA daughter FRANCESCHINA servant ORAZIO and FLAVIO gentlemen friends CAPITANO SPAVENTO ARLECCHINO servant BURATTINO innkeeper |
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ROME CITY |
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First Act
Night
1. ISABELLA |
at the window, wondering at the lateness of Orazio, her lover;* at that |
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Isabella must establish that she has great love for Orazio, she has been waiting a long time, and it is night. She is alone. There is no indication that she acknowledges the audience. A number of commentators have observed that the elaborate language of commedia dell’arte lovers can at different times elicit both admiration and amusement.2 In this case Isabella needs to elicit our sympathy, before she turns, as she soon does, to anger and desperate acts that are intended to protect her misguided sense of honour, because in the end she marries the long-suffering Orazio and we are to rejoice in that outcome.
2. PANTALONE GRAZIANO [BURATTINO] |
leave Burattino’s inn, saying they have dined very well. Burattino: that another evening they will enjoy themselves even more, and that he will find them each a beautiful courtesan. They agree to the plan and go to the party of a friend of theirs; away. Isabella reproaches Burattino for wanting to be her father’s pimp. And he: that, if need be, he will do the same for her too, and goes inside. She remains; at that |
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This scene, reaffirming the night-time, leaves Isabella still waiting. It sharply disrupts her yearning and the quiet of the night and contrasts her chaste romantic love with the old men’s lechery.
According to Antoni Maczak, there were three hundred and sixty inns in Rome in 1615, one for about every three hundred people.3 It is unlikely that Scala would have known such figures, but he would have known how common inns were in cities frequented by travellers. In Rome “the ‘innkeeping industry’ and prostitution dominated other branches of trade and production.”4 There were more registered courtesans than any other group “active in a profession,” including wine merchants, carpenters, and cloth and haberdashery merchants. Rome was renowned throughout Europe for its courtesans.5 They were elegantly dressed women, often skilled poetesses and musicians, who catered to gallant travellers, patricians, and well-to-do merchants and provided them not only with sex but with the illusion that they themselves were well mannered and learned.6 Travellers and men who were unmarried because of their family’s interest in keeping the patrimony intact were especially reliant on the presence of prostitutes. In addition, because the average age of marriage for males was late twenties to early thirties, and women frequently died in childbirth, prostitution at every level flourished in the cities of Italy. It would not have been unusual for an innkeeper to arrange such amenities.7
Burattino’s suggestion and the widowers’ response are shocking only because they are out in the open, because they contrast so suddenly with Isabella’s virtue and confinement, and because Isabella, who makes clear her relationship to Pantalone, is witness to her father’s violation of patriarchal decorum. Burattino’s suggestion to a lady, however, is improperly bawdy. It serves as her come-uppance for her having upbraided him. Burattino interprets Isabella’s anger as sexual frustration.
3. SERVANTS |
with lighted torches, followed by |
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The servants are evidently present to maintain the idea that it is night and that Flavio and Orazio are gentlemen, Orazio wealthy enough to be an acceptable marriage partner for Isabella. They do not appear again and are not mentioned in the list of characters, perhaps because they do not speak and were thus overlooked in the process of editing. Not mentioned also were the torches and lamps used to establish that it is night. These would have been on hand because of the frequency of night scenes in the Scala scenarios.
4. FLAVIO [ORAZIO] [FLAMINIA] [FRANCESCHINA] |
who is leading Flaminia laughing because Orazio has led Franceschina to believe that he is in love with her. Orazio begs Franceschina to bed him. She: that if her mistress agrees, she will; they laugh again. Flaminia ceremoniously excuses herself and goes inside with Franceschina, who likewise makes a show of flirting with Orazio. Orazio signals to Isabella, as had been agreed between them. |
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The characters in scenes 3 and 4 enter from other than from where Graziano and Pantalone have exited; they do not encounter the old men.
Scala does not provide the entrance for Orazio that Isabella has led us to anticipate. He enters not as a romantic lover who has been unfortunately delayed, but as one who has had a night on the town with friends and is jovially propositioning a serving woman. Apparently Franceschina is not taken in by Orazio, because at scene 11 she speaks lovingly to Orazio from the window, in darkness, and in Isabella’s voice rather than her own. “If the social distance between the man and the woman was great, … women … were expected to be aware of the fact that the word of a man in such circumstances, no matter how serious it might sound, was not serious.”8
Gringannati was written to be performed during Carnival and is set at Carnival time. Whether this scenario is also intended for performance during Carnival, a time of much theatre, cannot be said, but the general night-time merriment, drunkenness, and licentiousness in the first act is carnivalesque. The idea that it is Carnival – coupled with Graziano’s child-rearing practices in other scenarios, explicitly more casual than Pantalone’s – may explain Flaminia’s presence in the street at night with male companions, albeit under the watch of the serving woman Franceschina. Flaminia’s amusement at Orazio’s proposition, to which there is no indication that she assents, is consistent with the general character of the night; Isabella, unable to share in it, is intolerant, suspicious, and unforgiving.
Flavio and Flaminia are friends. Flavio has no love interest in the scenario and functions only as Orazio’s friend, as in Day 6. Flaminia serves primarily at the end as a marriage partner for Fabrizio, but Scala carefully brings her into the action at the onset.
We know that while Isabella’s chastity must be protected and she is thus confined to the house, the serving woman Franceschina is not so protected, because it was necessary for her to run errands and because, unlike Isabella, she is in no position to serve as a vessel for the transmission of family wealth. The class difference between her and the other characters, evident from her clothing, must also be clearly established by the actors. Franceschina’s self-confident and later even brazen behaviour may suggest that she is older and more knowledgeable than are Flaminia and Isabella, who would have been in their teens. Her easy manner in front of her mistress contributes to the high spirits of the night and indicates that she is on good terms with Flaminia.
The reversals characteristic of Carnival are consistent with the idea that Franceschina may have been played by a man, provided that the troupe, as some did, had a male actor for the role. If it was played by a man, her agreement to Orazio’s proposition, her imitation of Flaminia’s elaborate leave taking, and Isabella’s jealousy would have been all the funnier.
Orazio’s signal is audible and must be something romantic, a bird call (improbable late at night) or a song fragment perhaps. In Alessandro, 1543, attributed to Alessandro Piccolomini, Lucilla directs Cornelio to “whistle the signal which Querciuola will teach you.” In Scala’s play Il finto marito the signals in the dark include loud repeated throat clearings and the sound of rocks being knocked together.9
At scene 4, Isabella’s longing and worry quickly turn to anger upon seeing the interaction between Orazio and Franceschina. Her anger serves as counterpoint to the scene in the street below. For contemporary viewers, her quick temper and her jealousy would have revealed the depth of her love (see chapter 2, note 148). From our perspective and that of Burattino, it also reveals her pent-up sexuality. The direction that Isabella has remained at the window, although positioned so that she is visible only to the audience, not to Orazio, would have been too late for the actress playing the role.
We do not know whether the “they” who remain “astonished” includes the servants with lighted torches or only Orazio and Flavio. Scala specifies no exit for the servants, and it is not obvious where it might take place if not as part of the melee at scene 7, where there is no mention of them. However, the presence of servants at the entrance of the Capitano and Arlecchino would steal some focus from them, weighting the stage too heavily with the servants and Orazio, and Flavio. It seems unlikely that non-speaking actors would have been hired just for this appearance. The actor playing Pedrolino would have been free to double as one of the servants. The actors playing the Capitano and Arlecchino would also have been available if the servants exited soon enough for them to enter again as Capitano Spavento and Arlecchino at scene 6.
6. CAPITANO ARLECCHINO |
with a lighted lantern; at that |
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Arlecchino must hold the lantern and light the way, not only to maintain the fiction that it is night but also to establish that he is the Capitano’s servant.10 There may be opportunity for interplay between Arlecchino and the Capitano to further establish their relationship and perhaps the Capitano’s fear of the night and his reason for his appearance in it.
Isabella provides a speech on love betrayed. Always ready to help a lady in distress who might yield to his bravado, the Capitano threatens Orazio and Flavio. He must make clear his instant infatuation with Isabella at this point, probably as she speaks, and not for the first time at scene 16 where he enters in order to tell Isabella that for the sake of her love he has killed a number of her lovers. He evidently assumes (see scene 16) that both Orazio and Flavio have betrayed her. Whatever she says now should allow for this possibility. Orazio and Flavio, defending the honour of Orazio, draw their weapons against the Capitano. In a new complication Orazio is now beset by the meddling Capitano as well as by Isabella.
The image of Isabella at the window and pent up in the house is prolonged to act 2, scene 12, thus making emphatic her entrapment at a time when others make merry. This entrapment goes far to explain her otherwise rather extravagant jealousy. Her jealousy must not turn our sympathies against her, because our interest in her defensive behaviour and Orazio’s devotion to her, despite all he is put through, depends on it. Everyone else including Flaminia can roam the streets on what is perhaps a Carnival night, can engage in sexual joking, and can physically defend his honour, something that Isabella later attempts to defend as a man, free of her confinement.
8. PEDROLINO |
at the window [in Pantalone’s house] with a lamp. |
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It is unusual for Scala’s scenarios to have more than one functional window per house. Here Pantalone’s house has two. Pedrolino probably seeks to learn the cause of the commotion. Scala will need him at the window for scene 10 and carefully establishes him there now.
Both women and men defame women by focusing narrowly on their sexual integrity or, rather, their lack thereof.11 Not surprisingly, the freedom to insult here belongs to someone of higher status than the woman insulted. Franceschina, like Burattino, suggests Isabella’s sexual frustration. Isabella now feels that she has been aggrieved by both Orazio and Franceschina.
10. ORAZIO |
returns, complaining about Isabella; sees Pedrolino [and] calls him, asking him to come down with the lamp, thinking that he has been wounded [in the fight]. Pedrolino: that he [is to] wait; at that |
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11. FRANCESCHINA |
inside the window near that of Isabella, speaks amorously soto voce with Orazio, pretending to be Isabella; at that |
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Orazio has been wounded offstage in the process of defending his honourable intentions towards Isabella. He returns because he loves her. In different ways in this scenario Isabella, Orazio, Pantalone, Franceschina, and Capitano Spavento all strive to uphold their honour.
That Franceschina must speak at a window close by that of Isabella for the deception of Orazio to work may suggest that Scala ideally envisioned actual separate structures, not just openings in curtains. The houses of Graziano and Pantalone are set close to one another, probably on one side of the stage, with the inn on the other for balance. That at scene 13 Isabella closes the window in Orazio’s face also suggests an actual structure with shutters, but we cannot be certain.12
The many window scenes in this act reinforce the idea that it is night and that people have retired to their houses.
Orazio’s call to Pedrolino at scene 10 informs the audience that he has been wounded. Pedrolino’s delayed entrance gives full focus to Franceschina and Isabella. The lamp illuminates Orazio, making clear to Isabella to whom Franceschina has spoken and his loving response, he assumes, to Isabella. As the scenario shows, the senses are deceptive. The resolution could be just an apology away, but Isabella will not hear it. Her belief that she has been betrayed is only reinforced. Her indignation increases.
Scala seems to have designed the Capitano’s uncharacteristic engagement in conflict so that Orazio can show himself wounded. I would like to believe that Pedrolino binds Orazio’s wound and thus Orazio has a visible scenario-long badge of his love and suffering for Isabella. No props are listed for this scenario, however. In any case, Isabella seems unmoved by Orazio’s wound, and, wounded already, Orazio is very vulnerable to her rejection.
14. PANTALONE GRAZIANO |
with lamp, both of them drunk; Orazio away. Pedrolino reproaches Pantalone for his wicked ways, and [says] that one night he will find his daughter pregnant. Pantalone, laughing, goes inside. Graziano has [Pedrolino] knock at the [door of his] house. Pedrolino knocks. |
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Orazio, trying to keep his relationship with Isabella secret from Pantalone, hurriedly exits other than from where Pantalone enters. The relationship, even limited as it is to communication through the window, impugns Isabella’s virtue and so Pantalone’s honour.
The lanterns make clear that it is still night. The return of Pantalone and Graziano from their party marks the passage of time. The men are now very drunk, and there is opportunity here, in a scene that contrasts in mood with scene 13, to play with the darkness by having them bump into one another and fail to find their own doors. Graziano’s behaviour, along with his age and characteristic pedantry, serves to make us feel that Pantalone’s later arrangement of Isabella’s marriage to him is particularly regrettable. In Gl’ingannati the marriage arranged for the young girl is with a man in his fifties.
Ordinarily, the honour of the household was reflected in the obedience and subservience of the servants. Perhaps the servant Pedrolino can upbraid the master Pantalone because both have an interest in his daughter, whom Pantalone has left alone and unsupervised during the night on the town, and perhaps because it is Carnival. Pedrolino speaks about the influence of the behaviour of the parents on that of the children as did Erasmus: “What chance have your children of having decent moral standards when they are undermined by you?”13
The knocking is almost always a lazzo. Such knocking, invariably loud and lengthy, here disrupts the night and may include the drunken Graziano.
15. FLAMINIA |
reproaches her father for his drunkenness. Graziano hugs her and leads her into the house. Pedrolino, laughing, remains; at that |
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While we have probably already inferred from the house to which he has returned that Graziano is Flaminia’s father, that inference is confirmed here. Graziano’s drunkenness is evident to Flaminia as soon as she opens the door, from which she probably does not move far. To no effect, she very likely echoes some of the words of Pedrolino to Pantalone. Graziano’s drunken embrace cannot have been pleasant for her.
The continued carnivalesque merriment contrasts with the mood of Isabella, who feels utterly betrayed, and now with the mood of the wounded and misunderstood Orazio.
16. CAPITANO [ARLECCHINO] |
blustering*, orders Pedrolino to call Isabella, to whom he wishes to say that, for love of her, he has killed many of her suitors. Pedrolino laughs at this; at that |
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Capitano, who enters from where he exited, greatly exaggerates his bravery and accomplishments as usual; Orazio is not seriously wounded, and, if in a general melee, it may not even have been clear by whom. Pedro-lino’s laugh assures us that the Capitano is fabricating, and, moreover, at scene 17 Flavio appears intact.
Arlecchino has opportunity to encourage the vain Capitano’s braggadocio, while at the same time characteristically undercutting it without the Capitano’s cognizance.
Again the specification of the timing of Flavio’s entrance would be too late to serve the actor.
Social historian Edward Muir explains that a precise succession of steps preceded a duel: “When one party insulted or accused another of a dishonorable deed, the accused had to respond by ‘giving the lie,’ that is by stating loudly and clearly, ‘You lie in the throat.’” At this point, the original speaker was to formally challenge the other to a duel by throwing down some pledge such as a glove, ring, dagger, or belt.14 Instead, the fearful Capitano flees and, by not upholding the chivalric ethos, dishonours himself. The exit reminds us of the similar one at scene 7, and the exit may be off in the same direction. The fight provides an exciting ending for the act, one that Scala often uses, and leaves us in suspense as to its outcome. The laughter of Pedrolino, who is not involved in the action, underlines the spirit in which we are to take it.
Both comic and serious scenes, provided in an unpredictable pattern, have furthered the action of the scenario.15 The primary misunderstanding that resulted in Orazio’s wound has now been introduced, as have all of the characters, except Fabrizio. The night has been finely imagined and used.
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Second Act |
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Day
1. ORAZIO |
[says] that he has not gone to bed that entire night, just thinking how greatly mistaken Isabella is; * at that |
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In a scene reminiscent of Isabella’s at the opening of the scenario, but in a speech about love despised, Orazio makes clear that it is morning and affirms his love for Isabella. He also summarizes for the audience’s benefit the events that have befallen him, thus relating the first act to the second. Again, there is no indication that he speaks to the audience. Scala does not specify Orazio’s exit from this scene, but there is no reason for him to remain on stage hidden or otherwise. His overhearing of all the scenes until scene 7, when his presence is certain, would not serve them.
Pantalone and Pedrolino enter from the house, it being early the next morning. As they enter, we likely hear the conclusion of the scene that began inside, in which Pedrolino tells Pantalone of Isabella’s love for Orazio. The audience would thus be encouraged to envision ongoing life in the offstage space. The motive for Pedrolino’s surprising disclosure of Isabella’s love remains unclear until scene 8. It serves here to bring Pantalone into the plot.
3. FRANCESCHINA |
tells Pantalone that it is true, and of having seen them several times speaking amorously together; at that |
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Pantalone’s fervent denial is so loud that Franceschina, perhaps coming to the window in the adjacent house, can hear it. The many scenes that follow before Pantalone comes to realize the fact of the relationship between Isabella and Orazio make clear how emphatic his denial is.
Franceschina is still trying to restore her honour by getting back at Isabella, but now she goes further, telling Pantalone about the relationship between Orazio and Isabella. In Gl’ingannati the serving woman, albeit alone, says: “Recently she’s fallen so madly in love and become so lathered up that she can’t find any peace, day or night. She’s always scratching between her legs, stroking her thighs, or running up onto the porch or over to the window or running down the stairs or up the stairs.”16 It seems unlikely that Franceschina here says anything quite as raw because if she did, Flaminia would have a hard time defending her at scene 6. However, I do suppose that she adds something quite colourful to what Pedrolino has said.
4. FLAVIO |
reproaches Franceschina, having first listened to everything; Franceschina, angry, says that he will be sorry and goes inside. Pantalone tells Flavio not to consider the words of a maidservant, and leaves with Pedrolino; Flavio remains. |
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The faithful friend Flavio tries to protect Isabella, fearing that the illicit relationship between her and Orazio will be seen by Pantalone as evidence of his failure to maintain his patriarchal authority and uphold his honour. Surprisingly, the disclosure of the relationship, now even with two people from separate households having testified to it, does not complicate the plot with a recognition on Pantalone’s part. His denial is profound.
Pantalone and Pedrolino do not exit into the house; they are on their way somewhere. We know this because at scene 8 Pedrolino enters, out of breath.
5. ISABELLA |
shows that she has heard everything from the window, thanks Flavio for his help* and [says] that she did not want to respond to that wretch Franceschina; at that |
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Scala does not specify that Isabella appears at her window until after the fact. Pantalone’s loud denial at scene 2 is the logical place for the entrance of Isabella as well as that of Franceschina.
There is opportunity here for a set speech on friendship. The scene is reminiscent of act 1, scene 9, in which Isabella called Franceschina a slut. Isabella is still trapped in the house and is feeling increasingly betrayed. Franceschina has divulged her secret. And the behaviour of Orazio, in Isabella’s eyes, compares very poorly with that of Flavio’s.
6. FLAMINIA |
at the window tells Isabella that she should not insult her maidservant like that. Isabella apologizes; Flavio [does] the same. Flaminia tells Flavio that she has known for a while that he cares little about the things that concern her, and, angry, goes inside. Flavio remains, upset; Isabella consoles him, saying that Orazio, that traitor, is the cause of all the trouble, and goes inside. Flavio remains. |
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If at scene 3 Franceschina appeared at the window, this act carries over the three-window pattern of the first act. Repetition, as we have seen, provides an important pattern of organization in the scenarios.
Flaminia’s close relationship with Franceschina, established in their casual good fun at their first entrance in act 1, scene 3, is reaffirmed by Flaminia’s defence of Franceschina. There may be some suggestion here that Flaminia is attracted to Flavio but that he has been oblivious to this. If so, her later sudden sexual relationship with Fabrizio is more strongly motivated.
Isabella, who has thanked Flavio for his friendship and loyalty, in turn comforts Flavio who has just provided these for her.
7.ORAZIO |
having heard what Isabella said, despairs; Flavio consoles him; |
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The timing of the actor’s entrance is again specified too late for an actor to utilize. Scala’s repeated use of the past perfect in this scenario reveals the extent to which he was recollecting the scenario for readers. Orazio enters in time for a kind of plot summary, at least from Isabella’s point of view, which is provided just before the plot becomes more complicated with Pantalone’s inevitable realization of the relationship between Isabella and Orazio. Both scenes 6 and 7 serve to delay his realization. The faithful Flavio, just comforted by Flaminia, now comforts Orazio. The gaiety of the carnival-like night opening has vanished. Orazio, Isabella, Flaminia, and Flavio have all been made unhappy as a result of Isabella’s jealousy. Flaminia’s anger at Flavio seems unmotivated except by Scala’s interest in bringing both characters back into the scenario, paralleling the anger of Isabella at the window with that of Flaminia, and achieving a total turn of mood from the night to the day. Nothing subsequently comes of Flaminia’s outburst.
8. PEDROLINO |
panting, looks for Orazio; sees him, and tells him how he told Pantalone that Isabella was in love with him, and that he realizes he has done something he should not have done, since he was expecting one thing but the outcome was quite another, namely, that her father is trying to marry her off. Orazio despairs*; then they all leave to find a solution to the problem. Away. |
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Here is another instance of Pedrolino’s entering out of breath, adding to a sense of speed and to our appreciation of the performance as performance. Pedrolino enters from the direction in which he exited. In his effort to salvage the relationship between Isabella and Orazio by revealing it to her father, he has made things worse. This is not the trickster Pedrolino who skilfully manipulates the plot to its happy conclusion as he often does.
Pantalone, who has at long last come to accept the servants’ word about the relationship between his protected Isabella and Orazio, urgently wants to get Isabella married off; her virginity is at risk. Pantalone’s long-anticipated recognition is offstage. We are left to imagine its vehemence. Pantalone does not intend that Orazio be the husband.
Here, as well as at scene 7, there is opportunity for Orazio to provide a set speech of despair. Throughout there is ample opportunity for him to despair. The actor could judiciously vary the length of such speeches so as not to interrupt the flow of the action. The audience’s pleasure in extravagant speeches of despair, however, seems to have been considerable.
9. CAPITANO ARLECCHINO |
come blustering about the previous night’s fighting; at that |
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The Capitano, in what is now a running joke, enters boasting about his war-like abilities, this time, as we are reminded, in the fight that ended act 1. In fact, we recall that he and Arlecchino ran away from the fight in fright. Here Arlecchino appears to identify with, rather than undercut, the Capitano. His arrogance in act 3, scene 3, is further consistent with the idea that he identifies with his master. The Capitano enters in the hopes of encountering his new beloved.
10. FABPJZIO |
Isabella’s brother, who also looks just like her, has come from Sicily to find his father. Capitano believes he is Isabella; Arlecchino, the same. Capitano amorously pleads with [“]her. [“] Fabrizio, indignant, thrusts his hand [draws his sword]. Capitano: that he does not fight women. And away. Arlecchino the same, and leaves. Fabrizio, to the tavern and inn of Burattino. |
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The Capitano does not find Isabella but rather Fabrizio. His hope of encountering Isabella, together with Fabrizio’s looks, leads him to believe that Fabrizio is Isabella. The only character to whom the ridiculous and eager Capitano manages to make amorous advances is male. The implied homoeroticism derides the Capitano. The sexual misidentification of both Fabrizio and Isabella throughout the rest of the scenario is, of course, a theatrical convention but not one that an audience would find at all hard to accept, because of the perceived androgyny of adolescents.17 The secondary plot neatly serves as complication for the primary one. Again, Scala, evidently seeing the characters in his mind’s eye, refers to them by the sex that they appear to be. He does not provide the accommodation to the reader provided by the quotation marks in this translation.
Fabrizio, one of the two main characters and the object of the seenario’s second plot of misunderstanding (like the first, based on the confusion between appearance and reality), is not introduced until the middle of act 2. The reader is prepared for Fabrizio’s appearance by the Argument. Unless the viewing audience is similarly informed about his return in a prologue, the entrance of this long-lost relative is completely unexpected, as it is in Gl’ingannati. Andrews points out that here, as in Gl’ingannati, Isabella and Fabrizio are played by a single performer. In both play and scenario this even bigger surprise is not revealed until Fabrizio’s first appearance. We know that the roles were played by the same performer because the action is designed so that Fabrizio never appears onstage with Isabella and he does not appear onstage in the final scene of family reunion, reconciliation, and marriages as one would expect.
Unlike in the source play, where both twins are played by a single male, Fabrizio and Isabella in The Jealous Isabella are played by a female. This is altogether remarkable, for while women in other scenarios, like Isabella in this scenario, don the disguise of a male, they revert in the end to their real modest, subservient, female selves. In this case, not only is a woman on the stage, and portraying Isabella playing a man for a period of time, but she must convincingly establish her other character, Fabrizio, and retain it. Later in the scenario we are even explicitly invited to envision Fabrizio’s male genitalia and then to imagine the actress’s marriage as a male.
11. BURATTINO |
[comes] outside, receives him, asking him from where he comes and who he is. Fabrizio explains everything to him, then goes inside. Burattino says that is [actually] Isabella, Pantalone’s daughter, and that the wicked ways of the fathers often cause their children’s ruin, and leaves to find Orazio. |
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The audience can reasonably assume that Fabrizio will be made known to his father. We do not know when or how.
The audience is asked to recall what it has seen of Pantalone in act 1, thus tying together the dissolute behaviour of the father with what here appears to be, and then actually comes to be, the behaviour of the daughter. Dressing in men’s clothes suggested whoredom.18 Pantalone’s vehement and loud denial at act 2, scene 2, prolonged thereafter, may indicate his own fear that he is indeed responsible for Isabella’s apparent moral failings.
Naturally, the stranger stays in the inn; indeed he necessitates its prèsence, which Scala also skilfully makes use of at the beginning of the scenario. The innkeeper, Burattino, someone outside the action, is the ideal character to hear Fabrizio’s account, provided for the audience, of who he is. Scala’s specifying at scene 10 that Fabrizio has arrived from Sicily suggests that Fabrizio’s narrative should include this information. It is logical that Burattino, having already understood Isabella’s sexual frustration, discounts Fabrizio’s story and takes him for Isabella dressed as a man and seeking sex. He believes that Orazio can save her from her frustration and thus from her inappropriate behaviour. Burattino makes the same point as did Graziano about how the wicked ways of the fathers are taken up by the children. Fathers should model the behaviour they hope for in their offspring.
12. ISABELLA |
dressed as a man, having gotten the costume in a play which she and the other young girls had put on. She wanting to look for Orazio to prove to him that he is a traitor; sees her father coming; leaves. |
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The actress playing Fabriziojust entered the inn. With the time provided by Burattino’s discourse on Pantalone’s bad habits, she can move to a new entrance. Isabella, in her first appearance into the street, enters from the house of her father, Pantalone. Twins constitute a kind of repetition, Isabella’s disguise constitutes another, and so does the doubling of roles. Further, Isabella’s disguise would have resonated with the cross-dressing of Carnival. The rapidity of the actress’s transformation is central to its interest. It must be clear to the audience from her acting that she is now not the male Fabrizio but Isabella pretending to be a man. Her entrance from the house reinforces this distinction. The dual roles, as in Gl’ingannati, provide a star turn for the performer.
Art historian David Summers observes that of all the terms of praise used by authors writing in the early modern period, perhaps none is more frequent or more important than difficultá19 This term of admiration can be applied not only to visual artists but to the work of the actress and of Scala. The proximity of the scenes here, not present in the source play, draws our attention to the daring and skill of both. We are called on to admire the act of representation itself.
Fabrizio appears first because it is easier for the audience to accept the actress first as a man and then as Isabella playing a man, rather than the other way round. A quick costume change, not so great as to disabuse the characters of their confusion, would help the audience distinguish between the two. Seeing the characters in immediate succession would allow the audience to become aware of the distinction.
Scala’s explanation of Isabella’s means for obtaining the costume makes sense for a convent-educated girl, which she would surely have been as a motherless girl from a well-to-do family. In the convents the novices and the boarding-school girls, in particular, performed in plays including in male roles in male dress.20
Isabella dons the costume of a man so that, free from the woman’s confines of the house and without being recognized, she can seek out Orazio and, as we shall see, defend her honour, as would a man in a duel. She is willing to risk her life for her honour.
Isabella’s costume, like Fabrizio’s or any gentleman’s, includes a sword. Her disguise, even if not her skill at swordplay, gives her power and some measure of safety in the streets. Although her presence in the masculine domain of the streets in her mannish dress also signals to others that she is a loose woman, nothing could actually be further from her mind. Her sexual energy is turned towards revenge.
Women disguised as men appear in eighteen of Scala’s scenarios. The actual donning of male disguise by courtesans, actresses, and those who were obliged to travel or were left on their own gave credibility to the stage convention.21 Whether Scala intended it or not, the constructedness of Isabella’s role as male, based on little more than dress, and her and the actress’s success in playing it raise questions about the naturalness and inevitability of the social constructions of men’s and women’s “nature” and their relative placement in the gender hierarchy.
13. PANTALONE |
asks Pedrolino what business he had with Orazio and [PEDROLINO] with Flavio. Pedrolino makes excuses. Pantalone: that he wants to marry her to Graziano. Pedrolino reproaches him. He [Pantalone]: that he wants to do things his way; knocks. |
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There is no indication that Pantalone was present at act 2, scene 8, the scene in which Pedrolino, Orazio, and Flavio are together. The audience was, of course, and so may naturally assume that Pantalone shares their knowledge of that scene. The audience is reminded that, when last seen, Pedrolino, Orazio, and Flavio were going to plot to save the situation. They evidently have not managed to do so.
We learn, finally, to whom Pantalone plans to marry Isabella. His choice of Graziano for Isabella threatens her happiness even more than she has herself. Given his low status, Pedrolino is not appropriately deferential in his resistance to the plan. Again, Carnival may allow him to breach the customary respect and deferential language expected of servants.22 Pedrolino’s sympathies are aligned with the young, and ours with them. The knock on Graziano’s door now serves as foreboding.
14. GRAZIANO |
hears from Pantalone that he is offering him Isabella, along with the inheritance of all that is his, if his son Fabrizio never returns. [Fabrizio was] born at the same time as Isabella, [and was then taken away by one of his [Pantalone’s] brothers about whom he never received any news. Graziano agrees; at that |
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Not only is it the norm for a marriage to be arranged by the families, but Graziano is Pantalone’s friend and an older man whose financial position is secure. Isabella’s girlish passions are not to be a consideration in the marital arrangement, except in the urgency that Pantalone now feels to marry her off. Isabella’s dowry would be quite small relative to the amount left for a son; Pantalone’s offer is very attractive. His account of Fabrizio’s history prepares us for the reunion of father and son.
15. BURATTINO |
who has heard that Graziano is to be the bridegroom, makes fun of him and goes inside the house. Pantalone says that it would be appropriate [for Graziano] to touch hands with Isabella; at that |
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Burattino, his search for Orazio unsuccessful, returns to the inn from the direction in which he went to seek him.
The holding of hands, signifying consent to marry, had to be witnessed by the consenting parents. In this case, the father, the only living parent, will be present. Because Isabella seems all too ready to marry someone other than Orazio, if she enters now, her fate with Graziano as husband may be all but sealed – unless Fabrizio is discovered. Burattino makes fun of the idea of Graziano as Isabella’s husband. His ridicule makes clear how we are to regard the marriage arranged between the old man and the young girl and points to the unlikelihood of it.
The audience knows that in the scenarios, in marked contrast to actual cultural practice where marriages were arranged as matters of family financial and social security and advancement, young love will find a way. This persistent fantasy served as wish-fulfilment and, as Laura Giannetti argues for the earlier written comedy, as a critique of the social system.23 Again, it does so whether or not this was Scala’s intention.
16. BURATTINO |
[comes back out and] says, laughing, that in the inn there is a lad who says he would like to speak to a Venetian. Pantalone: that he should tell him to come out, and sends Pedrolino to call Isabella. Pedrolino goes inside and returns saying Isabella is not in the house. Pantalone despairs*; at that |
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Pantalone agrees to see the young man but, primarily intent on Isabella’s marriage, he also sends for Isabella. Burattino, still believing that Fabrizio is Isabella, laughs in expectation of what Pantalone and Graziano will see of what the bride-to-be has become. The audience, knowing that Isabella and Fabrizio are played by one and the same actress, for a moment must wonder how the conflicting demands on the actress can be met. Our hope is that it is Fabrizio who will arrive and that his timely arrival will nullify the marriage agreement.
Pantalone, so jovial in act 1, now like Isabella and Orazio, despairs until the scenario’s resolution. The despair in the scenario is set in contrast to the framing laughter.
17. BURATTINO [FABRIZIO] |
shows the lad, Fabrizio, to Pantalone, who, believing [“] her[”] to be Isabella, scolds him; the Doctor does the same; they try to catch [“]her[”]; Fabrizio cries out for help; at that |
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Fabrizio’s call for help reminds us that the character is played by a female. It also leads even Orazio to believe that Fabrizio is a woman, his Isabella. The audience’s hope that Fabrizio’s arrival will nullify the marriage agreement is dashed.
18. ORAZIO |
arrives; Fabrizio says: “Sir, free me from the hands of these people!” Orazio draws his sword; he makes them all run away. Fabrizio thanks Orazio, who, believing him to be Isabella, begs his forgiveness for the offences done to her without meaning to. Fabrizio laughs about this and [says] that he does not know him, and goes inside the inn. Orazio, in despair, * leaves, and here the second act ends. |
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It is important for Orazio to appear before the end of act 2 to remind the audience of the problem with which the scenario began and after which it is named. To Orazio’s mind, he has not only saved Isabella but begged her pardon, and still she denies him. His case seems hopeless, not only because of Pantalone’s plans for her but also because “she” treats him like this. This is an occasion that might elicit Pantalone’s tears.
At the close of the act, Orazio is miserable; Isabella is intent on killing him; Pantalone has arranged for her to marry Graziano; Fabrizio has neither been recognized as who he is nor recognized by his father.
Until act 3, scene 10, everyone but the audience takes Fabrizio to be Isabella. The discovery of his identity is delayed as long as possible.
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Third Act |
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1. CAPITANO [ISABELLA] |
complains to Isabella of having been insulted by her. * Isabella says that she has not seen him since she has been dressed in these clothes. Capitano goes on, then he hears from her that she is in these clothes because she wants to prove to Orazio that he is a traitor, asking him [Capitano] to convey a challenge to him [Orazio], promising him [Capitano], if she survives [the duel], to be his [Capitano’s] wife. Capitano agrees;* she, [goes] away [planning] to return. Capitano remains. |
We have not seen Isabella since act 2, scene 12, when she went off to seek Orazio to show him what a traitor he is. So the time passed seems long, but there is no reason to think that much time, if any, has elapsed between acts 2 and 3. The whole of the action takes less than twenty-four hours.
Isabella has not found Orazio and enters from other than the house, likely from the direction in which she exited in search of him, in order to keep the story straight for the audience. Capitano enters, once again seeking Isabella. At act 2, scene 10, the hapless Capitano mistook Fabrizio for Isabella. Now he mistakes Isabella for Fabrizio.
If Isabella will not be forced to marry old Graziano, she arranges an even less suitable match for herself, as must be made clear by the Capitano’s usual poverty and his endless hollow speech-making about his prowess, now probably also with women. He has become not merely comic relief but a plot complication.
Delaying the confrontation between the Capitano and Orazio and allowing the Capitano more grandiosity to heighten our anticipation of this confrontation, Orazio does not enter now; rather Flavio does. The Capitano has reason to avenge himself against Flavio, who drew his sword on him at the end of act 1. Characteristically, however, and now that Isabella has held out the promise of marriage to him, he, not unreasonably, backs off the fight while bragging of his capabilities as a warrior. To our knowledge, Flavio has seen neither Orazio nor Isabella since act 2. scene 8, and in his limited role as the faithful friend he must be very concerned about them.
3. ARLECCHINO |
arrives, and in an arrogant manner asks Flavio about his master. Flavio, seeing his rudeness, gives him a beating; at that |
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4. FRANCESCHINA |
reproaches Flavio for beating Arlecchino. Flavio, enraged, wants to give her [a beating] too. Arlecchino lifts her up and takes her away; Flavio remains. |
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We have seen neither Arlecchino nor Franceschina for some while: Arlecchino since act 2, scene 9, and Franceschina since act 2, scene 3. It is good structurally that we see them again. This is the first time we see Arlecchino without the Capitano, so it is logical that he is in search of him. Arlecchino identifies with his master’s supercilious ways. Franceschina reasserts her sauciness. Moreover, if she has described Isabella’s behaviour in private in anything like the terms in Gl’ingannati, in the moral economy of the scenario she deserves at least this threat of a beating. (Servants are beaten; gentlemen engage in duels.) In any case, Flavio takes out his frustration on the lower class, which, indeed, is not appropriately subordinate.
The real reason for Arlecchino’s presence without the Capitano, and this beating lazzo, which otherwise does nothing to further the action, is to allow the scene’s surprising conclusion in which Arlecchino picks up Franceschina and carries her off. The conclusion prepares us for the subsequent sexual intercourse and marriage of Arlecchino and Franceschina. If there is any suggestion of a potential rape, that rape would hardly be regarded as criminal for the lower end of society.24
If Franceschina is played by a man, her being carried by Arlecchino is funnier; conventionally, men do not carry other men. Jean Howard has observed that “a man … who theatricalizes the self as female, invites playing the woman’s part in sexual congress.”25
5. PANTALONE |
in despair about his daughter,*26 sees Flavio and complains to him about Orazio having come to the aid of his daughter. Flavio makes excuses for Orazio and pleads with him to forgive Isabella; at that |
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6. ISABELLA |
arrives; Pantalone sees her right away and, in a rage, asks her why she is dressed in those clothes. She boldly states that at one time, she was in love with Orazio, and that, because of a wrong that he has done her, she has put on these clothes in order to fight him with weapons. And away. Pantalone, weeping, begs Flavio to follow her and change her mind. Flavio away. Pantalone remains; at that |
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The tension mounts; the action speeds up. Isabella enters immediately after she is discussed. Pantalone recognizes Isabella, who is disguised; he has not recognized Fabrizio, who is not disguised. Not only has Isabella taken to the streets alone and dressed in men’s clothing and so is unsafe, she now speaks in a bold immodest manner that is wholly unbecoming to a girl and risks her life in a duel. While she believes that she is defending her honour, Pantalone believes that she is behaving licentiously, destroying the honour of the family. She has denied him his patriarchal control, possibly her life, and his consolidation of his social situation with the marriage that he has arranged for her. Pantalone speaks downstage of the inn, where he cannot see Fabrizio enter.
7. FABRIZIO |
comes out of the inn. Pantalone, not seeing him come out but seeing him later, believes he is Isabella and again begins to plead with [“]her[”] not to start a fight. Fabrizio laughs at this, saying that he does not know him; at that |
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Pantalone’s preceding scene with Flavio allows plenty of time for the actress who is playing Isabella to exit, make a minor costume change, and then enter from the inn as Fabrizio.
If Pantalone, in his grief at scene 6, does mention the missing Fabrizio, Scala has Fabrizio, like Isabella, arrive pat to the occasion, but alas, speaking at cross-purposes, father and son, who are finally brought together after all these years, do not recognize one another. The patriarch is reduced to pleading.
8. PEDROLINO |
reproaches Fabrizio, taking him for Isabella, saying to him that he should do as his father wishes. Fabrizio mocks him; at that |
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While characters’ exits are generally motivated by their action or character, in this scenario, and particularly in this act, characters arrive on the scene to suit the story. Here and at scene 9, Pantalone continues to be upset as the characters enter. Pedrolino likely enters from Pantalone’s house; it is important whenever possible to aid the audience in keeping clear the relationships between characters. He joins the growing chorus of those mistaking Fabrizio for Isabella.
Having first inadvertently made things worse for Isabella and Orazio by trying to help them, and then having vowed to help Orazio and Flavio to solve the mounting problems, Pedrolino has evidently done nothing. Matters have deteriorated.
9. FLAMINIA |
tells Fabrizio (mistaking) [him for Isabella] that, though she has good reason to be angry with her, because she does not like seeing her, as a woman, in those clothes that, if she does not want to go to her father’s house, she should go with her [Flaminia] into her house. Fabrizio asks the old man if he agrees. Pantalone: [says] yes. And embracing, they go inside the house. Pantalone and Pedrolino leave to find Orazio and resolve the matter. |
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Fabrizio is evidently immediately attracted to Flaminia. He has no need, otherwise, to join her. Such obvious attraction and the embrace signal what is to come. That Fabrizio asks Pantalone’s permission to go with Flaminia into her house makes no sense unless he assumes that Pantalone is Flaminia’s father, but it does allow Pantalone to inadvertently sanction his son Fabrizio’s impending relationship with and marriage to Flaminia; it also makes clear Pantalone’s desperately failing authority. He cannot get his daughter back into his house, so at least to get her safely off the street and to protect his honour he agrees to have “her” go inside with Flaminia. The weakening of his authority will, in the end, make him more accepting of Isabella’s choice of Orazio.
10. BURATTINO |
who has seen everything, says that it would be a fine thing if that were a man; at that |
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Scala neglects to specify when in the course of scene 9 Burattino entered. Coming from the inn, he is the logical person to anticipate that Fabrizio might be a man, because at act 2, scene 11, Fabrizio gave him a full account of the truth. The audience has seen Flaminio and Fabrizio embrace. The audience is also encouraged by Burattino’s suspicion to imagine what might be going on between Flaminia and Fabrizio in the house. Throughout, Burattino is attuned to lust.
11. FRANCESCHINA |
quarrelling, since, having enjoyed Frances china, he ARLECCHINO does not want to give her more than one lira. They make Burattino the judge who says that they should let him try the merchandise, that then he will set a price; at that |
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The audience’s expectation that Fabrizio’s sexual identity will be discovered at this point is cleverly delayed by this scene in which we are invited to visualize a sexual entanglement, but between servants and perhaps between men. If between men, Arlecchino, would have a particularly strong reason not to meet the price; the audience could imagine Burattino, now blinded by lust, being similarly misled and disappointed.
Scala carefully set up this action at scene 4 where Arlecchino carried off Franceschina. It is not merely a lazzo imported from some other source, as it may seem. It allows time for the action offstage between Flaminia and Fabrizio, describes an action that is parallel to it, thus keeping sexual intercourse in focus, and further prepares us for the wedding of Arlecchino and Franceschina that specifically parallels in honour that of Flaminia and Fabrizio.
12. CAPITANO [ORAZIO] [FLAYIO] |
tells Orazio of Isabella’s challenge. Orazio [is] enraged.Flavio steps in so that things can be resolved [by negotiation]. (Franceschina goes into the house; Arlecchino away; Burattino, into the inn.) Capitano: that they cannot be resolved [that way]; at that |
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Still the audience does not find out what is happening behind closed doors between Flaminia and Fabrizio. The ridiculous Capitano, anxious to claim Isabella as his reward, intervenes.
Andrews posits that the exits of the lower-class characters, which Scala here specifies in parentheses, again too late for actors, were actually to precede the entrance of those in scene 12.27 This makes sense because the scene with the servants needs to be crisply resolved: Franceschina exits in disgust; Arlecchino gets off without paying; and Burattino does not get to “try the merchandise.” Further, their exit would be too distracting once scene 12 begins.
Flavio’s role, as it has been throughout, is that of the faithful and reasonable friend.
13. FRANCESCHINA |
comes outside, saying that Isabella has turned into a man; at that |
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Finally, Scala yields to our curiosity. We do not know all that Franceschina says in addition to expressing the deep-seated fear that clothes do make the man, but Andrews calls attention to the fact that the description in Gl’ingannati is salacious.28 It is worth quoting the serving woman in that play, Pasquella, at length:
My mistress had the person down on the bed, and she called me to help her while she held his hands. And he was letting her win, so I opened the front of his clothes, and suddenly I felt something slap my hand, and I wasn’t sure whether it was a large pestle or a big stick or that other thing. But whatever it was, it was in great shape. And when I saw how big it was, I took off, believe me, and locked the door behind me.29
We know that Franceschina is a woman who doesn’t hold back and who’s seen some. Laura Giannetti usefully terms recognitions like Franceschina’s “phallic revelations/celebrations.”30
Maggie Günsberg points to the fact that in Gl’ingannati the all-female dynamic introduces not only heterosexual female desire but also, in addition to the masturbation suggested by Pasquella (quoted in my commentary for act 2, scene 3), the possibility of lesbianism. She observes, however, that in that play the fact of male actors performing the roles diffuses this possibility and that it is even further diffused by the male voyeurs who provide commentary on the scene within. This, she observes, “is the classic patriarchal recuperation of lesbianism, a sexuality dangerously excluding male membership … The dynamic of sexual desire is thus continually returned to the male domain and particularly that of homoeroticism.”31 In this scenario Graziano’s voyeurism in the next scene, and perhaps Franceschina’s if she is played by a male, is also. But the fact remains that the lovers within, Flaminio and Fabrizio, are played by women. If the scenario was written for Carnival, the imagined scene may be more excusable.
14. PANTALONE GRAZIANO |
arrive; Franceschina tells Graziano of having found a lad embracing his daughter Flaminia. Pantalone tells Graziano that is Isabella his daughter in men’s clothes. Graziano goes inside to see. Pantalone pleads with Orazio to calm Isabella; that he will give her to him as wife. Capitano: that such a thing cannot be; at that |
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We are left to imagine what Graziano sees. Meanwhile, so desperate has Pantalone become about his daughter’s behaviour that, with Graziano safely offstage, he offers her to Orazio. Pantalone’s disagreeable choice of the lecherous old and perhaps pedantic Graziano and the unjust treatment of the faithful Orazio make us wish for Orazio’s success. But a conflict between Graziano and Pantalone looms. And Isabella still will not accept Orazio as a husband. Her promise to marry the Capitano, made without the authority of her father, cannot be taken seriously. The Capitano, with his pretensions, is again a nuisance.
15. FABRIZIO GRAZIANO |
come out of the [Graziano’s] house [both] yelling at the same time. Fabrizio: that he is a man and the son of Pantalone de ’Bisognosi, taken away as a child by his uncle, whose death has caused him to come to see if his father lives. Pantalone with great happiness recognizes him. Capitano says he is going [to look] for Isabella. Fabrizio goes inside to touch the bride’s hand; and goes inside. Pantalone again pleads with Orazio to appease Isabella; at that |
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Graziano enters, yelling about his discovery that there is a man with his daughter. Fabrizio enters, probably hastily trying to reassemble his clothing. Whether, after his original account to Burattino, Fabrizio was so beset that he could not provide the account of himself again, it is critical to our pleasure that the recognition and joyful reunion of father and son have been delayed until now and that, meanwhile, matters have been complicated.
Fabrizio’s apparent double entrance into the house suggests the possibility of his bringing Flaminia to the doorway so that the couple can touch hands in this transitional or liminal space in view of both elders and then of their going into Graziano’s house. The premarital sex is overlooked because marriage follows it. This ending for the subplot would be dramatically satisfying and would make sense in the culture, but Scala does not mention Flaminia’s appearance.
16. PEDROLINO |
arrives, saying that the Capitano is bringing Isabella, resolute in wanting to do battle with Orazio. Pantalone despairs; at that |
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Isabella’s story has yet to be resolved. The entrance of Pedrolino only to announce that of Isabella and the Capitano gives additional time for the actress to enter as Isabella in the next scene and builds anticipation for her intended fight with Orazio. That it is the Capitano who brings her and Orazio to the same place, as he was charged to do by Isabella in order to marry her, heightens the idea that Isabella will continue to resist Orazio and marry the Capitano.
17. ISABELLA [CAPITANO] |
immediately upon arrival draws her sword against Orazio, calling him traitor. Orazio throws himself onto his knees, telling her that he has not erred. She reminds him of the amorous words spoken to Franceschina, and he tells her that he said them in jest to tease the maidservant. Franceschina confesses how she mimicked Isabella’s voice at the window and that she did all of this to annoy her. Flavio and all plead with Isabella to forgive Orazio; she, accepting his explanation, agrees to forgive him and to take him as husband. Capitano blusters, saying that Isabella is his by her own word. Orazio grasps his sword, saying whoever wishes to take Isabella, will have to take his life first. Capitano calms down. Orazio marries Isabella; Arlecchino, having enjoyed her, [marries] Franceschina; all say that they will go [inside to] visit Fabrizio, Isabella’s brother, returned to his homeland; and they all go inside Graziano’s house for the nuptials, and here the comedy ends. |
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Everyone has now been brought onstage for the resolution of Isabella’s jealousy, all but Fabrizio and Flaminia. No gentleman can attack a man on his knees, so the anticipated fight is quickly averted. Franceschina evidently feels that she has done enough to get even for the way Isabella treated her, and, anyway, comedy characteristically does not belabour its ending. The primary misunderstanding that has motivated the action is cleared up. The recognition of Fabrizio intertwines the two plot lines, absolves Pantalone of his promise of Isabella to his friend Graziano, and at the same time lets Graziano down easy; his family will still inherit all of Pantalone’s wealth except for Isabella’s dowry. Thus, his daughter has a good match. Pantalone is happy to get his son back and grateful to have Isabella safely off the streets and his honour saved. Orazio’s absolute fidelity, evidenced by his willingness to give even his life for Isabella, proves his worthiness and is rewarded. The Capitano, with some unexpected final bluster, disrupts the impending, and now seemingly inevitable, happy resolution. The disruption or threatened complication is only momentary; not surprisingly, the cowardly Capitano, faced with determined, more youthful, and vigorous opposition, backs down. His retreat is undoubtedly accomplished with some preposterous boast. Castiglione emphasized the need for a soldier’s physical courage: “Just as once a woman’s reputation for purity has been sullied it can never be restored, so once the reputation of a gentleman-at-arms has been stained through cowardice … even if only once, it always remains defiled in the eyes of the world and covered with ignominy.”32
The actress playing Isabella must turn to love from the jealousy and anger that are violent enough to kill. Isabella reverts finally to conventional womanhood and becomes a wife, indeed perhaps a more loving wife than she would otherwise have been; it was oddly believed that her affection was increased by her suspicion of her beloved. In this sense, there is character development. Isabella may have indicated her transformation by covering the breeches, in which she disguised herself as a male in the middle of act 2, with a skirt.33
Servants are commonly paired at the end of Scala’s comic scenarios. In this case, Franceschina is made an honourable woman. It seems to be simply assumed that that is what she would want.
Isabella takes up the role of the good wife, but she has, in a small way, rewritten her role within the patriarchy. Nothing bad has come of her having dressed in men’s clothing, spoken in public, stood up to her father, moved freely about the streets, or having acted on her own initiative, however misguided. In effect, the audience has witnessed a dramatized debate between the traditional and the evolving notion of women.34
We do not see Isabella reunited with her brother. And at the conclusion the audience continues to know something that the characters do not. The actress’s role as Fabrizio necessarily remains intact within Graziano’s house. The rule of the fourth-century drama theorist Evanthius that at the end everything should be made known to everyone is violated. The patriarchal recuperation of the role that Günsberg observes in Gl’ingannati is not provided.
The exit of eleven characters through a door or even a curtain takes time and lacks the appropriate dynamic. For this reason, here and in other scenarios with the same ending, the final exits were probably accompanied by dancing, acrobatics, and singing.
The pedant who delivers the epilogue to Vergilio Verucci’s Li diversi linguaggi, 1627, a play for amateur performance written in imitation of commedia dell’arte, declares that parents of marriageable children should not intervene by arranging marriages of convenience between young women and older men, as the old men in that play attempted to do.35 There is no indication of whether or not The Jealous Isabella was followed by an epilogue. It might have been observed, as in many another Italian fiction, that faithfulness in love, at least for males, is a virtue rewarded.36
I have shown both the care with which the scenario was constructed and the extent to which it represented the culture of its time. The scenario, quite apart from its performance, makes clear what would have interested its contemporary audience.