The Betrothed: I Promessi Sposi

“It’s not a question of right or wrong. It’s a question of power.”

Renzo is a romantic man. He wants to marry Lucia despite whatever danger this might present to his life. Don Abbondio is a pragmatist. He refuses to perform the wedding, not because doing so is right or wrong, but because he has determined that Don Rodrigo has all the power and, thus, the capacity to dictate what happens. Renzo’s romanticism contrasts with Don Abbondio’s pragmatism, the latter of which reveals why the society has fallen into this situation. So many people accept Don Abbondio’s framing of morality, as dictated by who holds all the power, that they have rendered themselves powerless.

“Lodovico found himself alone, in the middle of the crowd, with the two dying men at his feet.”

After the flurry of violence, Ludovico, later Fra Cristoforo, finds himself in a difficult position. The narration uses irony to capture the impossibility of his situation. He is surrounded by people; not only are the two men dying at his feet, but a crowd has gathered around him. People flank Ludovico on all sides, but the violence has alienated him from them. He feels suddenly alone, swept up in a cycle of violence and honor that threatens to change his life forever. Ludovico may be surrounded by people but, in a figurative sense, he has never been more alone. This juxtaposition illustrates the severity of his situation, foreshadowing his shift toward religion after he seeks out sanctuary.

“The size of the polenta had been determined by the harvest rather than by the number and appetite of the mouths to feed.”

The meal set before Tonio’s family is indicative of the fundamental injustice of the world. The humble Tonio and his young family have limited resources, with the natural bounty of the harvest dictating the amount of food that they can eat more than any moral quality. Despite how hard Tonio works and how moral he may be, his family still goes hungry. The characters in the novel find themselves at the mercy of the tides of history, which operates beyond their agency and morality.

“By their actions, my friend: You can tell a man by his actions.”

The innkeeper warns Renzo that actions are more telling of a person’s character than their appearances or their statements. Don Rodrigo is an example of this, as his actions are entirely legal but immoral. Meanwhile, Renzo proves his moral worth through his actions. He helps people and defies wrongdoers, though he is often wanted by the law. The innkeeper’s simple lesson remains with Renzo, who allows his actions to reveal his character to the world.

“But what about a girl who has never nursed even a fleeting desire to leave the mountains?”

As Lucia and Renzo bid farewell to the mountains and the rivers of their childhood home, the process of Navigating Injustice in their situation becomes even more apparent. Lucia is a devout and modest young woman. Her humility means that she has never dreamed of anything more than a simple life in her hometown. Yet, due to the machinations of the evil Don Rodrigo, she is being forced to leave the place she loves. She is robbed of even her most modest ambition because of the whims of a man who does not feel beholden to the law.

“The examiner grew tired of questioning the unfortunate girl before she grew tired of lying.”

The Signora is a nun unlike other nuns. Her unique status can be traced back to the way in which she entered the order: While other nuns entered due to circumstances or devotion, Gertrude was motivated by bitterness and spite. She is not particularly devout, as evidenced by her relationship with Egidio, but she is compelled enough by her negative emotions than she can trick the interviewer, the man who is supposedly functioning as an agent of the church and a moral arbiter. She does not grow tired of lying to the point where her desire to obfuscate the truth endures longer than the institution’s desire to preserve the truth.

“In Milanese, it consists of words that are so bizarre, so hard to pronounce, and so barbaric, that the Italian alphabet can barely approximate the sound.”

The Betrothed was written before the unification of Italy, and the plot is set even further back in history, at a time when the Spanish governed Lombardy. The Italian language, like the peninsula itself, is fractured into dialects. The narrator points out the contrast between the Tuscan dialect (which formed the basis of the Italian language) and the regional Milanese dialect. The two are almost incompatible, as though the broader Italian language cannot comprehend or express such a distinctly Milanese matter. The rage and fear of the famine in Milan is a local issue which requires a local dialect to express properly.

“You can tell as clear as day that the King and the rulers want the bad guys to be punished, but nothing gets done because there’s a league of powerful men.”

Renzo’s analysis of the power structure of his society is not false, but it is shallow. His analysis is informed by his recent experiences, in which he has been wronged by one of the “powerful men” (234) who he blames for corruption. Renzo is naïve enough, however, to still believe in the true rulers of the state as being moral and incorrupt men. They are as fallible as everyone else, yet Renzo feels the need to invest some form of trust and validity in the overarching justice system, otherwise he might never find justice for himself. He needs to believe that those truly in charge are moral, lest the entire institution of governance is as corrupt as Don Rodrigo.

“We’re just doing our job. It’s uncomfortable, I know.”

The men who arrest Renzo try to placate him with hollow words. They claim that they are just doing their jobs, words which seem calculated to offend the man who has been forced to flee his hometown. They present themselves as little more than bravi, even if they are backed by the justice system. They are tools of the powerful, weapons which are wielded uncaringly against innocent men like Renzo.

“My boy, if you can’t take being called a blockhead, you’d better not count on living here.”

Renzo has walked from his hometown to Milan to Bergamo. In spite of these relatively short distances, he has crossed cultural and political borders. In Bergamo, he is an outsider, and he faces prejudices. The geographic difference may seem small enough to be walkable, but the true differences between Renzo’s old town and his new abode is revealed in the insulting way that he is treated in Bergamo. He has been driven into exile by the actions of Don Rodrigo.

“The name ‘Tramaglino’ was now a curse, a shame, a crime.”

In another example of the unfair way in which Renzo has been punished, his reputation has been sullied. His family name is now only associated with shame and crime, even though Renzo has acted honorably throughout. The malicious way in which rumors can spread—and in which they can be purposefully spread by the powerful and corrupt—illustrates the impossible job that lays ahead of Renzo in clearing his name. He is dealing with forces far beyond his control, as he loses his love, his hometown, and his reputation through no fault of his own.

“He wants a favor.”

In contrast to the plight of Renzo, Don Rodrigo can achieve what he wants through his family connections. Count Attilio visits the Count, who is friends with the Father Provincial. As the Count speaks to the Father Provincial, the Father Provincial quickly discerns that the Count “wants a favor” (314). They negotiate quickly over a lavish dinner, whereupon the order is issued for Fra Cristoforo to be sent to Rimini. Renzo flees across the country in desperate pursuit of anyone who will help him, while his enemies rely on corruption and nepotism to achieve their nefarious goals.

“She was no longer his prisoner, or a supplicant, but his guide, dispensing grace and consolation.”

Lucia’s goodness is such that even a tyrannical figure like the Nameless One feels overwhelmed. After a lifetime of violence and cruelty, he feels compelled to redeem himself after meeting Lucia. Her effect on him is evident but, importantly, his doubts exist before Lucia makes her vow. Lucia’s goodness, rather than divine intervention, is the key to the redemption of the Nameless One.

“I wish I had married them! What could be worse than this?”

Don Abbondio lives relentlessly and anxiously in the moment. Every imminent threat to his life is the most important threat he has ever received. He reacts to the presence of the bravi just as he did when meeting the earlier bravi; he has no fixed morals or convictions, only fear and a desire to do whatever is necessary to escape his current predicament.

“The order, the system of rule he had established so carefully within his realm for many years, through a unique combination of audacity and perseverance, he himself had now undermined with just a few words.”

The Nameless One renounces his old ways and dismisses his bravi. He will no longer use cruelty and violence as he once did. In the context of the novel, this conversion is evidence that seemingly indominable and constant structures of power can be dismantled with speed. The corrupt institutions that seem to govern life on the Italian peninsula may seem permanent and invincible, but they only need for those involved to recognize the goodness of God. Through religion, the novel suggests, even the most violent and cruelest structures can be broken down.

“It’s hard to be brave when you’re not.”

Cardinal Borromeo criticizes Don Abbondio for not performing his duties as a priest. The death threats that he received, the Cardinal says, are exactly why Don Abbondio should have performed the ceremony. Don Abbondio, in typical manner, makes excuses for himself. This time, however, the excuses are at least internal. He recognizes himself as a coward, rather than blaming outside forces for his behavior. Don Abbondio is not completely reformed, but he is at least able to give voice to his own flaws.

“I mustn’t think about that poor boy any more.”

Lucia comes to terms with the consequences of her vow in a painful fashion. She loves Renzo deeply, but she feels obliged to maintain her vow of chastity because she is now free. This new reality is so painful to Lucia that she cannot even bring herself to say Renzo’s name. Instead, she repeatedly refers to him as that “poor boy” (345), creating an emotional distance between herself and her former fiancé by refusing to speak his name aloud.

“Do you want to leave me here to be martyred?”

Don Abbondio guilts Perpetua into following his instructions by describing to her the ways in which he could be killed. In doing so, however, he reveals that he may not have learned his lesson from the Cardinal. Whereas the Cardinal spoke of the importance of sacrifice, particularly in the face of danger, Don Abbondio still regards the prospect of martyrdom with fear and anxiety. He will not stand up and protect the villagers from the marauding army; his first thought remains himself.

“Foreigners, easily identified by their unusual dress, were suspected simply because they were foreign, and subjected to citizen’s arrests on the streets and taken to the police.”

The people of Milan are swept up in a panic caused by the plague. Without any definitive knowledge of what is happening to them, they turn to xenophobia. Foreigners face persecution at the hands of the locals; they are blamed for the plague without evidence, as their persecution is easier and more satisfying than knowing nothing, especially in front of a baying crowd. Foreigners, lacking the institutional support and knowledge of the locals, are easy targets for panicked, scared people.

“The fervent belief in anointers made their discovery inevitable.”

The conspiracy of the anointers is based on nothing, but they spread through Milan due to the fear and suspicion of a city in which all law and order is on the verge of collapse. People are panicked and in desperate need of an explanation. The rumor of the anointers leads, inevitably, to anointers being discovered. The rumor is a self-fulfilling prophecy, preying on the lack of knowledge of the plague in the people’s minds. The mix of rumor, action, and false accusation creates a cycle of terror in which everyone is baselessly accused of being part of a conspiracy which does not exist.

“The few people who had recovered from the plague were like a privileged class among the rest of the population.”

The traditional structures of the society have been broken down by the plague. Whereas material wealth once created class stratification, the collapse in law and order removes the reliance on abstract ideas about money and finance. Instead, wealth is measured in survival. The survivors of the plague possess a vivacity and an immunity which cannot be bought or paid for. They have the most valuable commodity in a plague time: a future.

“Perhaps both this man’s salvation and your own depend on your capacity for forgiveness, for compassion…for love!”

After being criticized by Fra Cristoforo, Renzo discovers a new burden to bear. He sees the dying Don Rodrigo, the man who has ruined his life, and he is encouraged to forgive him. Renzo is not only charged with saving his own soul, Fra Cristoforo suggests, as Don Rodrigo’s salvation may also depend on Renzo’s forgiveness. To forgive such a man, the priest suggests, would be a true act of benevolence and signal that Renzo is a good person.

“He found a bigger house, which misfortune had made easy and inexpensive.”

Renzo’s journey is such that even his good fortune is mired by misfortune. With his money, he is able to buy a large house in which he can finally live with Lucia. The size of the house and the low cost, however, serve as a reminder of everything that has been lost. So many have been killed by the plague that their houses now stand empty, with few people to challenge Renzo’s purchase.