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Literary Devices
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Act 1, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Judas and Lucifer:
Vindice and Lussurioso allude to biblical figures associated with evil, including Judas and Lucifer, in their discussion of the licentious sexual behavior in the Italian court:
Vindice. Any kin now next to the rim o’th’ sister
Is man’s meat in these days, and in the morning,
When they are up and dressed and their mask on,
Who can perceive this – save that eternal eye
That sees through flesh and all?
Well, if anything be damned,
It will be twelve o’clock at night: that twelve
Will never ’scape; It is the Judas of the hours, wherein
Honest salutation is betrayed to sin.Lussurioso. In troth it is too, but let this talk glide.
It is our blood to err, though hell gaped loud.
Ladies know lucifer fell, yet still are proud!
A disguised Vindice appears in court to serve Lussurioso as a “panderer,” or a liaison between a sex worker and client, in order to get closer to the royal family in the pursuit of vengeance. When Lussurioso asks Vindice if he knows of any good examples of “strange lust,” Vindice brags of all the incestuous acts he has witnessed, noting that “in these days” men will have sex with any relative save his own sister. Feigning a sexual permissiveness that stands in stark contrast to his actual beliefs, Vindice adds that so many kinds of indecent acts take place under cover of night that “twelve o’clock” itself will be “damned” by God, rather than any individual, for enabling this illicit behavior. Midnight, he claims, is “the Judas of the hours,” an allusion that characterizes that time of night as a traitor of men’s souls, just as Judas betrays Jesus to the Romans in the Bible. Further, Lussurioso suggests that men are by their very nature incited to lust despite the threat of hell, much as women “are proud” despite that vice causing Lucifer’s fall from divine grace in Christian accounts.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Begot in Haste:
After a servant at court informs Spurio of his brother’s attempt to sexually solicit Castiza, Spurio alludes to the common early modern belief that the circumstances of an individual’s conception shape their later personality and destiny:
Spurio. Oh, but are you sure on’t?
Servant. My lord, most sure on’t, for ’twas spoke by one
That is most inward with the duke’s son’s lust:
That he intends within this hour to steal
Unto Hippolito’s sister, whose chaste life
The mother has corrupted for his use.Spurio. Sweet word, sweet occasion; ’faith then, brother:
I’ll disinherit you in as short time
As I was when I was begot in haste.
I’ll damn you at your pleasure; a precious deed
After your lust. Oh, ’twill be fine to bleed.
Come, let our passing out be soft and wary.
After Spurio asks the Servant to confirm the accuracy of his report, the Servant insists that someone very close to Lussurioso “intends within this hour to steal / Unto Hippolito’s sister.” Further, he notes that Gratiana has “corrupted” Castiza for Lussurioso’s sexual “use.” Spurio, the illegitimate son of the Duke, realizes that these circumstances might provide him with an opportunity to sabotage his “legitimate” brother. As he was “begot in haste,” so too does he aim to “disinherit” his brother “in as short a time.” Here, Spurio references the widespread belief through early modern Europe that an individual’s destiny is shaped by the conditions of their conception. A child conceived by drunk parents, so this logic goes, will produce an alcoholic child. By this same logic, Spurio feels that he is more cunning and quick-witted than his siblings, as he was born of a brief affair that was carefully hidden from others.
Related Themes:
Act 5, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—The Silver Age:
At the play’s conclusion, Vindice and Hippolotio, who orchestrated the slaughter that brought a violent end to the corrupt reign of the Duke, reflect upon the future of their nation. Vindice alludes to the Silver Age of Greek mythology as an expression of his feelings of optimism:
Antonio. It was a deadly hand that wounded him.
The rest, ambitious who should rule and sway,
After his death were so made all away.Vindice. My lord was unlikely.
Hippolito. Now, the hope
Of Italy lies in your reverend years.Vindice. Your hair will make the silver age again,
When there was fewer but more honest men.Antonio. The burden’s weighty and will press age down.
May I so rule that heaven may keep the crown.
Antonio, who has assumed leadership in the wake of the bloodbath at court, notes that the ambitious sons of the Duke who “should rule and sway” have been similarly killed, leaving a vacuum of power. To Hippoloto and Vindice, Antonio’s assumption of power marks a positive change, and Hippolito claims with enthusiasm that “the hope / Of Italy” now lies in Antonio. Complementing his brother’s optimism, Vindice notes that Antonio, whose hair is silver with age, will bring about a second “silver age” in Italy. Here, he makes an allusion to the Silver Age, one of the traditional subdivisions of human history in Greek mythology. In Greek myth, the Silver Age is a relatively prosperous and happy time for humans, marking Vindice's optimistic outlook. Antonio’s decision to execute Vindice and Hippolito for their involvement in the death of the Duke, however, reveals him to be another morally ambiguous character, calling the future of Italy under his rule into question.
