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The Duchess of Padua

Oscar Wilde

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   Though I have long since read Wilde's major plays, there were still two remaining, plus one fragment that has never been completed or performed. And though Wilde eventually did become known for his mostly comic plays, the dialogue often described as "sparkling wit," this, his second play, performed in 1883, and which ran for only three weeks, was a failure. His first play only ran for one week, so there at least was an improvement. In 1892, he switched from tragedy to comedy and Lady Windermere's Fan became his first success, earning him a nice income.
   Oscar Wilde, born in 1854 in Dublin, along with being known for his wit, is sadly also known for his tragic end. Convicted of homosexual acts, which were against the law in England at the time, he was jailed from 1895 to 1897. These two years did him in, and he died at the way-too-early age of 46, in 1900, a broken man. When one reads his life story, the tragedy becomes deeper, and one wonders how such a beloved public figure could have allowed himself to become so obsessed with such a worthless and fickle little shit as Lord Alfred Douglas. I hope that somewhere, in a different reality or different dimension, Wilde lived to a ripe old age and died happy and loved, and was able to gift the world with many more volumes of his superb works. And that Lord Alfred spent his deserved time in jail.
   But as for this play, well, I didn't think it too bad, and enjoyed reading it, though seeing it on stage might not have been that great. The plot is very simple, and judging by the estimated performance time for each act, it probably was a dull stage production. It is in five acts which supposedly average about thirty minutes each. It is set in the latter half of the sixteenth century.
   This will be an uncommonly short review for me, because the action can be conveyed in a few short paragraphs. And as usual, I will not give away the ending which, really, was a surprise. Wilde did not provide a clue as to how he would conclude this tragic love story. I also wondered if it had some historical basis, but apparently it did not. According to Wikipedia, Wilde's inspiration may have come from two plays by the French author, Victor Hugo: Lucrezia Borgia, and Angelo, Tyrant of Padua. Wilde's Duke certainly was a tyrant.
   The play begins as two young men, best friends in fact, Guido Ferranti and Ascanio Cristofano, enter Padua, Italy. Guido has been summoned there by a mysterious man who claims to have known his father. Up to this point, Guido knows nothing about his family, and was raised by a farmer, Pedro, whom he had always believed was his uncle. He finds out when he receives the letter that this is not true, and is bidden to travel to Padua to learn the truth of his birth.
   But as the two have been waiting, and the mysterious man has not made an appearance, they think it was all for naught. Suddenly, however, there he is. His name is Moranzone, and he was a faithful friend of Guido's father, who was a noble man of wealth and importance. He tells Guido he must speak to him alone, so Ascanio steps away. And what Moranzone has to say is very disturbing. He tells how Guido's good father, during a war, was taken through treachery by one he trusted, then sold and executed on the scaffold. Guido's pregnant mother, upon hearing the news, delivered prematurely, then died. Moranzone had the man-child secretly taken to Pedro, and did not breathe a word to anyone that an heir had been born. The purpose of this meeting is revenge because the man who sold Guido's father is still alive. In fact, he is the Duke of Padua. Moranzone has a plan for Guido to murder him. But for now, he sets Guido up in the Duke's court without revealing his identity. The story then moves ahead in time.
   Guido has now become a trusted member of the household. But something else diverts his memory from his upcoming task. And that is the Duchess, who appears to be kind and loving and compassionate towards the citizens of Padua. They are suffering through the evil behavior of the Duke, and have formed a crowd in front of the palace. The Duchess appears and stands in front of the people to stop the guards from shooting.
   She then appears before the Duke and Guido with some citizens so they may plead their case. The Duke refuses to take responsibility and his cruelty is revealed.

Duke
What are these grievances?
Duchess
Alas, my Lord,
Such common things as neither you nor I,
Nor any of these noble gentlemen,
Have ever need at all to think about;
They say the bread, the very bread they eat,
Is made of sorry chaff.
First Citizen
Ay! so it is,
Nothing but chaff.
Duke
And very good food too,
I give it to my horses.
Duchess [restraining herself]
They say the water,
Set in the public cisterns for their use,
[Has, through the breaking of the aqueduct,]
To stagnant pools and muddy puddles turned.
Duke
They should drink wine; water is quite unwholesome.
Second Citizen
Alack, your Grace, the taxes which the customs
Take at the city gate are grown so high
We cannot buy wine.
Duke
Then you should bless the taxes
Which make you temperate.
Duchess
Think, while we sit
In gorgeous pomp and state, gaunt poverty
Creeps through their sunless lanes, and with sharp knives
Cuts the warm throats of children stealthily
And no word said.
Third Citizen
Ay! marry, that is true,
My little son died yesternight from hunger;
He was but six years old; I am so poor,
I cannot bury him.
Duke
If you are poor,
Are you not blessed in that? Why, poverty
Is one of the Christian virtues,
Is it not?
I know, Lord Cardinal, you have great revenues,
Rich abbey-lands, and tithes, and large estates
For preaching voluntary poverty.
Duchess
Nay but, my lord the Duke, be generous;
While we sit here within a noble house
[With shaded porticoes against the sun,
And walls and roofs to keep the winter out], There are many citizens of Padua
Who in vile tenements live so full of holes,
That the chill rain, the snow, and the rude blast,
Are tenants also with them; others sleep
Under the arches of the public bridges
All through the autumn nights, till the wet mist
Stiffens their limbs, and fevers come, and so—
Duke
And so they go to Abraham's bosom, Madam.
They should thank me for sending them to Heaven,
If they are wretched here. [To the Cardinal.]
Is it not said
Somewhere in Holy Writ, that every man
Should be contented with that state of life
God calls him to? Why should I change their state,
Or meddle with an all-wise providence,
Which has apportioned that some men should starve,
And others surfeit? I did not make the world.

   The Duchess says she will order her almoner to divide a hundred ducats from her private purse to give to the peasants. The Duke then, mockingly, throws them some coins. Of course, after they leave, he rebukes the Duchess.
   It is after the Duke leaves that Guido declares his love. The Duchess, reluctantly also declares hers.
   But then Guido is presented with the dagger and message from Moranzone, as promised, that the time has come for him to take revenge. They meet, and Guido says that he will not kill the Duke. Moranzone is shocked, and tries to change his mind, to demand he carry out the plan of revenge. But Guido makes the argument that his father, a man of integrity and honor, would never creep into the Duke's chamber and murder him, so neither will he.

Guido
Upon thine honour,
And by the love thou bearest my father's name,
Dost thou think my father, that great gentleman,
That generous soldier, that most chivalrous lord,
Would have crept at night-time, like a common thief,
And stabbed an old man sleeping in his bed,
However he had wronged him: tell me that.

   Instead, he plans to leave the dagger and a letter by his bedside, revealing who he is, and then leave the palace for good. But something has gone terribly wrong. The Duke is already dead.
   And upon that event, I will leave you to wonder.
   Though this is not a great play, it's not a bad one either—an easy and entertaining read. You can read all my Oscar Wilde reviews on his Index Page.
   Below: some images of modern Padua. What a clean and lovely city it appears to be.
The Basilica of St. Giustina, facing the great piazza of Prato della Valle.
The Astronomical Clock as seen from Piazza dei Signori.

The Astronomical Clock

The Basilica of St. Giustina