Orbecche

Last updated

Orbecche is a tragedy written by Giovanni Battista Giraldi in 1541. It was the first modern tragedy written on classical principles, [1] and along with Sperone Speroni's Canace , was responsible for a sixteenth-century theoretical debate on theater, especially with regards to decorum.

Contents

It was produced in Ferrara in 1541, with incidental music composed by Alfonso della Vivuola and sets by the painter Girolamo da Carpi. Ercole II d'Este was present at the premiere, which took place at the playwright's house. The play was printed in 1543, with several additions for the reader's benefit.

Though the play followed Aristotelian principles in terms of structure, thematically it was Senecan, featuring vengeance, rage, hate, and the depiction of violence.

Plot

The main character, Orbecche, is the daughter of the Persian king Sulmone. She is the mother of two children and the wife of Oronte, whom she married very young, unbeknownst to her father.

Sulmone only discovers the existence of the secret marriage and the children many years later, the day he decides to give Orbecche's hand in marriage to another prince. The discovery of the "betrayal" of his daughter, who has acted against his paternal authority, wounds his pride. The king's terrible revenge has as its goal the restoration of his lost majesty and the legitimacy of the state. This revenge is the prime mover of the action and provokes the catastrophe in the story.

At the beginning of the play, a short prologue informs the spectators of the existence of an ulterior hubris, referring back to an event from Orbecche's infancy: as a child she was indirectly responsible for the murder of her mother and brother.

Orbecche and Sulmone are characters moved by opposing values: the first, by freedom to feel real emotions (love above all); the second by the good of the state and the social order.

Sulmone devises a plan of pitiless revenge: he pretends to pardon Orbecche and to accept that what's done is done (the marriage and heirs) with the goal of pulling the children to him. He invites over his daughter and her family and announces to Oronte his intention of making him heir to the throne. It's a cruel trick; shortly after he has him arrested and condemned to death for treason. Oronte is brought to the castle dungeon, where Sulmone cuts off his hands and then kills both his children in front of his eyes, then kills him.

The king's violence continues with his desecration of the corpses, then his revenge turns against Orbecche. She too is the victim of a trick: he shows her affection and presents her a "wedding gift", a mysterious "surprise". It is the corpses of her children with the head of her husband on a silver platter, covered by a cloth that she herself is invited to lift, to discover "the truth" for herself.

Orbecche, confronted by this, is devastated by desperation, but in her turn decides to take her revenge using the same method, that is, betrayal. She is able to regain her father's trust and pretends to reconcile with him, taking advantage of the situation (an affectionate embrace between the two) to stab him.

Orbecche assumes power at the death of the king, according to the laws of the state. Now, however, she is alone in the world, after the extermination of her family. Her pain is unbearable and, with her act of violence, she feels that she has betrayed herself or rather all the values that her character represents. With no more identity, and desiring no longer to hold on to a life with no sense, the queen commits suicide.

One last suicide closes the tragedy: that of Orbecche's nurse. The woman who nursed her as a child is the first important character to appear in the play, and the last. The nurse is forced to witness the death of Orbecche in the last scene, in which the mood is of struggling affection, as in the beginning. Such symmetry in the plot completes the darkness of the tragedy.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medea</span> Daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis in Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Medea is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, appearing in Hesiod's Theogony around 700 BCE, but is best known from Euripides's tragedy Medea and Apollonius of Rhodes's epic Argonautica. Medea is known in most stories as a sorceress, but also as a witch, and is often depicted as a priestess of the goddess Hecate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury</span> English noblewoman, courtier and peeress

Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury, was the only surviving daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, a brother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III, by his wife Isabel Neville. As a result of her marriage to Richard Pole, she was also known as Margaret Pole. One of the few members of the House of Plantagenet to have survived the Wars of the Roses, she was executed in 1541 at the command of King Henry VIII, the second monarch of the House of Tudor, who was the son of her first cousin, Elizabeth of York. Pope Leo XIII beatified her as a martyr for the Catholic Church on 29 December 1886. One of her sons, Reginald Pole, was the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oenone (nymph)</span> Nymph of Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Oenone was the first wife of Paris of Troy, whom he abandoned for Helen. Oenone was also the ancient name of an island, which was later named after Aegina, daughter of the river god Asopus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giovanni Battista Giraldi</span> Italian novelist and poet

Giovanni Battista Giraldi was an Italian novelist and poet. He appended the nickname Cinthio to his name and is commonly referred to by that name.

<i>The Mists of Avalon</i> 1983 novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Mists of Avalon is a 1983 historical fantasy novel by American writer Marion Zimmer Bradley, in which the author relates the Arthurian legends from the perspective of the female characters. The book follows the trajectory of Morgaine, a priestess fighting to save her Celtic religion in a country where Christianity threatens to destroy the pagan way of life. The epic is focused on the lives of Morgaine, Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere), Viviane, Morgause, Igraine and other women of the Arthurian legend.

<i>The Second Maidens Tragedy</i> Play probably by Thomas Middleton, sometimes (less probably) attributed to Shakespeare

The Second Maiden's Tragedy is a Jacobean play that survives only in manuscript. It was written in 1611, and performed in the same year by the King's Men. The manuscript was acquired, but never printed, by the publisher Humphrey Moseley after the closure of the theatres in 1642. In 1807, the manuscript was acquired by the British Museum. Victorian poet and critic, Algernon Swinburne, was the first to attribute this work to Thomas Middleton; this judgement has since been joined by most editors and scholars. The play has received few modern revivals. It was the opening production at the newly refurbished Hackney Empire studio in 2006 starring Alexander Fiske-Harrison and Jos Vantyler.

Revenge tragedy is a theatrical genre, in which the principal theme is revenge and revenge's fatal consequences. Formally established by American educator Ashley H. Thorndike in his 1902 article "The Relations of Hamlet to Contemporary Revenge Plays," a revenge tragedy documents the progress of the protagonist's revenge plot and often leads to the demise of both the murderers and the avenger himself.

<i>The Revengers Tragedy</i>

The Revenger's Tragedy is an English-language Jacobean revenge tragedy which was performed in 1606, and published in 1607 by George Eld. It was long attributed to Cyril Tourneur, but "The consensus candidate for authorship of The Revenger’s Tragedy at present is Thomas Middleton, although this is a knotty issue that is far from settled."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gruoch</span> Queen of Scotland from 1040 to 1057

Gruoch ingen Boite was a Scottish queen, the daughter of Boite mac Cináeda, son of Cináed II. She is most famous for being the wife and queen of MacBethad mac Findlaích (Macbeth), as well as being the inspiration behind Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare's Macbeth. The dates of her life are uncertain.

<i>Alls Lost by Lust</i>

All's Lost by Lust is a Jacobean tragedy by William Rowley. A "tragedy of remarkable frankness and effectiveness," "crude and fierce," it was written between 1618 and 1620.

<i>The Maids Tragedy</i> Play by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher

The Maid's Tragedy is a play by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. It was first published in 1619.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paolo Giordano I Orsini</span>

Paolo Giordano Orsini was an Italian nobleman, and the first duke of Bracciano from 1560. He was a member of the Roman family of the Orsini.

The Broken Heart is a Caroline era tragedy written by John Ford, and first published in 1633. "The play has long vied with 'Tis Pity She's a Whore as Ford's greatest work...the supreme reach of his genius...." The date of the play's authorship is uncertain, and is generally placed in the 1625–32 period by scholars. The title page of the first edition states that the play was acted by the King's Men at the Blackfriars Theatre. The text is preceded by the motto "Fide Honor," an anagram for "John Forde," which Ford employs in other of his plays as well. The volume was dedicated to William Lord Craven, Baron of Hampsteed-Marshall.

<i>Mar de amor</i> Mexican TV series or program

Mar de amor is a Spanish-language Mexican telenovela produced by Nathalie Lartilleux for Televisa in 2009. This is a remake of 1978 Venezuelan soap opera María del Mar.

<i>Medea</i> (Seneca) Roman tragic play

Medea is a fabula crepidata of about 1027 lines of verse written by Seneca the Younger. It is generally considered to be the strongest of his earlier plays. It was written around 50 CE. The play is about the vengeance of Medea against her betraying husband Jason and King Creon. The leading role, Medea, delivers over half of the play's lines. Medea addresses many themes, one being that the title character represents "payment" for humans' transgression of natural laws. She was sent by the gods to punish Jason for his sins. Another theme is her powerful voice that cannot be silenced, not even by King Creon.

<i>Märchen</i> (album) 2010 studio album by Sound Horizon

Märchen is the seventh story CD, released by the fantasy symphonic rock band Sound Horizon on December 15, 2010 through King Records. The normal edition debuted No. 3 and peaked No. 2 on the Oricon weekly album charts. While the Limited edition sold over 40,000 copies in the first two days, 24,816 copies on the first day, 15,833 copies on the next.

Anjo Mau is a remake of the original 1976 Brazilian telenovela that was produced and broadcast by TV Globo between September 8, 1997, and March 27, 1998. It was produced in 173 chapters.

<i>Mera Saaein</i> Pakistani TV series

Mera Saaein is a Pakistani political drama aired on ARY Digital. It was directed by Babar Javed, produced by A & B Entertainment and written by Samira Fazal. The serial features Nauman Ijaz, Savera Nadeem, Aamina Sheikh, Beenish Chohan and Sunita Marshall in leading roles. Mera Saaein is one of the most commercially successful programs of the year it was released and was followed by a sequel next year. However, critics also called it as "misogynistic".

<i>Erofili</i>

Erofili, also spelled as Erophile, is the most famous and often performed tragedy of the Cretan theater. It was written around 1600 in Rethymno in Crete by Georgios Chortatzis and first published in 1637 in Venice, probably after Chortatzis' death.

<i>Hercules Oetaeus</i>

Hercules Oetaeus is a fabula crepidata of c. 1996 lines of verse which survived as one of Lucius Annaeus Seneca's tragedies. It tells the story of Hercules' betrayal by his jealous wife, Deianira, followed by his death and apotheosis. The general opinion is that the play is not Seneca's, but was written in close imitation.

References

  1. "Orbecche | work by Giraldi".