Lex Diamonds
04-24-2007, 07:25 AM
Anyone know anything about it? I've gotta do some shitty essay on it and I'm all tired and bored with it. I was hoping to get it done in half an hour but I've been doing it for that long and this is all I got:
Is Flamineo a Vicious Manipulator or a Victim of Circumstance?
Flamineo is one of the most interesting characters in the play due to his multi-dimensional qualitites. Many of the other characters, such as Vittoria, are superficially deep yet do not really evoke emotion in the audience. With Flamineo we are encouraged to feel dislike and disgust, while at the same time exposed to the story of his unfortunate background and his desperate will to rise above his predetermined social status.
Early in the play Flamineo appears to be the classic Machiavellian villain. His plotting to commit murder, as well as the pimping out of his sister for financial gain, paint a picture of a clearly flawed and unlikeable individual. However, whilst his co-conspirators remain one-dimensional, show no remorse and meet with a well-deserved fate, Flamineo’s background and reasons for his actions almost justify his behaviour and gently encourage the audience to feel a degree of sympathy for him. By the end of the play when Flamineo does receive his comeuppance, it does not seem long overdue as perhaps it should but rather a darkly fitting end to a character tinged with catastrophe. There is no sense of the celebration of a pantomime villain being defeated (as could so easily have been the case) due to the multi-faceted presentation of his character.
Flamineo can also be viewed as the classic tragic hero, with his character flaws, coupled with his unfortunate background, forcing him to commit wrongdoings. It is true that his plotting against and murder of Camillo coupled with the nomination of his own sister as Bracciano’s lover are immoral and even evil, yet as we learn more about his character we begin to find that his actions are the result of a powerful longing to break the shackles of convention and make something of his relatively worthless life. In fact it is this desperation that leaves him open to the temptation of money and the subtle manipulative suggestion of Vittoria.
In my opinion it is possible to see Flamineo as both of these things throughout the play as he is the only character who truly develops. If there is a hero to this tragedy then he is most certainly it. Most of the characters in the play uphold their caricatured personalities throughout, for example Vittoria’s manipulative faux-innocence or Bracciano’s headstrong assurance, however from the beginning to the end of the play the audience’s perception of Flamineo is furthered and changed dramatically. Perhaps ‘vicious’ is too strong a word but his character does pass through a noticeable arc from vindictive schemer to tragic failure during the course of the story.
It only needs to be about a thousand words but if anyone has the play and wants to give me some quotes/ideas then I won't stop you.
Is Flamineo a Vicious Manipulator or a Victim of Circumstance?
Flamineo is one of the most interesting characters in the play due to his multi-dimensional qualitites. Many of the other characters, such as Vittoria, are superficially deep yet do not really evoke emotion in the audience. With Flamineo we are encouraged to feel dislike and disgust, while at the same time exposed to the story of his unfortunate background and his desperate will to rise above his predetermined social status.
Early in the play Flamineo appears to be the classic Machiavellian villain. His plotting to commit murder, as well as the pimping out of his sister for financial gain, paint a picture of a clearly flawed and unlikeable individual. However, whilst his co-conspirators remain one-dimensional, show no remorse and meet with a well-deserved fate, Flamineo’s background and reasons for his actions almost justify his behaviour and gently encourage the audience to feel a degree of sympathy for him. By the end of the play when Flamineo does receive his comeuppance, it does not seem long overdue as perhaps it should but rather a darkly fitting end to a character tinged with catastrophe. There is no sense of the celebration of a pantomime villain being defeated (as could so easily have been the case) due to the multi-faceted presentation of his character.
Flamineo can also be viewed as the classic tragic hero, with his character flaws, coupled with his unfortunate background, forcing him to commit wrongdoings. It is true that his plotting against and murder of Camillo coupled with the nomination of his own sister as Bracciano’s lover are immoral and even evil, yet as we learn more about his character we begin to find that his actions are the result of a powerful longing to break the shackles of convention and make something of his relatively worthless life. In fact it is this desperation that leaves him open to the temptation of money and the subtle manipulative suggestion of Vittoria.
In my opinion it is possible to see Flamineo as both of these things throughout the play as he is the only character who truly develops. If there is a hero to this tragedy then he is most certainly it. Most of the characters in the play uphold their caricatured personalities throughout, for example Vittoria’s manipulative faux-innocence or Bracciano’s headstrong assurance, however from the beginning to the end of the play the audience’s perception of Flamineo is furthered and changed dramatically. Perhaps ‘vicious’ is too strong a word but his character does pass through a noticeable arc from vindictive schemer to tragic failure during the course of the story.
It only needs to be about a thousand words but if anyone has the play and wants to give me some quotes/ideas then I won't stop you.