Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Changeling, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Appearance vs. Reality
Passion, Sanity, and Identity
Transaction and Commodification
Destiny vs. Agency
Summary
Analysis
While he wanders the streets of Alicante, Alsemero reflects that he keeps seeing a beautiful woman named Beatrice Joanna in temples and churches. This makes sense to Alsemero, as Beatrice seems almost holy to him; in fact, he hopes that one day he can marry her in a church much like the one they first met in. Alsemero’s friend Jasperino interrupts his reverie to inform him that the winds are good enough for their merchant ship to set sail. Alsemero, wanting to linger in Alicante with Beatrice, insists that he is not ready to leave yet. This confuses Jasperino—normally, Alsemero is determined to always catch the best wind.
Even from the very first scene, sexual desire destabilizes identity. As Jasperino’s comments make clear, Alsemero has long been defined by his work ethic, but now, he impulsively decides to prioritize Beatrice above all else. The fact that this doomed love begins in—and is compared to—an ornate Catholic church bolsters the authors’ critique of Catholicism; the very thing that Alsemero holds up as holy will eventually be revealed as profane.
Themes
Literary Devices
Beatrice enters with Diaphanta, her lady-in-waiting. Alsemero bows to Beatrice, kissing her hand, and Jasperino realizes what is happening: Alsemero has a crush. Nothing like this has ever happened before, yet Alsemero’s suave mannerisms impress Jasperino. Beatrice and Alsemero flirt, and Alsemero tells Beatrice that he loves her dearly.
The contrast between Alsemero’s physical flirtation and Jasperino’s rational commentary gives physical life to the idea that sexual passion clouds judgment. Importantly, there are two kinds of hierarchies on display here: Beatrice and Alsemero rank more highly than Jasperino and Diaphanta on the level of class, but on the level of romance, even wealthy Alsemero finds himself bowing to Beatrice, because his desire makes him vulnerable to her.
Themes
Beatrice warns Alsemero not to be too hasty in his judgment of her. Though Alsemero has admired her with his eyes, Beatrice knows that eyes “are rash sometimes, and tell us wonders of common things.” But Alsemero’s mind is made up: all he wants now is to marry Beatrice. In an aside, Beatrice muses that Alsemero seems destined for her (“this was the man was meant for me”)—but that he is five days too late in asking for her hand.
In this vital passage, Beatrice introduces the story’s central symbol: eyes, which take in physical beauty, but which are also capable of “rash” mistakes. It is an ironic piece of foreshadowing that Beatrice, the show’s most dishonest character, speaks so directly about the unreliability of appearances; by the end of the play, she will have embodied this lesson for Alsemero. Crucially, the device of the dramatic aside, in which a character speaks directly to the audience (without being heard by the other people onstage), allows audiences to see the gap between external appearance and internal thought.
Themes
Literary Devices
DeFlores, one of Beatrice’s father’s servants, interrupts this flirtation. DeFlores announces that Beatrice’s father is coming soon. Beatrice replies that there was no need for DeFlores to make such a proclamation, and she chides him for his “unnecessary blabbing.” DeFlores laments in an aside that though Beatrice is always cruel to him, he remains intensely attracted to her. DeFlores resolves to see Beatrice at any opportunity, no matter how much she bullies him.
Passion is often thought as romantic, but Beatrice’s instinctive distaste for DeFlores shows that hatred can be a form of irrational, intense passion, too. The fact that Beatrice and DeFlores are the two characters to rely most frequently on asides testifies to their shared deceitful nature.
Themes
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Alsemero, noticing Beatrice’s sudden sourness, asks her what is bothering her. Beatrice explains that just as some people find certain well-liked foods disgusting, she finds any time in DeFlores’s company to be revolting. Alsemero understands this logic, especially when Beatrice explains that DeFlores is a servant of her father’s; this makes Alsemero think DeFlores is overstepping his place in the social hierarchy.
Alsemero’s sympathy toward Beatrice’s inexplicable dislike of DeFlores is surprising—later, Alsemero will dismiss such feelings as lowly and unhelpful. But perhaps Alsemero’s willingness to deride DeFlores stems from the fact that DeFlores comes from a lower class—and in such a stratified society, that immediately makes him less worthy of respect to a nobleman like Alsemero.
Themes
Meanwhile, Jasperino flirts with Diaphanta, calling her a “wench” and kissing her on the mouth. He also makes some sexual jokes and teases Diaphanta that she turns him into a “mad wag.” The two discuss different ways of going to sleep—Diaphanta recommends a poppy tonic, whereas Jasperino alludes to sex as the fastest way to tame the “maddest blood.”
On the one hand, these comments allude several times to the idea that sexual desire can create insanity, or “madness”; on the other hand, Jasperino suggests that consummating that desire lessens it, returning people to sanity (a belief that many characters share). It is worth noting that while pre-marital sex is scandalizing for Beatrice, Jasperino seems to have no qualms about acting on his impulses.
Themes
Beatrice’s father Vermandero enters with his servants in tow. Beatrice quickly implores her father to bring Alsemero on a tour of his castle, explaining how kind Alsemero has been to her recently. Vermandero agrees, but first he wants to know what nationality Alsemero is, as he doesn’t want to accidentally reveal any of the palace’s layout to an enemy.
In this early scene, Vermandero feels that there is a clearly delineated line between those who would harm him (foreigners) and those who are his allies. By the end of the play, however, this clean line will be blurred.
Themes
Alsemero gives his name and explains that he, too, is from the region of Valencia. Vermandero quickly realizes that he used to be friends with Alsemero’s father, back when they were both teenagers. Vermandero recalls that Alsemero’s father was killed in a battle with “those rebellious Hollanders,” and Alsemero regrets that, due to a recent peace treaty, he has not been able to avenge his father’s death.
Alsemero is here referencing the Eighty Years’ War, a prolonged series of conflicts between the Catholic Spanish and the Protestant Dutch. Interestingly, Middleton and Rowley were both English Protestants, far more aligned with the Dutch than with the Spanish. By having Alsemero critique “those rebellious Hollanders,” therefore, Middleton and Rowley are actually creating distance between their protagonists and their audience; all of the hijinks that follow paint the Spaniards as a hot-headed, untrustworthy people. Rather than creating empathy with their central characters, therefore, Middleton and Rowley use drama to create bias and suspicion.
Themes
Vermandero switches gears, informing Beatrice that he has just seen Alonzo de Piracquo—the man he decided, five days ago, would be Beatrice’s future husband. Vermandero announces that Alonzo is eager to be married within the week, alarming Beatrice and dismaying Alsemero. Beatrice tries to stall by pleading that she is too attached to her virginity to part with it so quickly, but Vermandero is having none of it.
Already, Beatrice proves herself to be cunning and dishonest: though she claims to care about her virginity, she actually just wants to be with Alsemero. Moreover, Beatrice uses her claims to modesty to disguise her conniving schemes, a trick she will repeat throughout the play.
Themes
Literary Devices
Alsemero, deeply pained, makes an excuse to leave, but Vermandero insists that he must see the castle. Alsemero knows Vermandero is only trying to be kind, but he feels he cannot bear to be around Beatrice any more without wanting to marry her. Beatrice entreats Alsemero to stay long enough to attend her wedding, and Vermandero boasts about what a good match Alonzo de Piracquo will be.
Alsemero wants to remove himself from the situation while Beatrice hopes to find a way around the obstacles to her new love. This tension between the two characters—one honest and naïve, the other clever and manipulative—will quickly poison their romance..
Themes
Before the group can head back to Vermandero’s castle, Beatrice accidentally drops a glove on the ground. DeFlores picks it up for her, and Beatrice taunts him, telling him that no one asked him to pick up the glove. She then takes off her other glove and throws it at DeFlores, telling him to “draw thine own skin off with ‘em.” Everyone but DeFlores exits. Alone on stage, De Flores muses that he cannot stop loving Beatrice—and he vows that “if but to vex her, I’ll haunt her still; though I get nothing else, I’ll have my will.”
Beatrice’s comment about DeFlores’s skin is one of several hints that DeFlores is intended to have acne of some kind; in a society that places so much value on physical appearance, DeFlores’s poor complexion immediately marks him as undesirable and unimportant. While many of the characters speak in terms of destiny, DeFlores is adamant that “will” and persistence—not fate—are the real determinants of the future.
Themes
