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
Now, DeFlores brings Alonzo to a vault in the castle, assuring him even greater sights are still to come. While Alonzo admires the castle’s store of ammunition, DeFlores draws his rapier, stabbing Alonzo several times. Alonzo cries out in pain, then dies. As Alonzo collapses, DeFlores notices a diamond ring on the dead man’s finger. DeFlores tries to pull the ring off, but it will not budge—so instead, he cuts the whole finger off and pockets it. DeFlores then prepares to haul the body away.
This diamond ring, now on Alonzo’s severed finger, is another important symbol in the play. By focusing on a shiny, inanimate jewel over the human being he has just killed, DeFlores embodies the cruelty and illogic of his society’s materialism. Tonally, this scene blends horror with comedy: seeing Alonzo die is meant to be horrific, but the absurdity of DeFlores’s desire for jewels is a kind of comic satire of consumerism.
Themes
