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
It is now one in the morning, and Beatrice is still pacing the halls of the castle, waiting for Diaphanta (disguised as Beatrice) and Alsemero to finish their sexual encounter. Beatrice reflects that Diaphanta is clearly enjoying this too much—and she wonders if Diaphanta is to blame for Alsemero’s earlier suspicions. The clock strikes two, and Beatrice begins to panic even more.
Beatrice attributes her own scheming, conniving view of the world to Diaphanta—even though Diaphanta is actually more straightforward in her motivations. The sense that time is moving quickly (the clock strikes two only a few minutes after it strikes one) brings audiences into Beatrice’s frantic mental state.
Themes
Literary Devices
DeFlores arrives. Rather than consoling Beatrice, he agrees with her that Diaphanta is probably consumed with desire, and he faults Beatrice for this: “who’d trust a waiting-woman?” When Beatrice despairs, however, DeFlores vows to force Diaphanta and Alsemero apart by creating some sort of commotion. Specifically, DeFlores will start a fire in some part of the house, and Diaphanta will have to sneak away from Alsemero and back toward her usual chambers to avoid raising suspicion.
Though DeFlores is himself a member of the servant classes, his disdainful comment (“who’d trust a waiting-woman?”) draws a link between status and personal value. Interestingly, if DeFlores believes that individuals are defined by their “deeds,” then his continued devotion to Beatrice at all costs almost makes him a twisted version of a romantic hero—he is defining himself by his commitment to her.
Themes
Beatrice agrees that this a good plan. “I’m forced to love you now,” she confesses to DeFlores, “cause thou provid’st so carefully for my honor.” DeFlores reminds Beatrice that their fates are now completely intwined, and then he sets off to start the fire. As he walks off, he sees Alonzo’s ghost again—but DeFlores refuses to be deterred by this “mist of conscience.” For the first time, Beatrice, too, sees the ghost, which upsets her greatly.
Indeed, DeFlores’s selflessness toward Beatrice makes her fall in love with him in a different kind of way—one based not on physical appearance and passionate lust but on something slower and more considered. Strangely, then, Beatrice’s love for DeFlores emerges as some of the purest feeling in the entire show. The repeated presence of the ghost signals just how distorted Beatrice’s perception of reality has really become.
Themes
The clock strikes three, and cries of “fire!” begin to ring throughout the house. Beatrice, marveling at DeFlores’s speed, affirms her feelings of affection for him: “his face loathes one, but look upon his care, who would not love him? The east is not more beauteous than his service.” DeFlores reenters, dispatching various household servants to deal with the fire that he (unbeknownst to anyone but Beatrice) has caused.
Beatrice’s comparison of DeFlores’s face to the sun is perhaps an allusion to Romeo and Juliet, in which Romeo declares that the light in Juliet’s window is “the east, and Juliet is the sun.” By using language so similar to that in Shakespeare’s already-famous monologue, Middleton and Rowley might be signaling to their audiences that this new love is equally ill-fated.
Themes
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Diaphanta hurries in, apologizing to Beatrice for taking so long with Alsemero. Beatrice is curt with her, but she promises to give Diaphanta her reward later. Happily, Diaphanta returns to her chambers. A few moments later, Alsemero arrives, cooing to Beatrice that she is his “treasure” and that this fire is nothing to worry about. Vermandero and Jasperino also enter, lamenting the ongoing chaos.
The language of transaction is everywhere here: Beatrice promises to pay off Diaphanta even as Alsemero, wrongly assuming he has had sex with Beatrice, praises her as a material commodity (“treasure”).
Themes
DeFlores now passes by once more, carrying a “piece” (a handgun); when Vermandero wonders what the piece is for, DeFlores explains it is to scour the chimney. Vermandero and the others praise DeFlores for his quick thinking—meanwhile, down the hallway, the piece goes off.
Beatrice’s curt behavior toward Diaphanta, not to mention the clear sexual desire Alsemero felt toward the woman he has just had sex with, suggests that Beatrice’s lady-in-waiting has now become her enemy. Given DeFlores’s track record of disposing of Beatrice’s obstacles, his pistol can only spell trouble for Diaphanta.
Themes
Alsemero tries to coax Beatrice to bed, but she insists that she is too nervous about Diaphanta’s wellbeing to sleep, as the fire started in her chamber. When Vermandero asks why a fire would start in Diaphanta’s quarters, Beatrice explains that her lady-in-waiting is often “negligent” in such matters. Vermandero agrees, musing that “those sleepy sluts are dangerous in a house.”
In addition to playing into the very sexist stereotypes that have forced her to feign virginity, Beatrice’s dismissal of Diaphanta as “negligent” and promiscuous once more equates sexual passion with danger.
Themes
DeFlores re-enters; to himself, he mourns Diaphanta (“oh, poor virginity! Thou hast paid dearly for it”). DeFlores then announces to the group that the fire has burnt Diaphanta to a crisp. Beatrice starts to cry, but Alsemero tells her to cheer up, reminding her of the last embrace they shared in bed. This makes Beatrice stop crying immediately.
DeFlores’s sad aside, which confirms that he has in fact just murdered Diaphanta, also once more enters into the language of exchange. Not only is Diaphanta’s virginity a commodity, but her life can also be bought and “paid” for—just one more currency in DeFlores’s bid to win Beatrice’s love.
Themes
Beatrice instructs DeFlores to salvage Diaphanta’s remains for burial; she also tells Vermandero and Alsemero to pay DeFlores some additional money for spotting the fire and curbing its dangers. Both men agree to pay DeFlores generously for his service. But as the rest of the characters leave, DeFlores reflects that Beatrice’s focus on financial compensation is its own insult: “I see in all bouts of sport and wit, always a woman strives for the last hit.”
Again, DeFlores appears to be an obedient servant while he actually wreaks havoc and tells lies. Even though DeFlores struggles to break free of a commodified view of the world, Beatrice’s transparent focus on financial gain and exchange feels like a “hit”—especially because all DeFlores wants is Beatrice’s physical and emotional warmth.
Themes
