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
Though the rest of the house has calmed down now that the fire has ceased, Tomazo de Piracquo remains in a frenzy; he still doesn’t know who killed his brother Alonzo, and this lack of knowledge is making him distrust everyone he encounters As Tomazo fumes, he spots DeFlores pacing the halls. But this time, Tomazo is less sure of DeFlores’s honesty. He wonders if DeFlores’s unattractive face signals that DeFlores is a liar. Tomazo also reflects that DeFlores is so repellent that he would have to throw out any sword that ever touched him.
The anxiety Tomazo expresses here reflects an important theme in the show: when some people are dishonest, The Changeling suggests, it makes every person and every occurrence seem suspect. Tomazo’s increasing understanding of what really happened to his brother is an important structural clue that Beatrice and DeFlores’s lie cannot last much longer; the overlapping deceptions must finally come to a head.
Themes
Literary Devices
DeFlores walks by again, and this time, Tomazo strikes him. DeFlores pulls out his sword, and Tomazo is willing to fight to the death—but DeFlores stops in his tracks. “I cannot strike,” DeFlores realizes, “I see his brother’s wounds flesh bleeding in his eye, as in a crystal.” Instead, DeFlores sheathes his sword, politely asking Tomazo why he is now angry, when yesterday Tomazo spoke so kindly to DeFlores.
In DeFlores’s reflective comments, eyes once more become key windows into interiority—though his language is more poetic, DeFlores is effectively saying here that he can see the pain he caused Tomazo every time he sees his own murder of Alonzo “in [Tomazo’s] eye.”
Themes
Tomazo explains that he no longer knows how to trust anyone: “all league with mankind I renounce,” he declares, “till I find this murderer.” Privately, DeFlores reflects that Tomazo’s instincts have revealed DeFlores to be the murderer, even if Tomazo himself does not logically understand this.
Repeatedly, the play has demonstrated how passion can be a destructive, deforming force. But now, Tomazo’s instinctual feelings—just as powerful and all-consuming as the desires and hatreds other characters have felt—actually point him in the direction of truth. Even as the play lays out the value of rationality, then, it also suggests that instinct and intuition can still be useful.
Themes
Vermandero walks in with Alibius and Isabella. Despite Tomazo’s angry words, Vermandero remains patient, telling Tomazo that he has an idea of who might have killed Alonzo. Vermandero explains that two of his nobles have snuck off; as soon as they are found, Vermandero plans to hand them over to Tomazo, who can take his revenge however he likes.
The fact that all the characters (including those from the more humorous madhouse subplot) have now gathered together is salient; it was a tradition in Jacobean drama for the full company to come together in Act Five, at which point all secrets could be revealed, and all characters either punished or forgiven. In that sense, then, this gathering feel like its own signal of destiny—Beatrice and DeFlores are about to face the full consequences of their treachery.
Themes
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Alibius explains that Franciscus and Antonio, two of Vermandero’s nobles, have been hiding out (as Isabella discovered) in the madhouse. The two nobles’ disappearance lines up with the timeline of the murder, which makes both Tomazo and Vermandero believe in their guilt. However, Antonio and Franciscus have now escaped to a nearby city. Tomazo vows to track them down, thanking Vermandero and Alibius for the “peace” they have brought him.
Just as facial features can lie, circumstances can also be misleading—though audiences understand why Antonio and Franciscus have actually gone missing (to pursue Isabella), knowing just the external facts leads Vermandero and Alibius down the wrong murder-solving path.
Themes
