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Vermandero
Alonzo de Piracquo is the wealthy Valencian nobleman that Vermandero chooses to marry his daughter Beatrice. Though Beatrice finds Alonzo deeply unappealing, the play doesn’t depict him as particularly ugly or particularly charmless. Unfortunately, unlike his brother Tomazo, Alonzo is not perceptive: he fails to notice Beatrice’s distaste for him (even though Tomazo spots it immediately), and he expresses a great deal of trust and comfort with DeFlores, who later murders him. Before his death, therefore, Alonzo is emblematic of the way that love can turn people into “fools,” as his passion for Beatrice skews all his judgments.
Alonzo de Piracquo Quotes in The Changeling
The The Changeling quotes below are all either spoken by Alonzo de Piracquo or refer to Alonzo de Piracquo. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes
BEATRICE: Methinks I love now with the eyes of judgment
And see the way to merit, clearly see it.
A true deserver like a diamond sparkles,
In darkness you may see him, that’s in absence,
Which is the greatest darkness falls on love;
Ye he is best discern’d then
With intellectual eyesight.
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ALONZO: I should depart
An enemy, a dangerous, deadly one
To any but thyself, that should but think
She knew the meaning of inconstancy,
Much less the use practice; yet w’are friends.
Pray let no more be urg’d; I can endure
Much, till I meet an injury to her,
Then I am not myself. Farewell, sweet brother.
How much we are bound to heaven to depart lovingly.
Exit.
TOMAZO: Why, here is love's tame madness; thus a man
Quickly steals into his vexation.
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Act 3, Scene 3 Quotes
LOLLIO: This is easy, sir, I’ll warrant you: you have about you fools and madmen that can dance very well; and ‘tis no wonder, your best dancers are not the wisest men; the reason is, with often jumping they jolt their brains down into their feet, that their wits lie more in their heels than their heads […]
ISABELLA: Y’have a fine trade on’t,
Madmen and fools are a staple commodity.
ALIBIUS: O wife, we must eat, wear clothes, and live;
Just at the lawyer’s haven we arrive,
By madmen and fools we both do thrive.
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Act 3, Scene 4 Quotes
BEATRICE: Look you, sir, here’s three thousand golden florins:
I have not meanly thought upon thy merit.
DEFLORES: What, salary? Now you move me […]
Do you place me in the rank of verminous fellows,
To destroy things for wages? Offer gold?
The life blood of man! Is anything
Valued too precious for my recompense?
BEATRICE: I understand thee not.
DEFLORES: I could ha’ hir’d
A journeyman murder in this rate,
And mine own conscience might have slept at ease
And have had the work brought home.
BEATRICE [Aside]: I’m in a labyrinth;
What will content him? I would be rid of him.—
I’ll double the sum, sir.
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Act 4, Scene 1 Quotes
DIAPHANTA: Are you serious still? Would you resign
Your first night’s pleasure, and give money too?
BEATRICE: As willingly as live. [Aside.] Alas, the gold
Is but a by-bet to wedge in the honor […]
Y’are too quick, I fear, to be a maid.
DIAPHANTA: How? Not a maid? Nay, then you urge me, madam;
Your honorable self is not a truer
With all your fears upon you—
BEATRICE [Aside.]: Bad enough then.
DIAPHANTA: Than I with all my lightsome joys about me.
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Act 5, Scene 2 Quotes
TOMAZO: I cannot taste the benefits of life
With the same relish I was wont to do.
Man I grow weary of, and hold his fellowship
A treacherous bloody friendship; and because
I am ignorant in whom my wrath should settle,
I must think all men villains, and the next
I meet, whoe’er he be, the murderer
Of my most worthy brother. –Ha! Who’s he?
Enter DeFlores, passes over the stage.
O the fellow that some call honest DeFlores;
But methinks honesty was hard bested
To come there for a lodging, as if a queen
Should make her palace of a pest-house.
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Act 5, Scene 3 Quotes
ALSEMERO: I ask you, sir;
My wife’s behindhand with you, she tells me,
For a brave bloody blow you gave for her sake
Upon Piracquo.
DEFLORES: Upon? ‘Twas quite through him, sure;
Has she confess’d it?
ALSEMERO: As sure as death to both of you,
And much more than that.
DEFLORES: It could not be much more;
‘Twas but one thing, and that—she’s a whore.
ALSEMERO: It could not choose but follow. O cunning devils!
How should blind men know you from fair-fac’d saints?
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Alonzo de Piracquo Character Timeline in The Changeling
The timeline below shows where the character Alonzo de Piracquo appears in The Changeling. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1, Scene 1
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...
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...stay long enough to attend her wedding, and Vermandero boasts about what a good match Alonzo de Piracquo will be.
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Act 2, Scene 1
...sparkles.” But this new love for Alsemero only makes Beatrice resent her father’s commitment to Alonzo de Piracquo more.
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...even as Beatrice shouts at him to hurry up. Finally, DeFlores makes it clear that Alonzo de Piracquo (Beatrice’s fiancé) has arrived, with his brother Tomazo de Piracquo in tow. Beatrice...
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...that DeFlores is only a momentary distraction—the really terrifying thing is this impending marriage to Alonzo de Piracquo.
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Vermandero approaches with Alonzo and Tomazo. While Vermandero and Beatrice speak in a corner, Tomazo notices how much Beatrice...
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...married. Worse still, Tomazo predicts that Beatrice will give birth to other men’s children. But Alonzo will hear none of it, even telling Tomazo that he would attack most people for...
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Act 2, Scene 2
...Alsemero embrace, but Beatrice cannot enjoy this moment of contact, knowing that her marriage to Alonzo de Piracquo is just around the corner.
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Alsemero offers to challenge Alonzo to a duel, but Beatrice knows this will never work—Alsemero might be arrested or exiled...
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...listened to this entire conversation. DeFlores feels that if Beatrice is willing to transgress against Alonzo with Alsemero, she might be willing to commit other transgressions, maybe even with DeFlores himself.
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...is weighing on her. At last, Beatrice confesses that she does not want to marry Alonzo; if she were a man, she tells DeFlores, she would want to eliminate Alonzo entirely....
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Beatrice gives DeFlores gold, and in coded terms, she asks him to kill Alonzo. DeFlores agrees, prompting Beatrice to reflect that he now appears “lovely” to her. She urges...
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...his sexual fantasies of her. Before he can lose himself entirely in his imagination, however, Alonzo enters, asking DeFlores to show him the castle. DeFlores agrees to be Alonzo’s “servant” in...
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Act 3, Scene 1
As Alonzo enters a narrow hallway, DeFlores follows behind him, hiding a rapier in his clothes. He...
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Act 3, Scene 2
Now, DeFlores brings Alonzo to a vault in the castle, assuring him even greater sights are still to come....
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Act 3, Scene 4
...so quickly earned her father’s love and respect. DeFlores now enters, having just disposed of Alonzo’s body. Though DeFlores committed murder in cold blood, he feels no guilt. Instead, he can...
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...mine eyes; our sweet’st delights are ever born more weeping”). He then presents Beatrice with Alonzo’s diamond ring, still attached to Alonzo’s finger. Beatrice is horrified by this, though DeFlores does...
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...had been in it for the money, he would have hired someone else to kill Alonzo.
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Beatrice now regrets everything, confessing that she would rather have married Alonzo and suffered with him forever than ever hear DeFlores speak these words. But DeFlores keeps...
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Act 4, Scene 1
A dumb show reveals Vermandero learning, confusedly, of Alonzo’s flight; Vermandero then points to Alsemero, signifying that he will be a suitable husband for...
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Act 4, Scene 2
Having heard rumors that Alonzo de Piracquo was in fact murdered, Vermandero now tries to figure out who could be...
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...Tomazo feels that Beatrice’s sudden marriage to Alsemero is proof that Vermandero was conspiring against Alonzo. Vermandero reiterates his love for Alonzo, insisting that Alonzo must have just run off. Vermandero...
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...her name, Tomazo erupts, calling her “false” and “wicked.” Yet Tomazo likes DeFlores, largely because Alonzo used to speak highly of him. Unfortunately, DeFlores cannot stand to be in Tomazo’s company,...
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Act 5, Scene 1
...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...
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Act 5, Scene 2
...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,...
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...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...
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Act 5, Scene 3
Backed into a corner, Beatrice finally confesses: she asked DeFlores to murder Alonzo de Piracquo, hoping that that would clear the way for her marriage to Alsemero. Beatrice...
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...explains, noting that Beatrice began to love him out of gratitude for his murder of Alonzo. Still, DeFlores has no regrets—all he ever wanted was to have sex with Beatrice, and...
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