Antonio Character Analysis in The Changeling

Antonio is one of Vermandero’s courtiers. Hoping to seduce Isabella, Antonio and his friend Pedro work together to disguise Antonio as the goofy fool “Tony.” But though Antonio quickly confesses his true identity to Isabella, she rejects him, instead dressing herself as a madman in order to prove that his feelings for her are only circumstantial. Like Franciscus, Antonio’s poorly timed absence from Vermandero’s court makes Tomazo de Piracquo suspect him of Alonzo de Piracquo’s murder. Antonio and Lollio frequently spar, resulting in many of the show’s most humorous scenes.

Antonio Quotes in The Changeling

The The Changeling quotes below are all either spoken by Antonio or refer to Antonio. 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:

LOLLIO: Tony; mark my question: how many fools and knaves are here? A fool before a knave, a fool behind a knave, between every two fools a knave; how many fools, how many knaves?

ANTONIO: I never learnt so far, cousin […].

LOLLIO: I’ll make him understand it easily; cousin, stand there […]. Master, stand you next the fool […]. Here’s my place; mark now, Tony, there a fool before a knave.

ANTONIO: That’s I, cousin.

LOLLIO: Here’s a fool behind a knave, that’s I, and between us two fools there is a knave, that’s my master; ‘tis but we three, that’s all.

Related Characters: Lollio (speaker), Antonio (speaker), Alibius

Page Number and Citation: 359

Explanation and Analysis:

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.

Related Characters: Tomazo de Piracquo (speaker), Alonzo de Piracquo (speaker), Antonio, Beatrice, Alsemero

Page Number and Citation: 366

Explanation and Analysis:

ISABELLA: Does love turn fool, run mad, and all at once?
Sirrah, here’s a madman, akin to the fool too,
A lunatic lover.

LOLLIO: No, no, not he I brought the letter from?

ISABELLA: Compare his inside with his out, and tell me.

Related Characters: Isabella (speaker), Lollio (speaker), Franciscus, Antonio

Page Number and Citation: 399

Explanation and Analysis:

ANTONIO: I’ll kick thee if again thou touch me,
Thou wild unshapen antic; I am no fool,
You bedlam!

ISABELLA: But you are, as sure as I am, mad.
Have I put on this habit of a frantic,
With love as full of fury, to beguile
The nimble eye of watchful jealousy,
And am I thus rewarded?
[Reveals herself.]

ANTONIO: Ha! Dearest beauty!

ISABELLA: No, I have no beauty now,
But what was in my garments.
You a quick-sighted lover? Come not near me!
Keep your caparisons, y’are aptly clad;
I came a feigner to return stark mad.

Related Characters: Isabella (speaker), Antonio (speaker), Franciscus

Page Number and Citation: 403

Explanation and Analysis:

ALSEMERO: Here’s beauty chang’d
To ugly whoredom; here, servant obedience
Changed to a master sin, imperious murder;
I, a suppos’d husband, chang’d embraces
With wantonness, but that was paid before;
Your change is come too, from an ignorant wrath
To a knowing friendship. Are there any more on’s?

ANTONIO: Yes, sir; I was chang’d too, from a little ass as I was to a great fool as I am […]

FRANCISCUS: I was chang’d from a little wit to be stark mad,
Always for the same purpose.

Related Characters: Franciscus (speaker), Antonio (speaker), Alsemero (speaker), Tomazo de Piracquo, DeFlores, Beatrice

Page Number and Citation: 419

Explanation and Analysis:

Antonio Character Timeline in The Changeling

The timeline below shows where the character Antonio appears in The Changeling. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Passion, Sanity, and Identity Theme Icon

Transaction and Commodification Theme Icon

...Pedro also gives Lollio some gold coins. Pedro explains that though the patient is named Antonio, he goes by Tony. While Antonio giggles and calls everyone “cousin,” Pedro explains that Antonio... (full context)

Lollio wittily jokes that he will make Antonio just like him, whether that means improving Antonio’s skills or decreasing his own mental capacity.... (full context)

For almost every question Lollio asks, Antonio has a clever answer, leading Lollio to remark that Antonio will be one of the... (full context)

When Lollio asks Antonio how many fools there are in this madhouse, Antonio replies that there are two: “thou... (full context)

...leaving Lollio to handle the fools; before he goes, Alibius reminds Lollio to watch Isabella. Antonio wants to see the madmen, jokingly wondering if they will bite him. Lollio announces that... (full context)

Lollio puts Franciscus back in his ward, and then summons Antonio to meet Isabella. Lollio explains that Antonio is gentler, though Isabella is confused why he... (full context)

As soon as Lollio leaves, Antonio reveals himself to be in full possession of his wits; he only pretended to be... (full context)

When Lollio gets back, Isabella hints at the fact that Antonio is less of a fool than he seems. Unfortunately, Lollio does not pick up on... (full context)

Isabella chastises Antonio for his scheme, telling him she preferred him as a fool, but Antonio persists. Suddenly,... (full context)

Several madmen now appear, some dressed as birds and some as beasts. Isabella explains to Antonio that the madmen often give in to their fantasies, making strange sounds and dancing like... (full context)

...“one fool may be better than another.” Isabella shoves him off, and Lollio begins quoting Antonio, revealing that he knows Antonio’s foolishness was a ruse. Like Antonio, Lollio wants to have... (full context)

...a crime. His attention immediately lands on two nobles who are missing from the palace: Antonio and Franciscus. Vermandero wants to get warrants to arrest both these men. Once he knows... (full context)

Now, Lollio summons Antonio, forcing him to dance and threatening him with the whip when he hesitates. Lollio and... (full context)

Upon spotting Antonio, Isabella praises his body with incoherent poetry. She tries to kiss him, and Antonio pushes... (full context)

Isabella exits as Lollio re-enters. But Antonio now no longer cares about maintaining his ruse; he warns Lollio that if he does... (full context)

Now, Lollio sets to work on a new scheme. He promises Antonio that Isabella actually loves him but is conflicted because there is another gentleman in disguise... (full context)

...to enlist Lollio in his courtship of Isabella. Lollio informs Franciscus that there is another man—Antonio—who has also faked his way into the madhouse in an attempt to sleep with Isabella.... (full context)

Alibius explains that Franciscus and Antonio, two of Vermandero’s nobles, have been hiding out (as Isabella discovered) in the madhouse. The... (full context)

Vermandero rushes in with Alibius, Isabella, Tomazo, Franciscus and Antonio. But before Vermandero can explain his theory of Franciscus and Antonio’s guilt, Alsemero reveals that... (full context)

Antonio and Franciscus chime in, noting that they, too, have been changed to fools and madmen... (full context)

The Changeling

Antonio Character Analysis

Antonio Quotes in The Changeling

Act 1, Scene 2 Quotes

Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes

Act 4, Scene 3 Quotes

Act 5, Scene 3 Quotes

Antonio Character Timeline in The Changeling