Summary
Analysis
Looking back on the events of the last few days, Alsemero resolves that “all we can do is comfort one another, to stay a brother’s sorrow for a brother.” In the face of all this death and betrayal, Alsemero thinks the only solution is to bring forth new bonds and families in the rooms of the dead; if these new lives appear, Alsemero hopes, “all griefs” will be “reconciled.”
All the play’s asides, disguises, and deceptions have torn the characters apart and severed relationships; both in form and content, The Changeling has shown how much each of its figures is out for themselves. But in this closing epilogue, a formal convention meant to help Jacobean audiences members know what moral to take away from a play, Alsemero links honesty to community and continuance. After all, if the world is untrustworthy and unstable, there is nothing to do but seek forgiveness for misconceptions and “reconcile” false beliefs.