In The Changeling, Middleton and Rowley assume a harshly critical tone that emphasizes, and ultimately punishes, the moral transgressions of the play’s characters. The principal target of the play’s critical style is Beatrice, who represents the lust, depravity, and moral weakness that are, throughout the play, associated with women. Unlike other tragic characters who lose their innocence throughout the course of the narrative, Beatrice is depicted in a pointedly unsympathetic manner from the very beginning of the play. She is needlessly cruel to De Flores and immediately plans to betray her fiancé upon meeting Alsemero. By the final act of the play, she has betrayed friend and foe alike in pursuit of her selfish goals. Suspicious of even her close friend and waiting-woman Diaphanta, Beatrice states:
One struck, and yet she lies by’t – oh my fears!
This strumpet serves her own ends, ’tis apparent now,
Devours the pleasure with a greedy appetite
And never minds my honour or my peace,
Makes havoc of my right; but she pays dearly for’t:
No trusting of her life with such a secret,
That cannot rule her blood to keep her promise.
Beside, I have some suspicion of her faith to me
Because I was suspected of my lord,
And it must come from her.
In this speech, the deep flaws in Beatrice’s personality are on full display. She accuses Diaphanta of greed, lust, and untrustworthiness—all qualities that she herself represents. Though it was her own idea for Diaphanta to take her place on her wedding night, she nevertheless falls quickly into suspicion of her ally, and within just a few lines resolves to plan her murder. The harshly negative depiction of Beatrice contributes significantly to the play’s harsh, critical tone. For Middleton and Rowley, Beatrice represents the flaws of women, the upper class, and also Catholics, who are depicted throughout the play as hypocritically pious, superstitious, and irrational.
