Character analysis of Adelchi, one of Alessandro Manzoni’s tragedies. Role and description of the protagonists.
The Adelchi by Alessandro Manzoni
The second tragedy composed by Manzoni is “Adelchi”, a work that tells the story of the defeat of Desiderio, Adelchi’s father, during the reign of Charlemagne.
Reality and fantasy merge in this tragedy, unlike what happens in the previous tragedy: “ Il conte di Carmagnola ”.
In this tragedy Adelchi dies during a fight against the Franks, while we know – thanks to authoritative sources – that in reality this did not happen, he did not die in the fight.
In this tragedy the author is interested in the vicissitudes of the weakest and most humble. The work features two Choruses:
- in the first Chorus the victorious descent of the Frankish people and the defeat of the Lombards is described;
- in the second Chorus the death of Ermengarda is described in which her spirit is finally freed and she can ascend towards heaven serene and tranquil, free from this earthly world.
Adelchi
The protagonist Adelchi has a particularly significant role especially from a psychological point of view, his character description is profound. He prefers concord and harmony to battles and conflicts and is submissive to his father’s decisions.
Wish
Another character present in the tragedy is represented by Desiderio, who can be considered as the opposite of the protagonist Adelchi because his personality is vengeful and he is thirsty for revenge against King Charlemagne.
Ermengarde
A purely positive character is instead the faithful and devoted wife of Charlemagne, Ermengarda, sister of the protagonist Adelchi and therefore daughter of the Lombard king Desiderio. She is animated by a faithful and devoted love towards her husband that will even lead her to delirium and finally to death.
Charlemagne
Charlemagne is instead the most negative character of the entire literary work: he is a person who tries to achieve his goals through struggle, war and fighting. In order to conquer and fight he pushes away his wife Ermengarda who instead is so in love with him that she is happy to die like his wife. The work ends with the death of the protagonist Adelchi who, despite everything, dies forgiving his “enemy” Charlemagne and getting closer to religion and faith.
