Don Abbondio: character analysis from The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni. Characteristics and description.Did your professor ask you to analyze the character of Don Abbondio in Alessandro Manzoni ‘s The Betrothed ? You’re in the right place! Below you will find a detailed analysis of one of the main characters of the work while here you can find the complete description .
CHARACTER ANALYSIS OF DON ABBONDIO
Here’s the track:
Analyze the character of Don Abbondio . The first character in the book “ The Betrothed ” is Don Abbondio , the curate of a small town on the shores of Lake Como. We see this character immediately enter the heart of the book with the encounter with the thugs who forbid him to celebrate the marriage between Lorenzo and Lucia.
The author takes this opportunity to begin describing Don Abbondio , it turns out that the curate was a big coward who did everything to avoid getting into trouble. For the same reason Don Abbondio had chosen to become a priest, in fact this choice had not been made after careful reflection but only because that profession guaranteed him adequate protection.
To describe this character, Manzoni uses a very convincing metaphor: “ Don Abbondio was like a clay pot, forced to travel with many iron pots”. The author does not look favorably on the curate who represents false spiritual power: in fact, he thinks of himself more than of the rights of his faithful: when there was a dispute in the village, he did not express any opinion and if he was forced to, he sided with the strongest. To further emphasize the character’s mistakes, the author always describes him negatively: “not noble, not rich, even less courageous”. However,
Don Abbondio always finds himself in very dangerous situations, such as the encounter with the thugs and the two adventures with Renzo. On all occasions, the curate tries to escape by avoiding danger, such as when he moved rocks from the road to make his path easier.
This character also appears to be very attached to material goods and at times, he is also a bit ignorant: at the beginning of the eighth chapter Don Abbondio is immersed in reading a book but is stuck on the name of a Greek philosopher that a man like him (a priest) should know. In the same chapter, when he is given some money, he starts checking it with extreme skill.
Manzoni therefore does not put the curate in a good light also because, if he had only had a little more courage he would have avoided all the adventures that the two betrothed will have to face.
