Don Rodrigo’s palace: analysis of chapter V of Manzoni’s The Betrothed and description of Don Rodrigo’s residence.
The small palace of Don Rodrigo described by Manzoni in The Betrothed is perched on the mountains surrounding Lake Como, but its exact location is unknown because the fictitious anonymous author of the manuscript found by Manzoni did not mention it. A “ clump of huts ” around the palace is inhabited by peasants who reflect the character of their master: severe and intolerant men, masculine and muscular women ready to use their strength even against people.
Don Rodrigo’s house has the appearance of a real fortress. In fact, the windows are small, with shutters ruined by time and enclosed by large iron bars. Two vultures nailed to the door leaves inspire fear as much as the silence of lunchtime that made the palace easily mistaken for ” an abandoned house “. The passage is divided into two parts based on the focalization. At the beginning, the focalization is zero because the omniscient narrator describes the palace and the village; subsequently the narrator identifies himself with the perspective of Friar Cristoforo who walks through the ” spiral street “. When he arrives in front of the palace, the friar finds a residence suitable for the character. It is in a dominant position over the surrounding villages, indicating the power the lord has over the villages below (the same power that Friar Cristoforo tries to curb, preventing Rodrigo from stopping the marriage between Renzo and Lucia). Furthermore, the palace inspires fear because the windows are equipped with “ large bars ”, the door is guarded by two bravos and two large vultures with their wings spread wide.
Don Rodrigo’s peasant village is defined as “the small capital of his small kingdom ” by virtue of the arrogance of the local lord who arbitrarily exercises his power over the fiefdom, the same one in which the novel’s protagonists live and who suffer his oppression. Manzoni cleverly uses the suffixes of alteration in this passage to highlight the wickedness of the antagonist. The altered names referred to him or his possessions are negative (” palazzotto, omacci, mound of huts “); while the diminutive ” paesello ” is contrasted with the ” mound of huts ” of Don Rodrigo’s peasants. It is almost as if Manzoni were making a stylistic separation between the good and the bad.
The author describes not only the village, but also its inhabitants, with the intention of highlighting their rudeness. Not men live there, but “ stocky and surly men ”; “ women with certain masculine faces ” and old men who gnash their gums. Even the children seem “ petulant and provocative ”. All, therefore, are influenced in a malignant way by the lord. Also in this case, there is a clear distance between the soul of the inhabitants of Renzo and Lucia’s village and the peasants of Don Rodrigo.
Brother Cristoforo perceives the feudal lord’s residence as an inaccessible fortress.
In fact, the description is full of words that refer to closure. On the facade there are “ scarce and small windows ” closed by “ large bars ” that make it impossible to observe the interior of the palace. Furthermore, the fortress is controlled by “ four creatures, two alive and two dead ”: two bravos and two vultures embedded in the entrance door. A parallel runs between the four “creatures”: the two birds are one on one door and the second on the other; while one man is on the bench on the right and the other on the one on the left. The connection does not stop at position, but they connect on a symbolic level: the two bravos are waiting for the leftovers from the master’s lunch, like vultures waiting for an animal to die before eating it. To create a more interesting structure with numerous narrative voices, Manzoni sometimes distances himself from the anonymous narrator; for example when he reproaches the writer of the manuscript for having remained silent about the name of the town where Don Rodrigo’s palace is located .
