A Coin in Nine Hands: Analysis of Major Characters
"A Coin in Nine Hands: Analysis of Major Characters" explores the complex interplay of ambition, despair, and moral conflict among a diverse cast of characters, each navigating their struggles against societal and personal challenges. Central to the narrative is Marcella Ardeati Sarte, a woman driven by a fervent desire to rebel against authoritarian figures like Mussolini, whose harshness reflects her deep-seated pain and mission. Her husband, Dr. Alessandro Sarte, symbolizes a failure to connect emotionally with those around him, caught up in his own social pretenses while neglecting both his wife's needs and his patients’ well-being.
Other characters, such as Ruggiero di Credo and his daughters Rosalia and Angiola, further illustrate themes of lost dreams and familial loyalty amid decay and betrayal. Rosalia embodies a sense of duty and sorrow, contrasting sharply with Angiola's reckless pursuit of love across social classes, which ultimately leads to disillusionment. Additionally, Lina Chiari's tragic arc as a prostitute facing terminal illness highlights the elusive nature of true love and hope, while figures like Giulio and Miss Jones represent the mundane struggles of everyday life, marked by disappointment and financial burdens.
Through these intertwined lives, the work delves into the broader societal issues of authority and rebellion, personal aspirations, and the often-painful realities of human relationships, making it a poignant reflection on the human condition.
A Coin in Nine Hands: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Marguerite Yourcenar
First published: Denier du rêve, 1934; rev. ed., 1959 (English translation, 1982)
Genre: Novel
Locale: Rome, Italy
Plot: Social realism
Time: 1933
Marcella Ardeati Sarte (mahr-CHEHL-lah ahr-DEHAHtee SAHR-teh), Dr. Alessandro Sarte's wife. She is separated from him and living with Massimo Iacofleff. She declares herself as realizing her vocation in her revolt against authority, law, and justice, as established by rulers such as Julius Caesar and Benito Mussolini. Marcella's true vocation is to feel allied to all those who are humiliated, oppressed, and committed to rebellion. She is demoniacally bound to her mission of assassinating Mussolini. Her harshness is in response to that dictator's authoritarian willfulness. Destruction fascinates Marcella, and Dr. Alessandro Sarte repeatedly sees her as a medusa or a vampire.
Dr. Alessandro Sarte, a famous surgeon and the husband of Marcella. He has failed in both of his functions, however, as he cannot heal Lina Chiari's breast cancer and he cannot understand his wife. The doctor hides behind the mask of social success and exploits his patients financially. He seems to be cold, hard, bitter, and distressed. He likes hunting for deer with royalty and driving beautiful sports cars to attract women. For him, all women are interchangeable. Dr. Sarte, who sees the film Sir Julius while sitting next to Angiola, makes love to her but despises her.
Ruggiero di Credo (rew-gee-EHR-oh dee KRAY-doh), the former Italian consul to Biscra. He married a vulgar Jewish Algerian woman, and they have two children, Rosalia and Angiola. His baroque domain of Gemera, in Sicily, which he inherited, is decaying. Faithful to the Bourbons, he disdained the dynasty of the Savoys; living in Sicily, he had no interest in the fall of papal Rome to the north. His hats resemble either halos or helmets. When he joins the army for four years, his wife betrays him. The splendor of Gemera remains but a dream for him and his family, and after it is destroyed, they leave for Rome, in the hope of exploiting his aristocratic ancestors and relatives. Life has stolen his dreams, but it is Ruggiero's constant misinterpretation of reality that leads to his isolation in an asylum, then death.
Rosalia di Credo, the uneducated daughter of Ruggiero di Credo who becomes a votive candle vendor in Rome. Rosalia remains devoted to the dream of her past, to Gemera, and to both her father and her sister, Angiola. Her own wishes are seldom granted, and her solitary destiny without love and happiness is her immediate reality. Rosalia and Angiola propose two opposed ways of understanding life. While Rosalia takes care of her father until she has to put him into an asylum, she continues to weep for all the sorrows of love, and she suffers for both her father and her sister. Her life is sustained by the hope that her sister will return to her, when, in fact, Angiola will destroy herself in many love affairs.
Angiola (ahn-gee-OH-lah), Rosalia's sister. Although educated in a fashionable school run by aristocratic nuns in Florence, Angiola takes lovers and marries men from all classes, from tailor to maharaja. She is unfaithful to all of them— even to her husband Paolo Farina, who pays the mortgage for Gemera until she leaves him.
Paolo Farina (pa-OH-loh fah-REE-nah), a young lawyer. He is married to Angiola, but she leaves him for another lover. Paolo then immediately hopes to possess Lina Chiari.
Lina Chiari (LEEN-ah kee-AH-ree), a prostitute. She soon realizes that true love cannot be bought. When Lina discovers that she has breast cancer, her future seems to be stripped of all hope. Her lipstick and artificial smile cover her despair.
Old Giulio Lovisi (jee-EW-lee-oh loh-VEE-see), the owner of a cosmetics store and a villa in Ostia. He is married to Giuseppa, and their daughter, Giovanna, is married to the writer Carlo Stevo, a socialist whom Giulio would like to “own.” Carlo disappears while in jail for crimes against the state. Giulio often lights votive candles and says his prayers in an incoherent and automatic way. He remains enslaved to money worries and family problems, and he realizes the irreversible decline of his feelings for his wife, whose corpulence, sour disposition, and many shortcomings can only worsen. When a wish is granted to Giulio, his agony of hoping is perpetuated.
Carlo Stevo (STEH-voh), the husband of Giovanna. He is a writer and inspires Marcella's assassination attempt. Carlo dies in jail.
Giovanna Lovisi-Stevo, Carlo's wife and Giulio's daughter. She takes care of their crippled child in the hope of seeing her husband again. The angelic and golden world of the church is the antithesis of Giovanna's life. Giovanna is embittered, solitary, and prone to temptations while waiting in vain for the return of her husband.
Miss Jones, Giulio's salesgirl. When fired from her job because of Giuseppa's jealousy, she says her prayers in the hope of returning to England and regrets her madness in having come to Italy, where none of her dreams has come true. Small miseries make up the lives of Giulio and Miss Jones. Their prayers sustain their hopes, which are the only things that give meaning to their lives.
Old Mother Dida of Ponte Porzio, the wife of Fruttuoso. She has faced a ruthless fate in her husband, a good-for-nothing man who had given her many children and poverty, and she is now filling her life with routine and habit. Selling flowers near the film theater and the Conti Palace, she has outlived her husband, a king, and three popes. Indifferent to politics and religion, she loves Father Cicca and his organist without any religious faith. Despite her stinginess, she offers the ten-lira coin received from Dr. Sarte to the exhausted Clément Roux.
Clément Roux (klay-MAHN rew), a French artist about seventy years old. He has no interest in the modern architectural and political world of Rome. He meets with Massimo Iacofleff, but their ensuing conversation is completely at cross purposes, as neither listens to the other.
Massimo Iacofleff (mahs-SEE-moh ee-AH-koh-flehf), a double agent. He is introduced as a lover of Lina Chiari. He tells Clément about his complicity with Marcella, when they traded in false passports in Vienna, and how he is now worried that Marcella might have despised him when she died alone during her failed assassination attempt. He is one of the two main witnesses to the assassination attempt. He expresses admiration for Marcella's heroism and Carlo's commitment.