The Honest Whore, Parts I and II: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Honest Whore, Parts I and II" is a dramatic exploration of love, virtue, and moral conflict set against a backdrop of societal challenges. Central to the narrative is Bellafront, a beautiful prostitute who seeks true love and ultimately transforms her life, symbolizing marital fidelity and resilience in the face of adversity. Her love for Count Hippolito, a nobleman mourning his lost fiancée Infelice, drives significant plot developments, including her decision to leave her previous life behind. Hippolito’s initial nobility becomes tainted as he reveals a more amoral side, complicating his relationships with both Bellafront and Infelice.
The characters also include Gasparo Trebazi, the Duke of Milan, whose conflicting emotions and decisions significantly impact the younger lovers, and Candido, an honest shopkeeper whose innate goodness leads him into trouble, providing a lighter subplot. His wife, Viola, struggles with her temperamental nature but ultimately seeks redemption. Other characters, such as Matheo, Bellafront’s unscrupulous husband, and the friar Anselmo, contribute to the play's intricate web of relationships and moral dilemmas, reflecting the play's themes of redemption, reconciliation, and the complexities of human desires. Overall, the narrative invites audiences to consider the intersections of love, duty, and personal integrity.
The Honest Whore, Parts I and II: Analysis of Major Characters
Authors: Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker
First published: Part I, 1604; Part II, 1630
Genre: Play
Locale: Milan, Italy
Plot: Social satire
Time: Sixteenth century
Bellafront (BEHL-eh-fruhnt), a beautiful prostitute who yearns from the start to find one man to whom she can be true. She falls in love with Hippolito and woos him, but he is an unattainable nobleman. He does, however, prevent her from committing suicide and persuades her to reform. Having renounced her trade, she marries Matheo. In the course of the play, Bellafront becomes a symbol of marital constancy and chastity, able to maintain her resolve even in the face of poverty and other temptations.
Count Hippolito (ee-POH-lee-toh), who is in mourning over the apparent death of his devoted Infelice, whose father simply had given her a sleeping potion to forestall the marriage. Nobly born Hippolito is held in high esteem by his putative father-in-law but is unsuitable because he belongs to a rival family. A malcontented Hippolito announces eternal devotion to his late fiancée and vows to renounce forever the company of women. His tirade against prostitution convinces Bellafront to renounce her trade and initiates the reconciliation with her estranged father.
Gasparo Trebazi (GAHS-pah-roh treh-BAH-tsee), the Duke of Milan, who is led by a feud to oppose a marriage between his daughter Infelice and Hippolito. The duke tells Infelice that Hippolito has died, sends her into exile, and plots to poison the suitor, despite his high regard for him. After the doctor falsely reports Hippolito's death, the duke is beset by conflicting emotions, rues his decision, and banishes the doctor. The young couple outwits him, however, and ultimately the duke must accept Hippolito as his son-in-law.
Candido (KAHN-dee-doh), a patient and honest shopkeeper whose refusal to become angry even when provoked makes him the object of cheating and tricks that lead to his incarceration in Bedlam, the London insane asylum. Despite his obsessive good nature, he is a highly regarded businessman and a dedicated member of Milan's senate. Ultimately, he prevails over his wife and tormentors in a subplot that lightens the atmosphere of the play.
Viola (vee-OH-lah), Candido's ill-tempered but loving wife, whose yearning to see him lose his temper causes her to engage with roisterers in a plot against her husband. She later repents these ill-advised actions and seeks his release from Bedlam.
Matheo (mah-tay-oh), a disreputable man about town, friend of Hippolito, and first seducer of Bellafront. He agrees to wed her only when the Duke offers him the choice of death or marriage.
Anselmo, a friar at Bethlem Monastery who marries Infelice and Hippolito despite his fear of retribution from the duke. When the ruler's men arrive at the monastery, Anselmo shrewdly disarms them, so that when the newlyweds appear, the duke is powerless to act. Kneeling, Anselmo begs the ruler's pardon and persuades him to bless the match.
Count Hippolito, who no longer is a model of virtue but rather is an amoral and selfish hypocrite. He has become a wayward husband to Infelice and the would-be seducer of Bellafront. He again uses rhetoric to achieve his purpose, but this time he fails, even after bribing her with gold. All that can be said in his favor is that he encourages Bellafront's reconciliation with her estranged father.
Bellafront, now wholly reformed and honest in every way but beset by her unscrupulous husband Matheo, to whom she remains loyal, and a turncoat Hippolito, whose advances she resists. She is, as Candido was in the first part of the play, the personification of patience.
Orlando Friscobaldo (ohr-LAHN-doh FREES-koh-bahldoh), Bellafront's estranged father, whose gruff exterior masks an inner warmth. When Hippolito tells him that Bellafront is poor and her husband is in prison, Friscobaldo says that seventeen years have passed since he last saw her and that all feeling is gone. He then immediately dons a disguise, goes to Matheo as a servant to be near his daughter, and gives Matheo money that he mistakenly thinks will benefit Bellafront.
Matheo, a wild gambler and thief who sells the clothes off the back of his wife, Bellafront. She intervenes to save him from Bridewell prison, but he remains shameless and unrepentant even when threatened with the gallows. The duke pardons him as a favor to Bellafront and Friscobaldo.
Infelice (een-fay-LEE-chay), the duke's daughter and Hippolito's wife, who learns from the servant Pacheco (actu-ally Friscobaldo) about her husband's waywardness and demonstrates a previously unseen strength and shrewdness. Falsely confessing unfaithfulness to Hippolito, she submits to his self-righteous denunciation but then confronts him with evidence of his own transgressions. He is only angered and not at all chastened.
Candido, now a widower and released from Bedlam, but no longer a heroically patient man. He remarries, again to a “shrew,” whom he succeeds in taming.