A Sicilian Romance

“‘These walls,’ said he, ‘were once the seat of luxury and vice. They exhibited a singular instance of the retribution of Heaven, and were from that period forsaken, and abandoned to decay.’”

This introduction to the Mazzini castle is part of the Frame Story, wherein a traveler meets a monk who gives him a manuscript that is then turned into the novel’s narrative. The monk’s words introduce the juxtaposition of virtue and vice and also the concept that corruption will be punished. Words like “forsaken” and “abandoned” create an ominous tone.

“Though naturally of a haughty and overbearing disposition, he was governed by his wife. His passions were vehement, and she had the address to bend them to her purpose; and so well to conceal her influence, that he thought himself most independent when he was most enslaved.”

The Direct Characterization in this quotation portrays the relationship between the marquis and Maria de Vellorno, while also developing key contrasts and the theme of Passion Versus Reason. It highlights both characters as corrupted by their vices and suggests that the marquis has allowed passion to enslave him in a life of falsehoods.

“In the minds of the vulgar, any species of the wonderful is received with avidity; and the servants did not hesitate in believing the southern division of the castle to be inhabited by a supernatural power.”

Here, two key ideas are present: that the lower classes are uneducated or unintelligent and that a lack of reason or intellect is what causes people to believe in the supernatural. This represents the class structure that dictates society in the novel and provides patriarchal power to a corrupt few and also highlights The Use of Rational Thought to Explore the Supernatural.