Characters
- Lorenzo Tramaglino, or in short form Renzo is a young silk-weaver of humble origins, engaged to Lucia, whom he loves deeply. Initially rather naive, he becomes more cunning during the story as he is confronted with many difficulties: he is separated from Lucia and then unjustly accused of being a criminal. Renzo is somewhat short-tempered, but also gentle and honest.
- Lucia Mondella is a pious and kind young woman who loves Renzo. She is forced to flee from her village to escape from Don Rodrigo in one of the most famous scenes of Italian literature, the Addio ai Monti or "Farewell to the mountains."
- Don Abbondio is the priest who refuses to marry Renzo and Lucia because he has been threatened by Don Rodrigo's men; he meets the two protagonists several times during the novel. The cowardly, morally mediocre Don Abbondio provides most of the book's comic relief; however, he is not merely a stock character, as his moral failings are portrayed by Manzoni with a mixture of irony, sadness and pity, as has been noted by Luigi Pirandello in his essay "On Humour" (Saggio sull'Umorismo).
- Fra Cristoforo is a brave and generous friar who helps Renzo and Lucia, acting as a sort of "father figure" to both and as the moral compass of the novel. Fra Cristoforo was the son of a wealthy family, and joined the Capuchin Order after killing a man.
- Don Rodrigo is a cruel and despicable nobleman and the novel's main villain. He decides to forcibly prevent the marriage of Renzo and Lucia, threatens to kill Don Abbondio if he marries the two and tries to kidnap Lucia.
- L'Innominato (literally: the Unnamed) is probably the novel's most complex character, a powerful and feared criminal who is torn between his ferocious past and the increasing disgust that he feels for his life. Based on the historical character of Francesco Bernardino Visconti, who was really converted by a visit of Federico Borromeo.
- Agnese Mondella is Lucia's wise mother.
- Federico Borromeo (Federigo in the book) is a virtuous and zealous cardinal; an actual historical character.
- Perpetua is Don Abbondio's loquacious servant.
- La Monaca di Monza (the Nun of Monza) is a tragic figure, a bitter, frustrated, sexually deprived and ambiguous woman. She befriends Lucia and becomes genuinely fond of her, but her dark past haunts her. This character is based on an actual woman.
- Griso is one of Don Rodrigo's henchmen, a silent and traitorous man.
- Dr Azzecca-garbugli ("Quibble-weaver") is a corrupt lawyer.
- Count Attilio is Don Rodrigo's malevolent cousin.
- Nibbio (Kite - the bird) is the Innominato's right-hand man.
- Don Ferrante is a phony intellectual and erudite scholar who believes the plague is caused by astrological forces.
- Donna Prassede is Don Ferrante's wife, who is willing to help Lucia but is also an opinionated busybody.
Read more about this topic: The Betrothed (Manzoni novel)
Famous quotes containing the word characters:
“Of all the characters I have known, perhaps Walden wears best, and best preserves its purity. Many men have been likened to it, but few deserve that honor. Though the woodchoppers have laid bare first this shore and then that, and the Irish have built their sties by it, and the railroad has infringed on its border, and the ice-men have skimmed it once, it is itself unchanged, the same water which my youthful eyes fell on; all the change is in me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There are characters which are continually creating collisions and nodes for themselves in dramas which nobody is prepared to act with them. Their susceptibilities will clash against objects that remain innocently quiet.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“A criminal trial is like a Russian novel: it starts with exasperating slowness as the characters are introduced to a jury, then there are complications in the form of minor witnesses, the protagonist finally appears and contradictions arise to produce drama, and finally as both jury and spectators grow weary and confused the pace quickens, reaching its climax in passionate final argument.”
—Clifford Irving (b. 1930)