The Celenci Response Paper

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Response Paper -- The Cenci Zhijun QI The horrific tragedy The Cenci by Percy Bysshe Shelley depicts a young woman Beatrice executed for murder of her tyrannical father, Francesco. Francesco is a cruel father, and he wants to prevent Beatrice from marrying to avoid paying a dowry. With the support of her brother, Giacomo, Beatrice commands two servants, Olimpio and Marzio, to kill her father, but they waver in their resolve. She taunts them and they return to strangle the man, tossing his body below a balcony as if he had fallen. Lucretia, her stepmother helps the assassins by giving Cenci a sleeping potion. After her father is killed, Beatrice, Lucretia and Giacomo are to be executed while a younger brother is forced to watch. In the doleful final scene, the family accepts their fate with tenderness and courage. …show more content…

Beatrice is the victim, and she is the chief object of his persecution. Lucretia is a careful woman, she keeps Beatrice in the appalling isolation and darkness of a forbidding castle outside the Papal States by her cruel father, Francesco. Count Orsino is a nobleman turned priest who is responsible for much of the scheming that takes place in the play. He loves Beatrice but betrays her when she is tried for her father’s murder. He hires assassins to kill Cenci and abandons them when they are caught. He betrays Beatrice’s brother, Giacomo, to the Roman police. Orsino escapes punishment by disguising himself and fleeing the scene when the officials close

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