in murdering him. Orsini describes them as “brutish, dull-witted scoundrels who would kill a man as unthinkingly as we might tear a piece of paper in two.” The assassins' initial failures seem to stem from a mix of incompetence and cowardice rather than guilt or conscience. After being caught by Camillo, they provide written confessions leading to their execution.

Banquet Guests

In act 1, scene 3, Beatrice describes the guests at Cenci’s dinner as “all the chief nobility of Rome.” As the situation deteriorates, they grow increasingly horrified and fearful. Ignoring Beatrice’s plea for protection, they leave promptly when Cenci dismisses them. Among the guests is Prince Colonna, the only character besides Camillo who attempts to confront Cenci.

Camillo

Camillo, a cardinal close to the Pope, is a shrewd and pragmatic character who acknowledges the Catholic Church's cynicism. Though lacking deep moral or religious convictions and not believing in God, he holds a position of moral and religious authority in the play. He negotiates with Cenci over his land and criminal acts, almost stands up to him at dinner, persuades Giacomo to plot against his father, and investigates Cenci’s murder, overseeing the execution of Lucretia, Beatrice, and Giacomo. Orsino labels him a “spoiled priest,” and he is ultimately revealed as a hypocrite, willing to cover up a murder for a price and urging a son to kill his father, yet showing no mercy to Beatrice or the Cenci family for their involvement in the murder. Camillo’s character symbolizes the corruption and power of the Catholic Church.

Beatrice Cenci

Beatrice, Cenci’s daughter, is central to the play, which focuses on her suffering, rape, and execution. Driven to desperation by her father, she ends her relationship with Orsino and prioritizes her family duty. Distrusting secular and religious justice to deal with her cruel father—a decision justified when the powerful figures at Cenci’s banquet fail to protect her—Beatrice conspires to have her father assassinated. For this, she is imprisoned and executed. She never feels guilt or regret and does not repent, which is why Camillo has her tortured before her execution.

One of Beatrice’s key traits is her deep spirituality, which Orsino describes as “intolerable mysticism.” She can foresee future events, partly due to her insight into her father’s nature and seemingly through a form of psychic intuition. Beatrice’s stance on religion shifts throughout the play; initially, she believes that God would never permit Cenci’s atrocities, but she eventually rebels against all forms of authority, even divine, instructing Camillo never to speak of God to her again.

Beatrice prioritizes her duty to her family above all else, though this eventually conflicts with her rejection of tyrannical figures like her father. By the play’s conclusion, after realizing that neither she nor anyone else has decisively chosen between good and evil, Beatrice fears she has become like her father. This is especially compelling since she seems so virtuous while Cenci is so malevolent, underscoring the play’s theme of moral chaos.

Bernardo Cenci

Bernardo, Cenci’s youngest son, is derisively called womanish by Cenci, who plans to leave him alive to mourn his family’s demise. He shares a close bond with Beatrice and tries to protect her as much as possible. When Camillo’s guards separate him from Beatrice following Cenci’s death, he reacts violently, shouting, “They have sacrificed my soul,” and clings to Beatrice desperately in prison. Despite his involvement in the murder plot, Camillo spares Bernardo’s life due to his youth. Upon learning that he will survive, Bernardo despairs over living while Beatrice, the “flame which lit [his] life,” faces death.

Count Cenci

Cenci is the play’s antagonist, determined to torment and destroy his family. He takes pleasure in being shocking and cruel, committing heinous acts as his life’s mission. He revels in the deaths of two of his sons, terrifies banquet guests, antagonizes Lucretia, harasses Bernardo, disinherits Giacomo, and rapes Beatrice. Despite his power and connections, he lacks friends or allies and suspects his family of plotting against him even before they begin their assassination plan. He is ultimately murdered on the third attempt by assassins hired by Orsino for the family.

A master of instilling horror, Cenci seems to feel truly alive only when engaging in cruelty. Though the motivations behind his cruelty are somewhat ambiguous, he insists that these impulses are fundamental to his soul and character. He is not religious but sees himself as a force of destiny and nature, embodying ultimate authority, power, and domination.

To grasp the essence of Cenci's character, it is crucial to remember that Artaud's convention in The Cenci dictates that characters express whatever they feel, often exceeding what they would realistically understand about themselves. Thus, the vividness and extremity of Cenci's cruelty, as articulated in his language, are meant to reflect his true nature rather than portray realistic dialogue. Cenci represents a bitter and vicious patriarchal figure, likely symbolizing the inherent nature of paternal, civil, and financial authority. If this is the case, he exhibits no remorse or restraint, embodying a power structure and moral system that Artaud views as fundamentally tyrannical, arbitrary, and unjust.

Giacomo Cenci

Giacomo, one of Cenci's older sons, becomes involved in a conspiracy to murder his father. He harbors resentment toward his father for disinheriting him and agrees to the plot after learning about the torture of Beatrice and Lucretia. In a conversation with Camillo, Giacomo expresses his disdain for the Catholic Church, criticizing its faithless cynicism, yet he follows the cardinal’s advice to conspire against Cenci. Persuaded by Orsino, he joins the scheme, despite a remark at the end of Act 3 that reveals his disillusionment with Beatrice's idea of personal justice: “Family, gold, justice: I despise them all.”

Lucretia Cenci

Lucretia, Cenci's somewhat-timid second wife, loves his children despite not being their biological mother. She often attempts to calm Cenci and maintain household peace. While comforting Bernardo, she reveals her own suffering and sensitive nature. Throughout the play, she remains a devout Christian, frequently referring to God and making the sign of the cross. Unlike Beatrice, Lucretia does not seem to foresee Cenci’s malevolence, but she eventually realizes the full extent of his cruelty and participates in the plot to kill him. She inadvertently confirms Camillo's suspicions about the family’s involvement in Cenci’s murder by admitting that she alone had the keys to his apartment, thus no one could have entered without her knowledge. This leads to her imprisonment and eventual execution.

Prince Colonna

See Banquet Guests

Orsino

At the start of the play, Beatrice is romantically involved with Orsino, who was ordained as a priest but is willing to break his vows for her. When Beatrice tells him that her duty to her family outweighs their love, and after witnessing Cenci's shocking actions, Orsino turns against the family and seeks to help them destroy each other. In act 2, scene 2, Orsino describes Beatrice as brooding in an “intolerable mysticism,” partly referring to her anticipation of the play's horrific events. He suggests that Giacomo defy the law and act against Cenci's tyranny.

Orsino's motive, as he reveals in this scene, is to see the family ruined. To achieve this, he provides two mute assassins to enable Beatrice and the others to kill Cenci. In Percy Bysshe Shelley's version of the story, Orsino plots to have Cenci killed to win and marry Beatrice. However, in Artaud's version, Orsino appears solely interested in the family's destruction. After Cenci's death, Orsino escapes disguised as a charcoal seller, and by the end of the play, he is presumed to still be fleeing from the Pope’s soldiers.