Characters Discussed
Jaffeir
Jaffeir (JAF-yur), a Venetian citizen who wins the undying animosity of Priuli by secretly marrying his daughter, Belvidera. After three years of being thus disowned, Jaffeir and his wife are heartbroken and penniless, their only joy being in their deep love for each other and for their baby son. When their household is seized at the father-in-law’s vindictive order, Jaffeir is most amenable to a suggestion that he avenge the abuse to his wife by joining a conspiracy against the Senate of Venice. Revolted by the crudity of the conspirators, he informs the council of their plans and thus incurs the scorn of his noble friend Pierre. Jaffeir has woven a tangled web by abusing his wife and betraying his friend. He can regain his self-respect only by stabbing his friend and himself.
Pierre
Pierre (pyehr), a gentle philosopher and an honored citizen of Venice. By his own candid estimate, he is a villain; though he sees how the government is enslaving the people, he remains passive and does little to correct the situation. Intrigued by the conspirators’ plot, Pierre concludes that he is as free to be a foe as to be a friend of Venice. His decision is inspired as much by his desire for personal vengeance as by any sense of altruism. Sensing his contempt for the bullying cowardice of the conspirators as they imply Jaffeir’s disloyalty to the conspiracy, he nevertheless continues with the cause. Complex circumstances conspire to shatter the friendship of Jaffeir and Pierre, but in the end the men reunite. In a gesture of mutual forgiveness, Pierre, on the executioner’s stand, asks Jaffeir to stab him. This act saves Pierre from the wheel; more important, it serves to deceive the Senate.
Belvidera
Belvidera (behl-vee-DAY-rah), Jaffeir’s beautiful, noble, and sensitive wife. Even though she suffers the hurt of Jaffeir’s abuse, to prove his honor to the conspiracy, she forgives him and begs to be informed of the revolutionary scheme. She is loyal to Jaffeir when he reports to the council and swallows her pride when she seeks her father’s aid in saving Pierre. Visited by the ghosts of Jaffeir and Pierre, she dies of grief.
Priuli
Priuli (pree-EW-lee), a leading senator of Venice and the father of Belvidera. He so bitterly despises his daughter’s marriage to Jaffeir that he wishes her dead. After Belvidera’s death, Priuli condemns himself to self-exile with the closing lines “bid all Cruel Fathers dread my Fate.”
Renault
Renault (ray-NOH), a reformer. Scheming and relentless, he is the chief of the conspirators against Venice. He reveals his contemptible character by his attempts to compromise the lovely Belvidera when Jaffeir, at first convinced of the rightness of the conspiracy, gives his wife over to Renault as a token of his loyalty. Such is Renault’s compelling power that Jaffeir, learning of his conduct, says he will endure personal indignity for the success of the plot against the council. Execution on the wheel, after the conspiracy is discovered by the Senate, seems a suitable end for Renault. The other conspirators are willing to be led by Renault, but they question his pressing Pierre so hard concerning Jaffeir’s honor. They, too, are executed for treason.
Antonio
Antonio (ahn-TOH -nyoh), a leader and eloquent speaker of the Senate. In his contemptibleness and senility, he lends an aura of satire to the play. Bitter rivalry and mortal jealousy exist between Antonio and Pierre because of their various interests in a common mistress. Antonio is a weak character in his childish adoration and preoccupation with the mistress,...
(This entire section contains 688 words.)
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who threatens to kill him as a way to make him promise to save Pierre, whom she loves and who loves her. Antonio consents but, like Priuli’s, his decision comes too late.
Aquilana
Aquilana (ah-kwee-LAH-nah), the exciting and exotic Greek courtesan whom Pierre loved but lost to lecherous Antonio. In her effort to save Pierre, Aquilana shows a noble strain of character.
A friar
A friar, who tries to comfort Pierre before his death. He is alternately scorned and ignored by Pierre because of his sanctimonious prating.
Bibliography
Brown, Laura. English Dramatic Form, 1660-1760: An Essay in Generic History. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1981. An interesting discussion, within the context of “affective” tragedy, of Otway’s two best-known plays, The Orphan and Venice Preserved.
Kelsall, Malcolm. Introduction to Venice Preserved, edited by Malcolm Kelsall. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1969. Kelsall’s is the best modern edition of Venice Preserved. His introduction is first-rate in its discussion of Otway’s main source, the many problems attendant upon viewing the play as a political satire, and its long life on the English stage.
Milhous, Judith, and Robert D. Hume. Producible Interpretation: Eight English Plays, 1675-1707. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1985. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Restoration drama. The chapter on Venice Preserved provides a lucid and interesting introduction to the play, as well as a fascinating history of the many different stagings Otway’s play received over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Stroup, Thomas B. “Otway’s Bitter Pessimism.” In Essays in English Literature of the Classical Period Presented to Dougald MacMillan. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1967. A classic general study of Otway. Stroup sees all of Otway’s dramatic works as cynical and frustrating and finds Venice Preserved to be a moral chaos marked by “broken oaths and curses.”
Taylor, Aline MacKenzie. Next to Shakespeare: Otway’s “Venice Preserv’d” and “The Orphan” and Their History on the London Stage. New York: AMS Press, 1966. Though originally published in 1950, this remains the most exhaustive and most reliable account of Venice Preserved and its stage history.