THE ARROGANCE, AND THE ( FAILED ) REACTION

I decided to deal with the two novels of Promessi Sposi and Una Donna, but from a different

perspective.

Knowing that violence exists, and unfortunately not in a single expression, rather it manifests itself

in different forms, I decided to discuss its most subtle form, that of psychological violence,

analyzing the effects that it has produced onto two main characters, two women from different eras.

These women are affected by a problem that is a common denominator between the two works: the

first contact with the harsh reality that surrounds us, and the consequent response to abuse.-

Their different reactions show that the will of listening to their hearts’ desires, and the knowledge of

how to listen to themselves is decisive in the choice between submission and the affirmation of

one's being.

The element of contact between the two operas is then the story of two women, both subjected to

bullying and arrogance, violence, dare I say¸ psychological but also physical.

The difference between the story of the Monaca di Monza and Una Donna, lies in the reaction that

the two female protagonists show with regard to their personal affairs.

The first, locked in a convent against her desire, soon betrays the religious order she has just joined,

becoming one of the wicked characters of the novel and even being accomplice to a murder with

her lover.

The second one, on the other hand, finds the strength to react: even if forced to make a choice

between her freedom and the traditional life prospective of a woman as a wife and above all a

mother, the protagonist decides to assert herself in an act of freedom that will allow her to cry to the

whole world that, like everyone, even the woman has an inwardness and desires.

GERTRUDE’S VICISSITUDES: A STORY OF CORRUPTION
The story of the Monaca di Monza has always been rightly praised as one of the most beautiful

parts of I