Such a situation, on the largest possible scale, is that presented in
_Monna Vanna_. It differs from that of _Measure for Measure_ in the fact
that there can be no doubt as to the moral aspect of the case. It is
quite clear that Giovanna ought to sacrifice herself to save, not one
puling Claudio, but a whole city full of men, women, and children. What
she does is absolutely right; but the conjuncture is none the less a
grotesque and detestable one, which ought to be talked about and thought
about as little as possible. Every word that is uttered is a failure in
tact. Guido, the husband, behaves, in the first act, with a violent
egoism, which is certainly lacking in dignity; but will any one tell me
what would be a dignified course for him to pursue under the
circumstances? The sage old Marco, too--that fifteenth-century
Renan--flounders just as painfully as the hot-headed Guido. It is the
fatality of the case that "he cannot open his mouth without putting his
foot in it"; and a theme which exposes a well-meaning old gentleman to
this painful necessity is one by all means to be avoided.
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