“Feudal” Goldoni in brief summary


The Community Council of Montefosco, represented by three members of the community – Nardo, Cecco and Mengone, as well as two elders – Pascualotto and Marcone, gathered on a very important occasion: the old Marquis Ridolfo Montefosco died, and now his son, the Marquis of Florindo, went to their land accompanied by my mother, the widow of Marquis Beatrice. The venerable members of the council had to decide how to meet and greet the new masters better.

The deputies themselves were not keen on the language, their daughters and wives, too, did not shine with education and upbringing, so at first it seemed natural for everyone to entrust the meeting of the Marquis with the Marquise Signor Pantalone dei Bisognosi, a Venetian merchant who had long been living in Montefos by the revenue-collector marquisate, and a young Signor Roseau brought up in his house. But according to sound reasoning, both candidates were rejected: Signora Pantalone – as a stranger, rich in the

sweat and blood of the Montefossian peasants, and Signora Rosaura – as a person arrogant, who built herself – with complete, however, and none of the village uncontested right – noble.

This very Signora Rosaura was in reality a legitimate but obsolete fate of the heiress of both the title and the possessions of the Marquis of Montefosco. The fact is that the marquisate was a possession of a marjorat, and Rosaur’s father, with direct heirs, did not have the right to sell it. But at the time of the transaction, he did not suspect that his wife was expecting a child, and besides, the old Marquess died six months before Rosaura was born. Buyer Montefosco, the late Marquis of Ridolfo, acted with the girl in honor – he gave Pantalone an impressive amount for her upbringing, education and even a small dowry, so there was not much to complain about to Rosaura. But when she grew up, the thought that someone else uses her title, power and money, began to not let her rest. Rosaura could have started a process, but it required a lot of money,

Since the castle was in a state of neglect, new

gentlemen had to stop at Pantalone’s house. The Marquise Beatrice turned out to be a noble and wise woman, but her son, young Florindo could think only of one thing – women, and the very entry into Montefusco’s possession pleased him solely because among the new subjects, he believed, there must certainly be a fair number of beauties. So when the delegates of the community came to Florindo, he hardly allowed them to say a word to them, but once alone with Rosaura, he immediately revived and, without wasting time, strongly advised the girl not to be an idiot and quickly surrender to him with the delight of love.

Rosau’s uneasiness was unpleasantly struck by the marquis, but he did not abandon his rude searches until the end of the appearance of Signor Beatrice. She put out her son, and with Rosauroi started a serious conversation about how it would be to everyone’s pleasure to settle an annoying property conflict. Rosaura promised to help her in all reasonable ways to her undertakings, for she saw in the marquis a worthy person, besides her own son, who also loved truth and justice.

Having suffered a fiasco with Rosaura, Florindo, however, quickly became comforted: in the next room, where his mother exhibited him, an audience of the women of Montefosco waited for the audience at the marquise. Giannina, Olivetta and Gitte were very much in love with the young marquis, handsome and merry, each of them readily gave him his address. Florindo, they all also really liked, which can not be said for his mother, who was somewhat disappointed that she was met by not too otsezannye girls from the lower strata. Definition of “from the lower strata” delegates, amused by these signor Beatrice, suddenly perceived as a compliment – of course, they say, of course they are from the valley, and not some savage from the mountains. With the Marquis Beatrice, the girls, to the best of their ability, conducted a conversation that was refined in their terms, but when Rosaura joined the society, they met her emphatically boorishly.

Florindo reacted to the mother’s plan cool, but promised to think; old, wise experience Pantalone fervently supported her. When Signora Beatrice laid out her plans to Rosaura, she angrily declared that marriage with a young man was absolutely impossible for her, along with village girls singing obscene songs about her, Rosaura.

The fact is that, having got rid of his mother’s instructions, Florindo immediately ran to the village and now he had a good time with Giannina and Olivetta. Beatrice sent Pantalone to him with the order to return immediately from the village. Florindo did not listen to the boring old man, although he, in addition to his mother’s anger, promised him and beatings on the part of the insulted village men.

On the way from Giannina with Olivetta to the beauty of Gitte, Florindo nearly ran into something worse than a beating. It so happened that the way to her house he asked her husband Cecco, a hunter who never parted with a gun. This last one served as a weighty argument, forcing the Marquis, even if only in words, to agree that wives and daughters of subjects are not among the revenues due to him from the fiefdom.

Cecco did not confine himself to not letting Florindo into his wife: after making sure that he had gone away, he went to the community council, where the question of how best to entertain the new masters was being discussed. Reporting on Florindo’s unworthy inclinations, Cecco said that the community needs to do something to preserve peace and piety. The young marquess’s proposal was first to be shot, but it was rejected as bloody; There were also no proposals on the arson of the house and about the arrogating aristocrat. Finally, Nardo voiced a thought that met general approval: it is necessary to act diplomatically, that is, throw the fishing rods to the marquis-mother.

When the village diplomats visited Signor Beatrice, she had already made a lasting alliance with Rosaura: the Marquise had promised the girl that she would become the heir to the estates and titles she owed to her if she married Florindo; Rosaura, for her part, trusted the Marquise in everything and refused to think about the trial. The speeches of the representatives of the community persuaded Signor Beatrice that the friendship of Rosaura is actually more necessary to her than her son: Nardo, Cecco and Mengone explained in very determined terms that, firstly, they will not stop at anything, so that to stop the assassination of the Marquis on their women, and that, secondly, they only consider Rosaur and will always consider her a legitimate mistress.

While these negotiations were going on, Florindo, dressed as a shepherd and taking Harlequin, a close-minded guy, like all the natives of Bergamo, again went to find the beautiful Gitta. Gitt found it, but the sentry from Harlequin was no, so in the midst of an interesting conversation a couple covered Cecco. To Cecco’s arms, and this time did not resort, but from the bottom of his heart he thrashed Florindo with a club.

Hardly alive from the beatings and having refused to look even further towards the village women, the Marquise, and found Signora Beatrice with Pantalone. No matter how bleeding the mother’s heart, the marquise could not help but admit that her son still received on her merits.

Representatives of the community, having learned about the beatings committed by Cecco, were seriously afraid of the young marquis’s revenge and, in order to prevent it, decided to declare Rosaura as their mistress, and then, having collected money from all Montefosco, to go to Naples and defend her rights in the royal court. The Marquise Beatrice was indignant at the impudence of her subjects, and when Rosaura tried to explain to her that the peasants had every reason for Florindo’s displeasure, she did not want to listen to the girl and called her an accomplice in the rioters. A major scandal was on the way, but it was just reported about the court commissioner and notary who arrived for the official introduction of Florinda’s ownership rights.

The commissar with the notary had already begun to file the necessary papers when Nardo, on behalf of Rosaura, made a statement that only she was the legal heir to Montefosco. Realizing that the contradictions of the parties promise him additional income, the commissioner ordered the notary to officially testify this statement. But the word took Rosaur, who, as a marquis and owner of the land, did not require intermediaries, and stunned all present, dictating to the official the renunciation of their rights in favor of the Marquis of Florindo. To the depths of the soul, the touching signor Beatrice, in return, ordered the notary to write down that the Marquis of Florindo undertakes to marry Signor Rosaura. Rosaura wished that her consent to this marriage was recorded in the papers.

A script writer, to the delightful pleasure of a notary with a commissioner who receives a separate payment from each act, could continue until the morning – followed by the official lowest excuse of members of the community for the Marquis’s insult, the same official forgiveness from the owners, etc., if Signora Beatrice did not ask the commissioner to postpone the compilation of documents and go along with everyone to take part in the wedding.


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“Feudal” Goldoni in brief summary