Cardenio Literary Elements

Drama

English

The time when the play takes place is not mentioned. It is however imply that the actions take place sometimes in the 17th century in a rural part in England.

Because this is a play, there is no point of view. Every character instead presents his own feelings and ideas directly through their dialogue.

The tone and mood is at times a desperate one, this being the result of the female characters’ despairs to marry the men they love and not the ones chosen by their fathers.

The protagonists in the play are the men and women who would do anything to be together while the antagonist in the play is represented by the social laws the characters must respect but the laws which make them feel miserable.

The major conflict in the play is presented as being the inability of many of the characters in the play to accept characters from the opposite sex and below them from a social point of view as being suitable partners for themselves.

The play reaches its climax when Leonora tries to kill herself. This marks the moment when the attitudes of the major characters in the play changes completely.

In Act I, Scene II, the Duke expresses his feelings for his younger son, Roderick, comparing him with a glass in which he sees himself. This foreshadows the future instances in which Roderick will be favored over his older brother who was described as being someone who spent excessively.

When Henriquez talks for the first time with Violante, the idea transmitted is that Violante had little to no contact with him until then and that she had no intention of giving in to him. This however proves to be an understatement as Violante later thinks in private about a possible moment when she compromised herself.

When the women who are courtesans are described, they are portrayed in a negative manner, as people who have no moral values whatsoever and as people who are ready to sell themselves to the wealthiest person. This allusion is used to suggest that more than often, the women at the court could be persuaded to sleep around with the men at court, provided they had a high enough social status.

An important imagery is the way in which Don Bernard is portrayed in the play. Here, Don Bernardo is portrayed as a cruel man, who would rather see his own daughter dead, rather than see her married with someone with whom he did not agree with. This portrayal is important because it shows just how much the social status of a person was more important for the father than the well-being of his own daughter.

A paradoxical element is the way in which Violante refuses to be with Henriquez and claiming to want him gone from her life while at the same time lamenting his fate and his departure. This proves that Violante was less than sure about her feelings for the young man who was courting her.

A parallel is drawn between Leonora and her deceased mother. The reason why a parallel is drawn between them is to show why Leonora wanted to marry out of love. Just like Leonora, the mother felt in love with Leonora’s father and married him despite her family not agreeing with her choice. This parallel thus has the purpose of explaining why Leonora might want to marry someone out of love as well.

We find a personification in the prologue in the line ‘’ a thousand Plants arise /Frequent and bold;’’.

We find a minimum use of dramatic devices in the play, those which are used having the purpose of pointing out the arrival and the departure of the characters from stage and the places where the action takes place. Dramatic devices are also used to express the inner thoughts of a couple of characters in a limited number of situations.