Summary
In an attempt to hide from her brother who is pursuing her, Florinda ventures through an open door.
Analysis
Florinda, running from one controlling and insensitive man, slips into the hands of another when she enters Blunt's chamber. Interestingly, she believes that she is escaping to a better place when she enters Blunt's lair; she reasons that venturing through the open door will be an improvement to her current state "since nothing can be worse than to fall into [her brother's] hands" (97, l. 3-4). Unfortunately, she does fall into worse hands.
Florinda expresses a degree of helplessness as she enters Blunt’s chamber, as though her decision to enter the unknown space is beyond her control. Her tone is one of distress, and leads the reader or viewer to reconsider her agency in the play. Up until this point she, along with her sister, has had a reasonable degree of agency in deciding her fate. Here, however, this previously projected sense of control falls apart. We may also consider Florinda’s physical movement across a boundary; she moves from open space, through a door, and into an enclosed area. As we will see in the following scene, this physical transportation leads to a dangerous situation for Florinda; Blunt’s chamber proves to be yet another perilous enclosed environment in which a female character is threatened by one or more male character.
