The Cenci, by Phin Upham
by Phin Upham
After Count Cenci is murdered, Orsino muses over his feelings of guilt. “Shall I be a slave/ Of… what? A word?” he demands. This word I would imagine is “murderer.” Orsino’s enslavement, he understands, is not external. Rather it is his own conscience. His “enslavement” is inescapable, and his fleeing of Rome is therefor pointless. He does not “have the power to fly [his] own reproaches.” The men of the world employ the word murderer not at themselves, but at each other “as men wear daggers not for self-offense.” But, he implies, they are as he is also guilty of this murder. Their complacency in the face of such appalling injustice necessitated drastic action. Thus they are in part also responsible. Orsino’s guilt stems from the power of the word “murderer” which will hang over him forever. A prelate, it is sufficient for guilt that he and God have knowledge of his action.
Beatrice is also caught by a word; “death” – since she will soon be killed for the murder of her father, Count Cenci. What do “death” and “murderer” have in common? The Cenci is a complex and morally ambiguous play. It tear’s at extreme’s which almost justify the unforgivable. It leaves Beatrice little hope, and little choice. Justice tends to become irrelevant when confronted with moral survival. From the maelstrom of this complexity comes an act – the murder of Count Cenci. All of a sudden a halcyon atmosphere pervades the play. An unalterable resolution has occurred. During the rest of the play moral arguments are given and people are arrested, but nevertheless the conflict and tension have been resolved (though perhaps not the consequences of the resolution). All that is left of former confusion are insoluble residue. Beatrice will die. Orsino is a murderer. It is these potent insoluble residues that “enslave” Orsino and Beatrice. Everything else has become irrelevant. Both lives are dominated by these words, though each has a different dynamo. Orsino is caught by inner guilt caused by implicit religious undertones and societal internalization. Beatrice is caught by external forces of the law and societal expediency. Confusion and complexity drop away in the face of the terrible action, and the remaining dross contains all the power. These words, “murderer” and “death,” have power because they represent the inescapable future and link back to the unchangeable past. Orsino cannot escape his crime, nor his guilt, and Beatrice cannot escape her death. How different these concrete and enslaving words are to the intricacy of the middle of the play where Beatrice struggles to find a word which does not exist.
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About the Author
Phin Upham is an investor who lives in NYC and San Francisco. He has studied at Harvard University and Wharton Business School (UPenn) and is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
