In Act II, Piave emphasizes the Duke’s emotional and vulnerable tone. After he discovers that Gilda has been taken, the Duke declares in his soliloquy that “she was stolen from [him]! An when, O heaven? In the brief moments, before [his] inner foreboding drove [him] to retrace [his] footsteps!”(II, 89). The Duke emotionally reveals his worry about Gilda and his fear that someone has taken her from him in this quote. The Duke’s vulnerable spirit and caring attitude toward Gilda is exuberated through the author’s use of exclamation points and a worrying tone. The exclamation points reflect his anxiety and desperation. The sense of desperation is created due to someone taking away his woman. This is difficult for the Duke to process because usually he is the one taking women …show more content…
He thought of Gilda as his own treasured possession to obtain but when his possession was taken away, the Duke became tender. Instead of referring to women as all the same, the Duke is specific about Gilda, who “could waken for the first time the flame of constant affection in his heart…She, so pure, by whose innocent gaze [he] believe[s] [him]self almost impelled toward virtue” (II, 89). The Duke believes Gilda could be the one to obtain his constant feelings to the point where he becomes virtuous. This quote illustrates the Duke’s vulnerability because it reveals the Duke’s internal turmoil as he begins to think that not all women are the same. Through the development of this character, the audience sees the Duke as a worry filled, caring human prone to mistakes. In response to hearing that the courtiers have his girl, the Duke does not hide his joy as he says, “I would give my crown to console that heart…Let her learn that even on thrones Love has slaves” (II, 90). Piave uses sacrificial diction in this passage to portray a caring tone from the