There is scarcely a
scene in which is not to be found the germ of an underplot- a germ,
however, which seldom proceeds beyond the condition of a bud, or, if
so fortunate as to swell into a flower, arrives, in no single
instance, at the dignity of fruit. Zippa, a lady altogether without
character (dramatic), is the most pertinacious of all conceivable
concoctors of plans never to be matured- of vast designs that
terminate in nothing- of cul-de-sac machinations. She plots in one
page and counter-plots in the next. She schemes her way from P. S.
to O. P., and intrigues perseveringly from the footlights to the
slips. A very singular instance of the inconsequence of her manoeuvres
is found towards the conclusion of the play. The whole of the second
scene (occupying five pages), in the fifth act, is obviously
introduced for the purpose of giving her information, through Tomaso's
means, of Angelo's arrest for the murder of Isabella. Upon learning
his danger she rushes from the stage, to be present at the trial,
exclaiming that her evidence can save his life. We, the audience, of
course applaud, and now look with interest to her movements in the
scene of the judgment-hall. She, Zippa, we think, is somebody after
all; she will be the means of Angelo's salvation; she will thus be the
chief unraveller of the plot.
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