La figura dell'ebreo nel teatro di Pietro Aretino

As a reflection of life, comedy is a particularly appropriate genre. In the Ariosto theatre, which marks the beginning of Renaissance comedy, the figure of the Jew is already present. Jewish characters appear in the first theatrical production of Pietro Aretino’s la Cortigiana, as well as in both revisions (1525 and 1534), and in il Marescalco (1534). La Cortigiana, a “Roman” comedy, is set in the papal court of Leon X, which is seen from the viewpoint of the lower class – those people who frequent the servants’ quarters as well as the more common areas of the city. Il Marescalco, on the other hand, is set in Mantua and the action takes place inside the Gonzaga Court. Both plays were published in Venice during the last half of Aretino’s refuge in that city, but are set respectively in Rome where Aretino lived until the attempt on his life, and in Mantua, where he stayed under the protection of Federico Gonzaga. In the time period examined here, between 1524 and 1534, Aretino moved from Rome to Venice, making a stop in Mantua. In this brief, but tumultuous period, which saw among other events the Sack of Rome in 1527, there were serious changes in the living conditions of the Jewish community. In the Rome of the first Cortigiana (1525), Jews circulated freely and conducted business with Christians. Injustices and mockery are directed toward the Jews but also to the poor in general. In the play, the Jews are the object of sadistic jokes from Rosso, but their fate was not much different from that of the poor fisherman. Both were subjected to abuses of power simply because the laws did not defend the weakest members of society. Romanello, a Jew who lived at the time, was a seller of all sorts of used goods. Rosso mocks him in a truly gratuitous manner, simply for amusement. Rosso pretends that he wants to buy a monk’s frock from Romanello. In order to see it better, he asks Romanello to try it on. He then shows interest in a precious cape, but this time he insists on trying it on himself, with the intention of stealing it, which he immediately does. The police, brought to the scene by the cries of the robbery victim, find Romanello dressed in a monk’s habit, accuse him of sacrilege and arrest him. Rosso himself acknowledges the injustice perpetrated on the Jew, who, in the final analysis, is like him a victim of the system. The view of Rome in the second Cortigiana is more tragic. Less than 10 years have passed, but the world has entirely changed. The Roman “capus mundi” of 1525 has become in 1534 the “coda mundi.” Like comedy at large, which darkens with a sense of catastrophe no longer imminent, but real, the scene of the mockery of the Jew also undergoes a significant transformation.