Summary
At the marriage feast of Soranzo and Annabella, Vasquez tells Soranzo that some ladies from Parma wish to perform a masque for the newly-married couple.
Hippolyta is one of the masquers, and she eventually removes her masque and blesses the marriage between Soranzo and Annabella. She asks everyone to join her in a toast. Vasquez hands her her cup and warns Soranzo not to drink. He then reveals that he had given Hippolyta a poisoned glass. Before she dies, Hippolyta curses Annabella's womb and tells Soranzo that his children will be bastards.
The Friar tells Giovanni that this is an inauspicious beginning to the marriage.
Richardetto vows to seek his revenge on Soranzo.
Soranzo discovers that Annabella is pregnant, and he calls her an adulterous whore. Soranzo violently attacks Annabella and tells her to confess who the real father of the baby is. Annabella does not say.
Vasquez enters, and asks Soranzo to control himself. Soranzo calms down, and admits to Annabella that he truly loved her, unlike whomever got her pregnant. Annabella is taken aback by Soranzo's seemingly genuine confession.
Vasquez vows to Soranzo that he will find out who the father of the baby is. He entreats Puttana to tell him, saying that Soranzo will remain with Annabella and only wants to know for his own peace of mind. Puttana admits that it is Giovanni, and Vasquez immediately has a gang of bandits seize Puttana and gouge out her eyes.
Giovanni enters, and Vasquez tells him that Annabella is sick and he should go to see her.
Analysis
Hippolyta's character path comes to an end in Act Four, as her pursuit of revenge against Soranzo results in her own death at the hands of his servant, Vasquez. Because of the play's taboo focus on the incest between Annabella and Giovanni, Hippolyta is often overlooked as one of the most tragic characters in the play. Her early desire for Soranzo convinced her to send her husband away, only to be met with a rejection from Soranzo after she became a widow (or so she thinks; Richardetto, her husband, is still disguised as a doctor). Then, she is duped once more into trusting a man when she confides in Vasquez, the person who eventually kills her.
Like Bergetto, Hippolyta often finds herself at the mercy of those around her (particularly men), even when she thinks she is acting of her own accord. Though she is not without flaws, Hippolyta's death seems to be one of those in the play that is least deserved (notably, the first two deaths in the play are of relatively innocent characters). The only redemption that Hippolyta is granted are her dying words – a curse against Annabella and Soranzo, which ultimately predicts the tragic and gruesome end of the play.
Act Four also delves into the complex character of Vasquez. Some readers of the play interpret Vasquez as the ultimate villain due to his scheming and his ruthlessness when it comes to punishment. Others see Vasquez as the only character in the play who thinks logically and does not give into his passions. It is quite possible that both these interpretations are true, and nowhere is this complex characterization more apparent than in Act Four.
It is Vasquez who stays Soranzo's hand against Annabella, as he argues that Soranzo must act with reason rather than "fury." In this way, Vasquez offers the philosophy that one must act according to expectation rather than one's own desires, embodying a levelheadedness that all the other characters seem to reject, to their demise. Immediately after, however, Vasquez shows no mercy for Puttana when he has her violently disfigured for her complicity in the incestuous relationship.
Like the rest of the play, then, Vasquez is a central figure of complexity, contradiction, and discomfort. That audiences will have a difficult time evaluating his morality is a reflection of the play's broader investment in portraying atypical psychologies on stage.
