crosspost: on Cesare and Lucrezia's estrangement [May 2014]

[anghraine]

So, every portrayal of Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia that I’ve seen, whatever the take on their relationship, involves that relationship falling apart in the end and the two of them turning on each other.

(The Borgias’ cancellation prevented the swerve in 3x09 and 3x10 from going anywhere, but it was certainly planned.)

Like, you’d think this was some common element in the history they’re all drawing from, except—

That never happened.

Here’s G. J. Meyer in ¨The Borgias: The Hidden History¨

The deepest mystery of all […] is how his relationship with Lucrezia was not destroyed. If we could find the answer to that, it would take us to the heart of a connection that that bound brother tightly to sister as long as both remained alive.

Sarah Bradford in ¨Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love, and Death in Renaissance Italy¨

Incestuous or not, there is no doubt that Cesare and Lucrezia loved each other above anyone else and remained loyal to each other to the end.

Same author, ¨Cesare Borgia: His Life and Times¨:

Constantly together since they were children, they had grown up very much alike. […] Their mutual affection was based on similarity of character and outlook, and strengthened by the sense that the rest of the world regarded them as dangerous outsiders.

And after the supposed breach?

Paul Strathern, ¨The Artist, The Philosopher, and the Warrior¨:

despite the urgency of the situation, Borgia now chose to divert from his mission to Louis XII, taking a detour of 100 miles north to call on his beloved sister Lucrezia at Ferrara.

Meyer again:

that he had twice added a hundred miles to a hard journey at least partly to see his sister–solely for that purpose the second time, so far as we know–shows the strength of the bond between the two.

Lucrezia’s physician:

we could not have done it without the Duke of Romagna, who held her foot. Her Majesty spent two hours with the duke, who made her laugh and cheered her greatly

A correspondent of Lucrezia’s sister-in-law:

[Lucrezia] loved her brother as much as if she were his mother

Sarah Bradford again:

And in Ferrara he had his loyal and loving sister who would do anything to help him

Lucrezia upon hearing of Cesare’s death:

For Lucrezia, Cesare’s death was the supreme sorrow of a life already full of tragedies. She apparently responded with an anguished cry: ‘The more I try to please God, the more he tries me …’ and shut herself away, ‘torturing herself day and night’ with grief, calling out his name

I mean? This is realllllly obviously not a relationship that crumbled in the end, or people who ever, ever, ever turned on each other. In fact, they seem to have ended up at the opposite extreme, where even as hardened, egotistic survivors they prioritized each other’s welfare above their own.

So where does this even come from?

(…Actually, I think I know: it’s how tragic villain arcs are supposed to go–the power has its price, the villain finally trades love for power and is thus wholly corrupted. And once you conceive of the Borgias as ¨the villains¨ they start getting slotted into the tropes. It doesn’t really matter if they fit; hasn’t the Borgia story always been about assigning them places in a villainous narrative?)

Comments

[meridian_rose]

Now some of that, his dash to be with Lucrezia, her sorrow at his death, I've heard of and of course you're right it doesn't match with the break-up the media pushes. I think you're right on the reason, people like to cast them as the villians and villains aren't allowed to have any happiness.

[anghraine]

I feel like it's an odd sort of iteration of the just world fallacy. People are really invested in the "power at a price" narrative, and specifically the "power at the price of loving relationships" one—there's a sort of fairness to that. The idea of people ruthlessly going after and achieving power without having to pay that price seems weirdly unthinkable.