The Perjur'd Husband

In Short

This tragedy is a quintessential example of the frantic, high-stakes drama popular in the early 18th century. It follows Count Bassino, who abandons his devoted wife for a forbidden affair with a woman engaged to another man. As lies compound, the characters are drawn into a web of deceit, leading to a blood-soaked finale. The play has endured as a compelling study of the period’s obsession with reputation, the double standards governing male and female desire, and the destructive power of infidelity.

The Story

The drama unfolds in Venice during the Carnival, a season where anonymity allows the nobility to indulge in illicit romantic pursuits. Count Bassino, a visitor from Savoy, is married to the steadfast Placentia, but he finds himself consumed by a desperate, unauthorized passion for Aurelia, a young woman already promised to a gentleman named Alonzo. Bassino attempts to honor his marriage vows, but his resolution withers the moment he confronts Aurelia, who is equally unable to suppress her feelings for him.

As the affair deepens, the web of lies grows tight. Bassino maintains a facade of honor while secretly planning to abandon his wife. Aurelia, terrified that her betrayal of Alonzo will be exposed, repeatedly plays the part of the devoted fiancée to keep suspicion at bay. Meanwhile, a subplot involving the elderly, jealous Pizalto and his restless wife adds a layer of dark comedy to the proceedings. Pizalto’s wife, frustrated by her husband's impotence and possessiveness, engages in a clandestine affair with an opportunistic Frenchman, using her maid, Lucy, to facilitate the deception.

The tension reaches a breaking point when Placentia, desperate to reclaim her husband, arrives in Venice. Bassino’s friend, Armando, eventually forces a confrontation between the spouses, leading to a hollow reconciliation. Bassino pretends to return to his wife while continuing to plot his escape to Aurelia’s side. The deception inevitably unravels. Placentia, humiliated and enraged by the discovery of her husband's ongoing duplicity, disguises herself as a man to track him down.

The final act descends into catastrophe. Placentia, armed and vengeful, confronts Aurelia in her home. Their heated exchange of accusations ends in a fatal struggle: Placentia stabs her rival, and in a fit of frantic rage, Bassino kills his own wife. Realizing the magnitude of his betrayal and the loss of both women, the shattered Count takes his own life. The survivors are left to contemplate the wreckage of their lives, while the play closes with a somber reflection on the inevitability of divine judgment for those who forsake their integrity for the fleeting pleasures of the flesh.

How It Unfolds

The temptation takes hold Count Bassino struggles with the knowledge that his duties as a husband clash with his overwhelming desire for a new lover. Despite his resolve to return home and remain faithful, he finds his willpower insufficient once he is faced with the object of his affection.

The web of deceit thickens Aurelia and Bassino exchange solemn vows of love even as she remains betrothed to another, forcing her to weave elaborate lies to satisfy her unsuspecting fiancé. The atmosphere in Venice becomes a pressure cooker of hidden agendas, where every meeting must be conducted under the cover of masks.

The wife intervenes Placentia arrives in the city and is confronted with the reality of her husband’s infidelity, leading to a fragile, deceptive peace. Bassino attempts to manage both women, effectively maintaining two lives while growing increasingly desperate to finalize his break from his marriage.

The final confrontation The subplots collide as secrets are exposed and the masks are removed, stripping away the pretenses that have kept the characters from facing their realities. Placentia tracks down her rival, transforming the private tragedy of a broken home into a public site of violence.

The tragic conclusion The cycle of perjury and betrayal culminates in death for all three primary lovers. The play ends on a moralizing note, with the survivors reflecting on the inescapable price of broken oaths and the necessity of living a life of virtue.

The People

Count Bassino is the central engine of the tragedy; he is a man of high status who proves to be weak-willed, constantly oscillating between his conscience and his lust. He begins as a repentant husband but ends as a self-described villain. Placentia is his foil, the "virtuous wife" who moves from sorrow to righteous anger; her transformation from a submissive spouse to a vengeful, lethal figure is the most jarring shift in the play. Aurelia is caught in a similar trap, defined by her "inconstant" heart; she seeks a life of love but is ultimately undone by the dishonor of her choices. Alonzo represents the betrayed innocent, whose love is met with deception, while Pizalto provides a cautionary, if grotesque, example of how jealousy and hypocrisy create the very conditions for a wife’s infidelity.

In Its Own Voice

"Oh! rigorous Laws impos'd on Free-born Man! / On Man, by bounteous Nature first design'd / The Sovereign Lord of all the Universe!"

Bassino laments the social constraints that prevent him from following his impulses outside of his marriage.

"A Woman, an abandon'd Woman's Rage."

Armando warns his friend of the dangers inherent in discarding a woman to whom he has pledged his fidelity.

"There's not a Blast within the Power of Fortune / Can shock my Happiness."

Placentia naively places her total faith in her husband’s false promises, setting the stage for her coming despair.

What It's Really About

The play functions as a stark interrogation of the "rigorous laws" of marriage, specifically the friction between individual desire and social obligation. It questions whether human passion can ever be truly governed by duty, or if the act of breaking a solemn vow inevitably invites disaster. The tragedy argues that the hypocrisy required to maintain a false appearance—the "mask" of the title—is inherently corrosive. It is not merely the infidelity that kills, but the elaborate, deceitful labor required to sustain it. Ultimately, the story suggests that perjury is not just a personal failing but a profound disruption of the moral order that requires a total, violent cleansing to resolve.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy the sharp, cynical wit of Restoration-era drama will find much to admire in these pages. The play moves with a relentless pace, and its characters possess a raw, often brutal honesty about their motivations. It feels, in many ways, like a psychological thriller played out in the ornate language of the 18th century.

However, the modern reader should be prepared for the intensity of its melodrama. The characters often move from introspection to extreme, violent action with little transition, which can feel jarring. The language, while precise and evocative, retains the period-specific dialect and formal structures of early 1700s theater, which requires a moment of adjustment. Furthermore, the play’s treatment of women—who are frequently judged by their "reputation" and forced to negotiate survival within a system that holds them to impossible standards—is a difficult, albeit essential, reflection of the era’s attitudes.

It stays with you not because of its historical distance, but because of its proximity to human failure. The sight of characters who know they are doing wrong but are unable to stop themselves is a timeless, uncomfortable truth that resonates long after the final lines are spoken.