Romola · Chapter
XIV: The Peasants' Fair explained
Tito wanders into the crowded Piazza della SS.
What happens
Tito wanders into the crowded Piazza della SS. Annunziata during the Fierucoloni, the peasants' fair on the Eve of the Nativity of the Virgin. He encounters Bratti, who is mysteriously guarding a covered basket. Tito then meets Tessa, a simple peasant girl, and they wander through the fair together. Under the influence of his despair and a desire for adoration, Tito allows Tessa to believe they have been married by a conjuror disguised as a bishop. He instructs her to keep their 'marriage' a secret and to return to her home, promising to come to her again.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Selfishness
Tito's interaction with Tessa is driven by his own need for adoration and comfort in his despair, rather than genuine love. He allows her to believe a falsehood to secure her devotion, prioritizing his own emotional needs over her well-being.
Betrayal and Deception
Tito deceives Tessa by allowing her to believe the conjuror's mock ceremony was a real marriage. This act of deception is a further step in his moral decline, using another person's innocence for his own benefit.
Characters to notice
- Tito Melema
Wanders through the fair, feeling the dreariness of his uncertain future. He finds a temporary escape in the crowd and in Tessa's adoring trust, allowing her to believe they are married.
- Tessa
A simple peasant girl at the fair. She is overjoyed to see Tito again and is easily deceived by the mock marriage ceremony, believing she is now his wife.
- Bratti Ferravecchi
Present at the fair, but acting unusually. He is guarding a covered basket containing 'choice' goods, which he refuses to show to curious women, hinting they may be worth their weight in gold.
- Maestro Vaiano
A conjuror performing at the fair. He recognizes Tito and Tessa and, seeing an opportunity for a jest, performs a mock marriage ceremony over them.
Key passages
“The moving crowd and the strange mixture of noises that burst on him at the entrance of the piazza, reminded Tito of what Nello had said to him about the Fierucoloni, and he pushed his way into the crowd with a sort of pleasure in the hooting and elbowing, which filled the empty moments, and dulled that calculation of the future which had so new a dreariness for him”
The chaotic fair provided Tito with a welcome distraction from his troubling thoughts about the future, which had become a source of new and heavy gloom for him.
Highlights Tito's state of mind and his use of the crowd to avoid confronting his situation.
“He was thinking that when all the rest had turned their backs upon him, it would be pleasant to have this little creature adoring him and nestling against him. The absence of presumptuous self-conceit in Tito made him feel all the more defenceless under prospective obloquy: he needed soft looks and caresses too much ever to be impudent.”
Tito realized that Tessa's devotion would be a comfort when others rejected him. His lack of arrogance made him vulnerable to shame, and he craved affection and tenderness to shield him from it.
Reveals Tito's selfish motivation for maintaining the deception with Tessa.
“It would spoil Tessa to make her the least particle wiser or more suspicious.”
Tito believed that telling Tessa the truth about their 'marriage' would ruin her simple, trusting nature.
Shows Tito's rationalization for his deception, framing it as a way to preserve Tessa's innocence.