The Tawny Baron: Diabolical Appellations of an "Antagonist" in Antonio Fogazzaro's "Daniele Cortis"

Abstract

The protagonists of Antonio Fogazzaro’s celebrated novel Daniele Cortis (1885) are the eponymous hero Daniele and his cousin Elena; the entire narrative unfolds around their absolute yet impossible love. However, a third character – both protagonist and antagonist – intervenes between the lovers: the Baron Carmine Di Santa Giulia, Elena’s husband. The baron is portrayed as a violent, crude, and tyrannical man, yet throughout the novel he is persistently described through diabolical epithets. His contemptible nature is systematically associated – through explicit allusions or implicit metaphors – with his malevolent disposition, standing in sharp contrast to Elena’s ‘angelic’ nature and Daniele Cortis’s uncorrupted character. This essay examines the frequency of what might be termed ‘semi-nomination’; indeed, the epithets attached to Baron Di Santa Giulia, while never reaching the status of nickname or proper name, establish themselves as a form of implicit and allusive antonomasia that precisely defines the character’s figure and personality.