The Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde. Short summary

5 seconds

Guido Ferranti, to avenge the Duke of Padua for the death of his father, is hired to his service, but falls in love with his wife, Beatrice. Beatrice kills her husband herself. Both heroes end up committing suicide.

1 minute

Poem in Verse.

The Duke of Padua, Simone Giesso, murdered Guido Ferranti’s father. To carry out the blood feud, the young man needs to get close to his enemy. So he enters the Duke’s service.

At court he meets the Signor’s wife, the beautiful Beatrice. Amorous feelings flare up between the young people. These move Guido to the decision to renounce his vengeance. Love seems a noble sentiment to him, and he believes it is low to kill treacherously by taking advantage of it.

But Simone Giesso is a tyrant. And he raises his hand even to his wife. Beatrice loves Guido, and the jealous husband begins to notice. Then she stabs her husband with a dagger in his sleep.

On hearing of the atrocity, Guido renounces Beatrice. He reproaches his beloved. She repents, but it is too late; the Duke cannot be revived. Guido thinks that he himself is the cause of Beatrice´s crime.

Both lovers commit suicide.