The Cenci
A Tragedy in Five Acts
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1819
- Form
- Tragedy
- Language
- English
- Length
- Short · 110 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Major WorksOxford University Press (Oxford World's Classics), 2009The full text of the play with the other major works and annotation.
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A verse tragedy based on a Roman case of 1599. Count Francesco Cenci, a nobleman whose crimes the Pope repeatedly pardons for money, celebrates the deaths of two of his sons and then rapes his daughter Beatrice. With her stepmother and brother she hires assassins to kill him. The murder is discovered, and Beatrice, who refuses to confess or repent under torture, is condemned to death with her family. Shelley wrote it for the stage, but its subject kept it from being performed in Britain until 1886.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Cenci are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
