Victoria de Loredani lives the life of a fairy tale princess in Venice. She has everything one might desire and more, until the sinister Count Ardolph enters her world. The Count carries off Victoria's mother in an elopement, and sets off a series of dramatic events that begin to unhinge Victoria's life entirely. Passion, brutality, and murder begin to dominate the separated worlds of Victoria and her brother Leonardo.
By : Charlotte Dacre (ca. 1771 - 1825)
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Victoria de Loredani is the beautiful, spoiled daughter of the Marchese di Loredani and his wife, Laurina. Victoria, her brother Leonardo, and her parents reside in a palazzo in Venice, Italy. They live in happiness until the Marchese's friend, Count Ardolph, visits from Germany. Ardolph takes pleasure in destroying the reputations of pure women, and breaking up happy marriages. He quickly sets his sights on Laurina di Loredani. Laurina's vanity makes her susceptible to Ardolph's advances, and he seduces her away from the husband she claims to love. They disappear from Venice together, which sets off a cascade of increasingly tragic events.
After Laurina elopes, Leonardo disappears from Venice without explanation, leaving only Victoria and her father in the palazzo. One year later, the Marchese encounters Ardolph in the streets of Venice. They duel, and Ardolph stabs the Marchese—a wound that puts the Marchese on his deathbed. Laurina pays him a final visit, and the Marchese expresses his dying wish that Laurina will find Leonardo, reclaim her children, and leave Venice.
After the Marchese's death, Victoria falls into Ardolph and Laurina's custody, and soon meets Il Conte Berenza, a noble but naive Venetian man. Berenza quickly falls in love with Victoria, but after he overhears her curse her mother, Berenza becomes wary of her evil character. Laurina and Ardolph do not approve of Berenza, so Laurina forges a letter in Victoria's handwriting persuading Berenza to leave Venice. Ardolph and Laurina then send Victoria to live under the tyrannical rule of Laurina's cousin, Signora di Modena.
With the help of her servant, Victoria escapes the Signora's household, disguises herself as a peasant, and returns to Venice. She reconciles with Berenza, and they begin living together. Berenza tells her of his former mistress Megalena, who is known for her jealousy.
One night, an assassin enters the home of Victoria and Berenza. He attempts to stab Berenza in his sleep, but Victoria awakens and defends her lover by taking the dagger in her arm instead. The man flees, and Berenza awakens deeply shaken by the occurrence. He is impressed by Victoria's action and no longer questions her love for him. Victoria decides not to tell Berenza that she noticed that her long-lost brother, Leonardo, was the assassin.
The book then switches to the point of view of Leonardo, recounting what happened to him after his mother abandoned him and he ran away. First, he found shelter with the Zappi family. He fell in love with the family's daughter Amamia, but the mother, Signora Zappi, fell in love with him. Leonardo rejected her advances. Signora Zappi then tried to frame Leonardo, falsely accusing him of rape. Leonardo did not defend himself; instead, he left the Zappi household.
Leonardo then took shelter with an old woman, Nina, who was mourning the death of her son. Nina then died, and Leonardo had to move again. Finally, he returned to Venice, where he caught the eye of the fatal Megalena Strozzi. She convinced him to take her as his mistress, told him of the death of his father, and began to control his every move.
One day, Megelena came across her former lover Berenza with his new lover (Victoria). In a rage, she told Leonardo that in order to prove his love to her, he must kill Berenza. After some hesitation, he agrees. He comes back after stabbing his own sister instead of Berenza, and tells Megalena what happened. They realize that he left the dagger there, and that Megalena's name is engraved on it. They flee Venice to avoid discovery.
The narration now switches back to the perspective of Victoria. Berenza is deeply moved by Victoria's loving action and decides it is time for them to be married.
Five years later, Berenza's brother Henriquez comes to visit. Victoria quickly realizes she has feelings for Henriquez, but is saddened to discover that his heart lies with Lilla. Victoria feels that she must do anything to prevent the marriage of Lilla and Henriquez, even at the destruction of lives and hearts, much in the manner of her mother. She begins dreaming about how she will destroy Lilla and be with Henriquez. During her dreams, a familiar face begins to surface: that of Henriquez's servant Zofloya, who she sees as someone who can help her destroy Lilla. During the day, she is intrigued by the handsome figure of the Moor Zofloya, and notices him catching her eye.
Zofloya disappears shortly after, apparently having been killed, but strangely returns to Berenza and Victoria's household later. He approaches Victoria and tells her to meet him in the garden. Victoria confesses her desire for Henriquez, and Zofloya claims he can help her fulfill any desire that she seeks. She is hesitant to take his help, but ultimately her desires take over her body and mind. Zofloya shares his knowledge of poisons and the two begin to plan the slow destruction of Berenza.
As Berenza's health slowly declines, Zofloya advises Victoria to change locations since she is wary of being suspected of Berenza's poisoning. Victoria, Berenza, Henriquez, Lilla, and Lilla's elderly relative retreat to Berenza's mountain castle. Victoria is impatient for Berenza to die and questions Zofloya's methods. Zofloya mentions a poison he believes will kill Berenza immediately, but first he tests the poison on Lilla's elderly relative, who does not die immediately, and must be strangled by Zofloya. After two more weeks of waiting for Berenza to die, Victoria gives him his final ration of poison, and Berenza dies; the cause appears to be a heart attack.
Berenza's death makes Henriquez suspicious. He begins to despise Victoria. In a moment of panic, Victoria confesses her love to Henriquez. He is harsh and cruel to her, but then realises that she was the wife of his brother, and he should contain his hatred for her.
Victoria decides the only way to win his love is to eliminate Lilla. Zofloya and Victoria capture Lilla and tie her up in a cave. Henriquez is deeply upset when he discovers his lover is missing. Victoria confesses her love again, but Henriquez still refuses to reciprocate her emotion. Victoria runs to Zofloya, upset that he has not helped her attain her desires. He tells her she can have Henriquez if she appears to be Lilla. He gives her a potion to administer to Henriquez, which will make the first woman he sees when he awakens appear as the woman of his dreams. Zofloya fails to mention that the illusion will only last until Henriquez falls asleep again.
Victoria gives Henriquez the potion and gets her wish of having him see her and love her as "Lilla" for a day. When they awaken in bed together the next morning, Henriquez realises that he had been wronged, and was with Victoria all night. He kills himself in response by jumping on a sword in his room. Victoria is furious with Zofloya for tricking her. In her passion, she stabs Lilla and throws her off a cliff.
Victoria realises she is in Zofloya's thrall, and he seduces her with his words. He leads her to the banditti, led by her brother Leonardo. Zofloya and Victoria live among savages, and Zofloya shows his possessive evil side when he exclaims “thou wilt be mine, to all eternity” (244) Zofloya begins showing a different side to himself, including an ability to read Victoria's thoughts.
One night, the banditti bring a woman and man into their savage home. The woman and man turn out to be Laurina and Ardolph. Leonardo stabs Ardolph and proclaims that he has finally had his vengeance. Laurina is frightened by Leonardo's actions and, as a gasp escapes her lips, Leonardo turns back his attention to her. He demands to know which of the banditti have harmed her and caused the bruises and cuts she suffer from, but they tell him that it was Ardolph had been beating her and her cries had attracted their attention. On her deathbed, Laurina begs her children for their forgiveness. Victoria refuses, but Leonardo readily forgives her. Leonardo scorns Victoria for being so harsh to their mother.
All the characters and their connecting stories come together in this final scene, and their unfortunate pasts surface. Leonardo and Megalena kill themselves, and Victoria is filled with guilt for all her past actions. She turns to Zofloya to tell him about her guilt, and instead of comforting her, he unmasks himself, thus revealing his hideous nature inside and out. He declares that he is Satan, and had tempted and used Victoria repeatedly. Victoria then gets annihilated by the Devil.
Dacre ends the story with a short paragraph, commenting on the novel. She claims that her story is more than a romance. She comments on human nature, their passions and weakness, and "either the love of evil is born with us, or we must attribute them to the suggestions of infernal influence."
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