Summary
Beatrice-Joanna expresses her true love for Alsemero and her frustration over her betrothal to Alonzo.
DeFlores arrives and delivers a message from Vermandero, saying that Alonzo and his brother Tomazo have arrived. Beatrice-Joanna chides DeFlores once again; DeFlores remains committed to his feelings for Beatrice-Joanna and wonders how he, once a gentleman but now a servant, can find love.
Vermandero arrives with Alonzo and Tomazo, and Tomazo immediately notices that Beatrice-Joanna seems completely uninterested in his brother. Tomazo warns Alonzo to break off the marriage, but Alonzo accuses Tomazo of being ungenerous and an enemy to him if he thinks Beatrice-Joanna is untrue.
Diaphanta, Beatrice-Joanna's lady-in-waiting, brings Alsemero to a hidden part of the castle so he can meet Beatrice-Joanna. He offers to challenge Alonzo to a duel, but Beatrice-Joanna knows he will likely be exiled in that case.
Alsemero exits, and DeFlores appears, claiming he heard their entire conversation.
Beatrice-Joanna flirts with DeFlores, complimenting him and remarking on his masculine appearance. DeFlores, confused but flattered, offers to kill Alonzo in service to Beatrice-Joanna.
While fantasizing about Beatrice-Joanna, DeFlores encounters Alonzo and offers to take him on a tour of the castle.
Analysis
Act Two of the play features a significant amount of irony as the characters begin to develop.
Perhaps the most perceptive character in the play (aside from DeFlores), Tomazo – Alonzo's brother – knows something is amiss as soon as they arrive at the castle. He notices how Beatrice-Joanna treats Alonzo with disinterest and privately entreats his brother to call off the marriage, telling him that Beatrice-Joanna will likely be unfaithful in the future.
In a moment of tragic irony, Alonzo reiterates his love for Beatrice-Joanna and scolds his brother, telling him that he will be an enemy to anyone who would insinuate that Beatrice-Joanna was untrue in her affections. Of course, the audience is well aware that Beatrice-Joanna has no intention of marrying Alonzo, making this moment a crucial mistake for him as he turns away from his brother to defend a woman he has just met.
The play clearly suggests that Tomazo sees through Beatrice-Joanna's rouse, but it also suggests that Alonzo seals his own fate by failing to trust his brother, who tried to warn him. Alonzo represents an idealized version of love and marriage that is not his reality, but he is so blinded by this vision that he is willing to abandon his kin for a chance to live it.
As if to comment on the deep irony of Alonzo's conversation with Tomazo, the following scene features Beatrice-Joanna plotting to have Alonzo murdered. This scene between Beatrice-Joanna and DeFlores is particularly salient because it showcases how, despite DeFlores's own wicked nature, Beatrice-Joanna is similarly manipulative and self-interested. She successfully manipulates DeFlores by pretending to flirt with him, using his weakness – his affection for her – to her advantage. It is Beatrice-Joanna who comes up with the idea to have Alonzo murdered, even though she communicates it to DeFlores vaguely in order to maintain some semblance of innocence.
In this exchange between the two characters, audiences can observe the beginning of the transformation in Beatrice-Joanna from a regular woman to a duplicitous villain. Their partnership ultimately challenges the audience to question whether these two characters were ever very different to begin with.
