Lessico tragico nelle "Novelle" di Matteo Bandello

The essay presents a short linguistic and rhetorical examination of the modalities of tragic representation used by Matteo Bandello in his Novelle. The analysis develops following a lexicological perspective mainly focused on two fundamental, though opposite, concepts: together they shape the semantic core from which the whole speech derives. On one hand is the feritas, the ferocity that overwhelms humaneness as an irrepressible passion and instinctive drive to excess, where the tragic event can take place. On the other hand is the pietas, the compassion, the sympathetic participatory inclination, simply pity towards those who suffer, and the only disposition for salvation and conservation of those ideals of humanitas and wisdom, which are constantly perceived as elusive, but always loyally pursued by the author in his short stories.