"You purchase at too dear a Rate, that puts You
To wooe me and your Father too’’
When Leonora comes on stage with her maid, she asks Julio is he talked with his father about the possibility of the two of them being together. Julio admitted he did not and, upon hearing this, Leonora told him to stop trying to convince him, realizing just how difficult their situation was. Julio needed to have his father’s approval to marry a girl and it is possible that Leonora was seen as being an unsuitable partner for Julio and thus someone whom his father would not agree with. The ‘’wooing’’ Julio would have had to do may have also implied convincing his own father to let him chose the girl he loves.
"Now fit to be thy Spoil: the ruin’d Fabrick,
Which cannot be repair’d, at once o’er-throw.’’
This quote is uttered by Violante after she realizes she was being abandoned by Henriquez who became in love with Leonora. In that moment, Violante realized that she was used by Henriquez, who most likely convinced her to sleep with her, most likely promising her to marry her if she did agreed to sleep with him. Because Violante most likely slept with Henriquez, that meant she had her honor tarnished by him. This also meant that Violante put her own future in jeopardy, because this meant many men would deny marrying with her for the simple fact she was no longer a virgin. In this sense, Violante felt as if she was forced to wear a tarnished robe, something which everyone was able to see and thus judge her for it. This also meant that she could not hide her shame, which made her subsequently vulnerable.
"My Daughter, you must know, is such a tender Soul, she cannot possibly see a Duke’s younger Son without falling desperately in Love with him.’’
When Camillo went to Don Bernard and tried to convince him to let Leonora marry his own son, Julio, he was told that Leonora had fallen in love with another man, the son of a Duke and thus a man who had a higher social status and wealth. While this was not true, Camillo believed him almost immediately, in part because for the people of the time, it was something which sounded as something which was entirely possible. The reason for this is that women, in those times, had no other choice but to marry someone who was extremely rich and who could provide for an entire family. Julio, while from a good family, did not have the same influence and power as Henriquez and thus it was expected for a woman to give up on Julio, who was not even near her and who was not accepted her father, and to choose Henriquez, a much more desirable partner.
