"O Giovanni, hast thou left the schools
Of knowledge to converse with Lust and Death?
For Death waits on thy lust. Look through the world,
And thou shalt see a thousand faces shine
More glorious than this idol thou ador’st."
These are the words the Friar speaks to Giovanni upon hearing about Giovanni's feelings for his sister, Annabella. Here, the Friar introduces the play's theme of the connection between sex (lust) and death, arguing that only death can come from Giovanni's incestuous desire. This conversation also introduces the motif of idolatry as he attempts to point Giovanni back to a pure religion rather than a corrupted sense of what love means.
"I would not, for my wealth, my daughter’s love
Should cause the spilling of one drop of blood."
When Florio witnesses the feud between Soranzo and Grimaldi over Annabella's hand, he pleads with the men to be civil. In this quotation, Florio entreats the suitors to behave themselves, as he does not wish to see "blood" due to his daughter's choice of husband. Of course, this quotation is an ironic example of foreshadowing as quite a bit of blood will be spilled by the end of the play.
"Oh, that it were not in religion sin
To make our love a god and worship it!"
After Giovanni expresses his feelings to his sister and she reciprocates, the two of them lament how difficult it is going to be for them to maintain their incestuous relationship. Here, Giovanni expresses the desire to turn their incest into a false idol, acknowledging that he knows this is condemned by the church. Notably, Giovanni uses almost the same language as the Friar does at the beginning of the play, when he warns Giovanni not to pursue the path he is currently pursuing.
"On my knees,
Brother, even by our mother’s dust I charge you,
Do not betray me to your mirth or hate:
Love me, or kill me, brother."
Just as audiences might be thinking that Giovanni is the guilty party in the play, Annabella completely reciprocates his words of affection. Here, Annabella asks Giovanni to love her and only her, suggesting that otherwise he will "kill" her. This quotation emphasizes the play's connection between sex and death and foreshadows Annabella's eventual murder at the hands of her brother.
“If a young wench feel the fit upon her, let her take any body, father or brother, all is one”
When Puttana learns about the incestuous relationship between Annabella and Giovanni, the audience likely expects her to be horrified (she is, after all, one of the first characters to find out). Her response, however, is surprising, as she here suggests that it does not matter who a woman chooses to have a sexual relationship with. This perspective is likely the reason behind Puttana's cruel punishments at the end of the play, but she is the only character to endorse Annabella's free expression of her own sexuality.
"Then you will wish each kiss your brother gave
Had been a dagger’s point."
When the Friar learns of the ongoing relationship between Annabella and Giovanni, he tries once again to steer them in the correct direction. Here, he warns the couple (and Annabella specifically) that their tryst can only lead to pain and death. He compares the kisses given to Annabella to a "dagger's point," ultimately foreshadowing the exact method Giovanni will use to kill his sister.
“O horrible! To what a height of liberty in damnation hath the devil trained our age! Her brother.”
In contrast to Puttana, the manservant Vasquez who engages in betrayal, conspiracy, and murder is completely scandalized by the revelation that Giovanni and Annabella are engaged in an incestuous relationship. Here, he expresses his condemnation through the language of religion while at the same time delighting in the fact that this news will allow him and Soranzo to seek revenge.
“Sir, you must be ruled by your reason, and not by your fury; that were inhuman and beastly.”
This is advice from Vasquez to his master, Soranzo, and represents one of the major tensions explored in the play: that of allowing reason to trump emotional impulse in decision-making. Uncontrolled passion was assumed by many at the time to be the domain of animals – hence the reference to “beastly.” Indeed, the play presents its characters are equally lustful of sex and blood, thereby lacking moral direction and acting out of impulse ("fury") rather than thoughtfulness. It is for this reason that, despite his own schemes, Vasquez is considered the most logical character in the play.
"Revenge is all the ambition I aspire;
To that I’ll climb or fall. My blood’s on fire!"
Just as Vasquez warns Soranzo to remain levelheaded, Soranzo is overcome with passion to get revenge. Here, he says that revenge is the only thing toward which he will "climb," otherwise he will "fall." Soranzo here foreshadows his own "fall" or death, but he also showcases the play's major theme of passion outweighing reason. Soranzo, unable to govern his emotions, gives in to bloodlust in much the same way that Giovanni gives in to lust for his sister.
“Take up these slaughter’d bodies, see them buried;
And all the gold and jewels, or whatsoever,
Confiscate by the canons of the church,
We seize upon to the Pope’s proper use.”
Following the violent shedding of blood that includes a brother literally carrying the heart of his beloved sister on the tip of sword, the representative of the Church appears to have one thing on his mind – the seizing of wealth from the deceased. The audience is left to determine who has committed the greater sin here and, indeed, following the Cardinal’s final closing observation on the matter, to wonder exactly who is the "whore."
