Previous
Act 5, Scene 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Changeling, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Appearance vs. Reality
Passion, Sanity, and Identity
Transaction and Commodification
Destiny vs. Agency
Summary
Analysis
Looking back on the events of the last few days, Alsemero resolves that “all we can do is comfort one another, to stay a brother’s sorrow for a brother.” In the face of all this death and betrayal, Alsemero thinks the only solution is to bring forth new bonds and families in the rooms of the dead; if these new lives appear, Alsemero hopes, “all griefs” will be “reconciled.”
All the play’s asides, disguises, and deceptions have torn the characters apart and severed relationships; both in form and content, The Changeling has shown how much each of its figures is out for themselves. But in this closing epilogue, a formal convention meant to help Jacobean audiences members know what moral to take away from a play, Alsemero links honesty to community and continuance. After all, if the world is untrustworthy and unstable, there is nothing to do but seek forgiveness for misconceptions and “reconcile” false beliefs.
Themes
