“Il tormentato esaminator di se stesso”. Dinamiche della conversione nei “Promessi sposi”

Abstract

In order to tell the story of the conversion of the Conte del Sagrato in Fermo e Lucia, Manzoni adheres to the Pauline model of a sudden shock, thus interpreting the event as a miraculous event in which the redeemed sinner’s role remains completely passive. In The Betrothed, however, the whole episode is being rewritten from the Augustinian model of the Confessions, which represents conversion as a slow and gradual process of crisis, full of anxiety, inner conflict, dejection and resistance, in which God calls for repentance, creates favourable opportunities, eliminates inner anguish and offers necessary help, while respecting human timing, nature and freedom. This essay reconstructs, step by step, all the stages of the conversion of the Unnamed, from his first appearance in the novel to his exit, highlighting the psychological as well as moral turning points of the process of conversion, not without repeated references to the other converts in the novel, starting with Fra Cristoforo, and Napoleon in the Fifth of May.