Beatrice's Spell: The Enduring Legend of Beatrice Cenci

by Belinda Jack

The haunting and utterly engrossing story of 16-year-old Beatrice Cenci, executed for the murder of her father, in Rome in 1599, and the destructive fascination her story of lust, passion and violence has held for generations of writers and artists.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, True Crime, Italy

196 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2004

About the author

Belinda Jack is Fellow and Tutor in French at Christ Church, University of Oxford. She features regularly in the press and media thanks to the popularity and insight of her published works, including books such as The Woman Reader, George Sand: A Woman’s Life Writ Large and Negritude and Literary Criticism: The History and Theory of "Negro-African" Literature in French.

Professor Jack obtained her D.Phil. in Negritude and Literary Criticism at St John’s College, University of Oxford in 1989, having earlier obtained a degree in French with African and Caribbean Studies from the University of Kent. Her academic career over the past twenty years has been at Christ Church, University of Oxford, where she is an ‘Official Student’ (Fellow and Member of the Governing Body) and Tutor in French. Her main interest lies in French literature of the 19th and 20th centuries.

As well as her five books, Professor Jack is widely published through her many articles, essays, chapters and reviews. Her recent articles and reviews have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Literary Review, Times Literary Supplement, Times Higher Education Supplement, BBC History Magazine and Littérature. She is a regular on the BBC and international radio and television, as well as a frequent speaker at literary festivals throughout the British Isles and beyond.

In 2013 Professor Jack was appointed the Gresham Professor of Rhetoric.

Reviews

[Sarah Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first section -- the Cenci family downfall -- was quite interesting. Ms Jack does a good job summarizing basics & adding enough detail that there's no doubt as to Francesco's guilt. She also confirms that Beatrice is (justly) labeled a sympathetic victim in the mess of abuse & political tangles -- no matter if one agrees with Beatrice's solution, her crime is most definitely that of self-defense, whether emotional, physical, or both. She's guilty, yes; but deserving of execution? Not a chance. Beatrice Cenci is another case of domestic abuse that gets swamped in the politics of history & religion.

It's fascinating stuff, & I wish the author had focused solely on the crime, the primary sources, the Cenci family, & the historical backdrop to all these things, rather than reverting to the academia & literary analysis of the last 3/4ths of the book.

I found it difficult to relate to Beatrice's tragedy through the lens of these other writers, artists, & performers. Their lives weren't nearly so terrible as hers, so why should I care if they considered themselves put-upon & emo? Yawn. So you have a dark side & feel misunderstood & have trouble connecting to your parents? How unique! *eyeroll* Surprisingly, the best chapters were about Melville & Hawthorne. I still don't care for their writing, but I do sympathize with their self-contained moodiness & fumbling social tendencies.

...On the other hand, this book illuminates what I've always suspected: i.e., Percy Shelley was a total dick. I've never liked his poetry, & now I know why -- he was a spoiled brat with sadistic passive-aggressive issues who never gave a crap for anyone but himself. The author claims he struggled with self-identification & saw parts of himself in both Beatrice & her abusive father...and hey, maybe he did. But he was still an asshole.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beatrice Cenci was a young woman in the late 16th century when she was executed for patricide. It emerged that her father was abusive and that's why but these extenuating circumstances did not save her from judicial decapitation. Beatrice's story only took up a small percentage of the book as most of it was about people later who were impacted by her story such as Shelley and Melville. I didn't particularly want to read about them as I wanted to know Beatrice's story so I was slightly disappointed.

[Lydia Grizzle · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first, I loved reading about Beatrice’s life and was very interested and intrigued. But then I realized after reading about the artist’s lives that it would not be about Beatrice any more and I was disappointed. I felt like the information about the artists lives got off track and I wondered why some of the information was important to include. When reading the description of the book on the flap and after finishing the book, I felt the description made the book seem more interesting than it was. I felt that Beatrice’s story wasn’t so prevalent in the artists lives as the author says it was, not in a way that was the prominent reason for turning them mad or ending in their death like I thought Belinda was saying. It seemed like the book was grasping for straws, like maybe it’s an interesting idea for a book, but was it executed in the best, most striking way? I don’t think so.

All that being said, what I did enjoy was learning about Beatrice’s story. I also liked hearing about Harriet Hosmer the most and it was interesting to learn about other artists that I hadn’t heard of before. But again, I often felt like I was reading a book about different artists lives and their careers, rather than how Beatrice impacted them.

[ISRA · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating analysis of those inspired by Beatrice Cenci’s story as well as her retellings fusing worlds of visual art, literature and psychology of each individual. Each creator goes from some level of identification with Cenci to imbuing their own musings about the human condition/pysche reliving vicariously through her experience.

Shelley and Artaud were the best parts, Hosmer felt forced. The Hawthorne and Melville parts were drier less engaging.

[Juliet · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting discussion of writers and artists influenced by Beatrice’s tragic life.

[Jeff]

The young Roman noblewoman Beatrice Cenci was executed in 1599 by Papal authorities for arranging the murder of her monstrously abusive father. To modern eyes the case fairly screams ‘extenuating circumstances’ and popular sympathy was overwhelmingly in Beatrice’s favor, but the Pope’s view seems to have been that transgressing against the patriarchal order in this way was the most unpardonable of crimes. The case continues to resonate 400 years later, due to its elements of violence and incest and its issues of guilt vs. innocence, parental authority, and filial obligation. Its sheer human drama has lured such writers and artists as Shelley, Hawthorne, Melville, and Artaud to reinterpret the story, each bringing their own emotional baggage to it and some (like Artaud) becoming slightly unhinged themselves in the process. It all makes fascinating if sometimes grim reading.

-Alan