wayfarers in wonderland 555
late twenties or early thirties. in part, this reflected economic, social, and
political realities. in order to marry, most agreed that a man had to have
achieved relative economic independence by gaining control of his own
economic life either through inheritance or emancipation something that
normally did not happen until the late twenties. Political power and social
recognition of adult status also usually did not begin until this age and in
some ways turned on getting married, creating a kind of circular relation-
ship where marriage had to wait for maturity, and with marriage, maturity
was recognized. But behind this economic, social, and political dynamic
and intimately intertwined with it was a culturally constructed biologi-
cal one—a widely shared vision of how males developed from childhood
to adulthood. Giulio’s beardless femininity alerts us to the complexities
involved. once a boy reached puberty or perhaps slightly before, he, like
a young girl, was presumed to have lost his sexual innocence. But while a
girl quickly became a woman via marriage and motherhood, a boy had a
long period of youth to traverse before reaching adulthood. often referred
to at the time as gioventù, this period stretched until the late twenties or
early thirties for upper-class males and until the early twenties for lower-
class males. from 11 or 12 to their late teens, giovani [youths] were gen-
erally seen as passive socially, economically, and sexually—a passivity
often associated with femininity. Physical signs of this that were regularly
noted and discussed were beardlessness, a lighter and less muscular body,
a higher voice, and a feminine quality that could even allow one to pass
for a young woman. Giulio was carefully portrayed in the comedy as a
youth at this stage of masculine development.
in fact, in his scene of love-making with the young widow angela, it
is she who takes the active role in their lovemaking. from the start he
insists that he has come to her to “serve her” and be her “servant.” such
claims might be discounted as mere topoi from a Petrarchian or courtly
love tradition, but Giulio acts on them or, to be more accurate, does not
act. angela takes the lead insisting on giving him the first kiss, offering to
undress him, telling him what to do and to all this he replies, “your lady-
ship needn’t worry. for now that i’m yours, your wish is my command.”24
she responds, “now that you are mine, i want to guard you so that no
one will steal you. so i’ll hold you like this, tightly in my arms.”25 and the
relationship continues apace, but the closing lines of their night together
24 La veniexiana, p. 304.
25 ibid., p. 305.