Il «fracasso e l’urto delle passioni» in «cuori che rimangono nella notte». La critica del giudizio penale nella «Storia della colonna infame»

The reunion made by the literary criticism of the two masterpieces of Alessandro Manzoni I promessi sposi and La storia della Colonna infame allows us to consider with even greater clarity the questions of justice that each of these two works already raised. In particular, it emerges both the discussion about the persistence of an individual responsibility even when a coercion is exerted, be it physical or merely moral. A question that mainly concerns the character of Don Abbondio but also other characters of the Promessi sposi and even the victims of the torture perpetrated by the Milanese inquisitors in the Colonna infame. Then we see the illustration of the damages produced by the fury of passions not controlled by rationality and by a law subservient to the pressure of the multitudes. Finally, in these two works we find is masterfully outlined the classic and devastating dynamics of the compensation of fear towards what is not known or understood through convictions of innocent individuals and above all the illusion of finding light through the physicality of the tortured body of scapegoats. However, even these perverse mechanisms must be understood and explained, before being deprecated, in their emergence and development in order to be countered in the bud.