ABSTRACT
Romola's initial place as scribe/servant to her father's scholarly enterprises places her figuratively and literally in the realm of language and patriarchy. Her struggle to maintain a place within the universe of her father's work and words leads her to enact a series of displacements as she looks from one male figure to another to infuse her experience with significance. In tracing Romola's eventual appropriation of naming, which brings with it the power to confer meaning, create new bonds and establish personal autonomy, the reader must also examine her progress through the patriarchal politics of language events. Tito's attempt at recreating Romola and himsell through mythological allusion and his talent for rationalizing his betrayal of Baldassarre illustrate his misunderstanding of the power of language and symbols as creators and expressions of the tenacity of bonds of duty. Both Romola and Tessa meet Baldassarre, and Romola and Tessa know each other as well.
