The basilisk’s eye-fang—dying on the throe,
lead (mutatis mutandis) back to the opening monologue of Richard III:
I, that am rudely stamped, and want love’s majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;—
— — — — —
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain — — — —
Something of a ‘kitchen Richard’ Berthold, however, is, inwardly if not outwardly: he is a Richard without genius or grandeur. The same difference is noticeable in the case of another literary figure that presumably influenced the character of Berthold—Rashleigh Osbaldistone in Scott’s Rob Roy which appeared in 1818, just at the time when Maturin was composing Fredolfo. The ‘wickedness’ of Rashleigh is by no means incomparable to that of Berthold, but he is in possession of an intellectual power and mental superiority which makes him the most prominent figure in the environment in which he is depicted. Berthold, though neither ludicrous nor unnatural, is not sufficiently interesting to support the important part assigned to him, having nothing to counterbalance his ‘matchless depravity.’