When Anatole first asks Pito if he’s in love with Tullia, his answer is, “How could I be?” The second time he’s asked, he says, "How could I not be?” (p. 33). Are these answers contradictory? What does Pito mean?
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When he is asked if he is in love with her the first time he answers how could I be. He is saying she is a princess I cannot be in love with her, cannot be allowed to love her. The second time he is asked he says I love her, meaning how can I not, she is the person I love. I love everything about her.
His comments reflect his denial at first since he knew of the danger involved in loving Tullia. However, when he was given a “pause” he told his real feelings. I think all of us have had that experience when asked our opinion about a topic. Fear of hurting someone’s feelings may have caused protective reactions but after thinking about it the “truth” came out. His reactions are certainly not contradictory in my opinion just reflect an “time interval” of reaction. Pita had time to rethink his response.
At first, he treats the idea as absurd, “How could I be” meaning, how could I, a servant, love a princess? It’s impossible.
But once he is told that she loves him and is even willing to do her own duty of marrying the prince because she loves him, he allows himself to believe it is possible. And once he really considers it, he talks himself out of guardedness and into honesty. “How could I not be”?