It tests the reader’ credulity to hear of the father, who symbolically idolizes his perfect daughter, brutally cutting off her head and then, like a barbarian, taking it by the hair and carrying it to the judge. Likewise, the pleas of the daughter Virginia ring false; even though the description of Virginia’s maidenly virtues and her chastity are found in many treatises on virginity, the reader should remember that these works were written by men to apply only to young women. The pathetic speech in which Virginia chooses death rather than the dishonor involved in losing her virginity can be found in many treatises of the time, but it rings false when she invokes the example of Jephtha. The significance difference between the death of Virginia and the death of Jephtha’s daughter is that Virginia rejoices that she will die a virgin, and Jephtha’s daughter grieved that, by dying a virgin, her life would be unfulfilled.
The tale ends in a rather sanctimonious confusion. Appius slays himself in prison. The judge’s henchman, Claudius, is sentenced to be hanged, but Virginius begs for mercy — an unbelievable plea coming from a man who has just chopped off his daughter’s head. Then, incredibly, we are told that the rest of the band were hanged. Where did this band come from, whose band was it — Appius’ or Claudius’ — and what did this band do to deserve hanging while Claudius is sent into exile? Finally, the tale concludes with a moral that is irrelevant to the tale.
