Focusing on the figures of the Bravi, of Don Rodrigo and the Unnamed, we examine the question of lawfulness and of the oppression of the weak by the strong, through an analysis of the various types of reaction to violence in characters such as Don Abbondio, Fra Cristoforo and the Nun of Monza. All this as Lucia and Renzo passively witness a story that develops, despite them, through the actions of Providence that is suspiciously similar to Hegel’s Geist.