Guido is not only painted by three others--by Caponsacchi, by Pompilia, by the Pope--but he finally exposes his real self with his own hand.

He is condemned to death.

Two of his friends visit him the night before his execution, in his cell.

Then, exalted into eloquence by the fierce passions of fear of death and hatred of Pompilia, he lays bare as the night his very soul, mean, cruel, cowardly, hungry for revenge, crying for life, black with hate--a revelation such as in literature can best be paralleled by the soliloquies of Iago.

Baseness is supreme in his speech, hate was never better given; the words are like the gnashing of teeth; prayers for life at any cost were never meaner, and the outburst of terror and despair at the end is their ultimate expression.
Over against him is set Caponsacchi, of noble birth, of refined manner, one of those polished and cultivated priests of whom Rome makes such excellent use, and of whom Browning had drawn already a different type in Bishop Blougram.