She lays her magic on Sordello.
But she is not only the woman of personal magic and beauty.

Being of high rank and mixed with great events, she naturally becomes the political woman, a common type in the thirteenth century.

And Browning gives her the mental power to mould and direct affairs.

She uses her personal charm to lure Sordello into politics.
Her wise And lulling words are yet about the room, Her presence wholly poured upon the gloom Down even to her vesture's creeping stir.
And so reclines he, saturate with her.
* * * But when she felt she held her friend indeed Safe, she threw back her curls, began implant Her lessons; Her long discourse on the state of parties, and how Sordello may, in mastering them, complete his being, fascinates him and us by the charm of her intelligence.
But the political woman has often left love behind.

Politics, like devotion, are a woman's reaction from the weariness of loving and being loved.