Duchess of Malfi Discussion

Discussion section follows the commentary.

It lasts for 10 minutes.
There is excellent knowledge and understanding of the content and the implications of the work
discussed.
There are persuasive and independent responses to the discussion questions.
The language is very clear and appropriate with accuracy in grammar and sentence construction, the
register and style are effective and appropriate.

Plot Summary
 The duchess is a young widow.
 Her brother Ferdinand, her twin and her other brother the Cardinal visit her in Malfi.
 She has chosen Antonio as her steward and Bosola is appointed to look after her horses by
Ferdinand but in actual fact he is his spy on the Duchess.
 Her brothers warn her to remain chaste and unmarried.
 The duchess secretly woos and marries Antonio in the presence of Cariola her waiting-woman.
 At the birth of their first child, Bosola discovers the duchess is pregnant and reports to her
brothers.
 Ferdinand erupts with violent passion and vows revenge. The cardinal feels a cold rage.
 Ferdinand threatens the duchess on his return.
 The duchess decides Antonio should leave for Ancona and sends Antonio + their eldest son to
Milan.
 The duchess is arrested by masked men.
 Ferdinand visits and gives her a dead mans hand.
 Bosola draws curtain to show her children and husband dead. Bosola approaches as an old
man with gifts from her brothers. She kneels and is strangled.
 Ferdinand believes he is a wolf and refuses to reward Bosola.
 Julia the Cardinals mistress seduces Bosola. But is later killed by the Cardinal by kissing a
poisoned bible.
 Bosola hears the Cardinal’s plan to kill him.
 In the dark Bosola kills his supposed assassin but finds out it is Antonio.
 Bosola then wounds the cardinal before Ferdinand entering to wound Bosola.
 Bosola kills Ferdinand and believes his revenge is complete before dying.
 Delio enters with Antonio’s son and declares him as the heir to his mother’s position in Malfi.

Act 1
 Delio welcomes Antonio back from France.
 Bosola enters. He is the court gall and believes the cardinal is treating him unfairly. He was a
galley slave as a result of doing a service for the cardinal. Believes in the corruption of the
court and is critical of the cardinal.
 Delio tells audience and Antonio that Bosola spent 7 years in the galleys for murder
commissioned by the cardinal.
 Cardinal likes to be surrounded by sycophants.
 Antonio believes Duchess is beautiful but Delio who describes the characters believes he is
overstating.
 Cardinal wants Ferdinand to make Bosola their spy not Antonio because he is too honest.
 Bosola vs. Ferdinand tension when offered gold for the job, Bosola knows he must repay and
states ‘whose throat must I cut’. At first he is hesitant but then agrees to become intelligencer
with ‘I am your creature.’
  Ferdinand and the cardinal tell the duchess to remain unmarried. Ferdinand pulls out his
father’s rusty poniard (phallic symbol).
 Antonio and Duchess – gives him ring puts it on him and get married in front of Cariola.

Act 1 Analysis
 Sets the tone for good vs evil.
 Antonio portrayed as being too honest.
 Cardinal is cold and calculating and Ferdinand is hot tempered.
 Duchess is divine from Antonio’s perspective.
 Bosola feels compelled to serve – I am your creature.
 Foreshadows warning of what is to come in the male dominated society.

Act 2
 Bosola mocks Castruchio of having unrealised ambitions.
 An old lady enters and Bosola mocks her ugliness and how she wears make up.
 Bosola muses on suspicions of duchess’ pregnancy.
 He brings her apricots as they induce labour.
 Antonio tells Delio or marriage.
 Duchess gets taken into her chambers and Antonio panics. He decides to say Bosola poisoned
the Duchess.

 Bosola believes the duchess is pregnant.

 Antonio tells the court to lock the gates saying the duchess’ jewels were missing.
 People lock themselves in their room.
 Baby is born and Antonio decides to get its horoscope.

 Outside the palace Bosola enters with a lantern believing he heard a woman shriek.
 Antonio enters and questions Bosola who says he is praying and denies hearing anything.
 Antonio claims he is calculating horoscope to find thief, says Bosola is the main suspect.
 Antonio gets a nose bleed which is considered a bad omen and leaves.
 Bosola finds dropped horoscope and realises its for an infant. Doesn’t know who father is.
 Plans to send news to the brothers in Rome.

 Delio offers money for Julia’s favour and a letter arrives for Ferdinand.

 Ferdinand carrying the letter, tells the Cardinal about the duchess.
 The knowledge makes him crazy.
 Ferdinand projects extreme emotion using threats and vows revenge.
 Cardinal a cold anger.

Act 2 Analysis
 Bosola is intrigued by the physicality of the duchess and her attempt to ‘hide’ pregnancy.
 Ironic that Bosola cynically mocks lady for make up when he is a spy.
 Symbolism of Bosola coming out into the dark – mystery unknowing dark like him.
 Contrast between Ferdinand and the Cardinal.
 Idea of infected blood – polluted.
 Verbal and physical reactions creates fear and sympathy for the duchess.
 Idea of Ferdinand being obsessed with his twin. Possessive and sexually intense obsession.
The theme of incest is commonly used by Jacobean dramatists. And this could explain the
motivations that drive Ferdinand.
Act 3
 In the duchess’ palace.
 She has had two more children and Antonio fears her brothers know as Ferdinand has been
acting suspicious.
 Ferdinand tells the Duchess he has found a husband for her.
 The duchess objects.
 Bosola tells Ferdinand that the duchess has had 3 children but he still does not know who the
father is.
 Bosola gives Ferdinand the key to the duchess’ room.

 In the bedroom the duchess tells Antonio he can’t sleep in her bed despite Antonio wanting
to. He teases Cariola for being single and leaves with her.
 The duchess prepares for bed and Ferdinand enters holding his poniard.
 She admits she is married.
 Antonio and Cariola return.
 Bosola enters and asks the duchess why she is upset. She tells him that Antonio falsified
accounts.
 She decides Antonio should go to Ancona and banishes him in front of Bosola.
 She asks for opinions of Antonio.
 After Bosola’s flattery, she confides in him.

 Bosola arrives to speak to Ferdinand and the Cardinal privately. Who become angry before
devising a plan to intercept her.

 Cardinal gives up his cardinal hat to fight as a soldier.

 The duchess pleads with Antonio to take their son to Milan and he leaves.
 Bosola then apprehends the duchess and her children, who are taken prisoner.

Act 3 Analysis
 Theme of class is developed with the duchess not marrying into a higher or equal class.
 Bosola as the intelligencer.
 Ferdinand incapable of understanding why the duchess is married.
 Delio as being trustworthy and his role in the exposition.
 Let me be deaf to it – Ferdinand. Dramatic irony of not being angry at rumours of the duchess.
 Duchess as being quick thinking, but out smarted by Bosola.

Act 4
 Bosola informs Ferdinand about the duchess’ imprisonment.
 Ferdinand and the duchess meet in the dark. He gives her a dead man’s hand with a wedding
ring on it which she believes is Antonio’s.
 Bosola enters and pulls back a curtain showing Antonio and her children’s bodies which the
duchess believes are real.
 Ferdinand then tells Bosola the bodies are wax and he is trying to make her go mad.
 Bosola tells him to stop torturing her.
 Bosola feels a sense of pity.

 Cariola tells the duchess the mad men were put outside her prison by her brother.
 Bosola enters disguised as an old man and tells her he is here to design her coffin as a present
from her brothers.
  Cariola objects and says she will die with her. The duchess is strangled.
 Cariola and her children are ordered to be killed.
 Bosola shows Ferdinand the bodies, he is emotionless towards the bodies until he sees the
duchess’ which makes him cry.
 Bosola asks for a reward but Ferdinand believes being let off for murder is enough.
 Bosola is aggrieved and wants to gain revenge to make amends.
 Duchess moves and Bosola thinks he will get forgiveness.
 She asks about her husband and then dies.

Act 4 Analysis
 Duchess – loss of hope when she sees the wax bodies.
 Cariola – brave at first wants to die but then changes and begs to be kept alive.
 Turning point for Bosola who shows a sense of genuine remorse.
 He regrets his actions after not being given a reward.
 A sense of pity is developed for Bosola.

Act 5
 Delio councils Antonio that he is being trapped by the brothers.
 Delio is a good friend to Pescara and therefore he wont give him Antonio’s polluted land.
 Ferdinand is rumoured to be sick.
 Antonio plans to confront the cardinal.

 Ferdinand’s doctor says he believes himself to be a wolf. He attacks his own shadow.
 Cardinal and Bosola meet and the Cardinal pretends not to know about the duchess’ death so
that his involvement is not suspected. Says that if he finds out Antonio will get his payment.
 Julia says she loves Bosola and he challenges her to prove it by finding out the plans of the
cardinal.
 The cardinal tells her about his secret then kills her by making her kiss a poisoned bible.
 Bosola enters and asks for his reward but the cardinal says only after Antonio is dead, however
Bosola wants to protect him.

 Antonio is haunted by an echo whilst with Delio from the duchess’ tomb which repeats
snippets of their conversation.

 The cardinal tells the court not to say with Ferdinand as people make is condition worse.
However, in reality he just wants time so Julia’s body can be moved.
 He also says sounds should be ignored and makes them swear not to leave their rooms in a
similar manner to how Antonio did during the duchess’ first pregnancy.
 Cardinal confesses his desire to kill Bosola which Bosola overhears.
 Antonio and a servant then enter and Bosola thinking they are hearing to kill him stabs
Antonio in the dark.
 Bosola tells him about his wife and is deeply upset by this feeling remorse.

 The cardinal enters and Bosola comes in with Antonio’s body.

 Bosola tells the cardinal he is here to kill him and the cardinal calls for help yet no one comes
as they were ordered not to. He tries to bribe him. Bosola is determined.
 Pescara then decides to check what’s happening and other members of the court leave with
him to whiteness his humiliation.
 Bosola wants to avenge the death of Antonio and the duchess and stabs the cardinal, before
Ferdinand enters, he injures the cardinal further and stabs Bosola.
  Ferdinand is stabbed and killed by Bosola.
 Pescara and the court enter and Bosola explains what has happened before dying.
 Delio then enters with Antonio’s eldest son and a pledge is made to give him a good life to
honour his parents, with his presence acting as a symbol of hope.

Act 5 Analysis
 Bosola’s transition and the importance of Bosola.
 Duchess despite the heroine died in Act four.
 The cardinal as a strong figure compared to his brother.
 Bosola can no longer be controlled by money.
 Destructive nature of power.
 Cardinal and Duchess’ death – contrasts between them. The duchess being calm and dignified
and the cardinal crying for help.
 Member of the family survives creating a sentiment of hope.
 Bosola apart – blocking of characters – idea of being isolated and spying.
 Echo’s adds to the sense of dramatic chaos, foreshadowing death and darkness.

Presentation/Role of Female Characters

In my opinion it can be seen that female characters are used by Webster as a reflection of the
renaissance society of the time. With the image of women exercising political power being rare,
Webster exemplifies the complication within the play, with the Duchess of Malfi being left with power.
For the audience of the time it can be said that self-love is still associated with being a crime, with
members of the audience being able to draw connections to the case of Lady Arabella, who was
imprisoned for secretly marrying William Seymour, with him being perceived as a threat to the
thrown. In this play we see Webster offer two contrasting portrayals of the duchess. From Antonio’s
perspective she is divine yet from her brothers viewpoint she is seen as being a lusty widow, which
effectively leads to her downfall in the novel.
Cariola is the female maid of the Duchess. She is extremely loyal. Her death is a contrast to the
Duchess. The duchess dies with dignity yet Cariola begs for her life.

Macabre elements of the play

Elements of macabre within a play are normally used by writers in order to exemplify and highlight
the symbols associated with death, and this is a quality of theatre which is prominent within the
Duchess of Malfi throughout the play. It can be said the first use of macabre occurs within the first act
of the play and can be noted as being a tool used by Webster to foreshadow to effects of the duchess’
decision to marry Antonio. When telling the duchess to remain unmarried and chaste before leaving
for Rome, Webster has Antonio pull out his father’s poniard, which can implicitly be associated as
being an element of macabre. By stating ‘This was my father’s poniard’ the dagger is made to
represent the power of a patriarch, which could suggest the power Ferdinand wants to have over his
sister.
Other elements of macabre are the severed hand presented to the duchess by Ferdinand with the
ring, the wax bodies shown to the duchess when Bosola pulls back the curtain and the noose
presented to the duchess by the executioner as being symbolic of her wedding ring. The noose here
can be seen to hence act as an emblem the reprocessing of marrying Antonio.

Webster’s Themes and Symbols

 Disguise – This concept of a false front is seen within the play Duchess of Malfi in two main
ways. Firstly, through the Duchess herself who is able to depict contrasting feelings to
Ferdinand and the Cardinal regarding marriage to how she actually feels, and effectively hide
her marriage from her brothers. And then on Bosola’s part who is seen as being the
intelligencer in the play. Bosola’s disguise is shown through his private and public portrayal.
 With soliloquys and asides showing Bosola his private thoughts for example when finding the
horoscope and his public veil of deception for example where he tells Antonio he is out to
pray when the duchess is in labour.
 Wedding Ring – Given to duchess by her first husband she puts it on Antonio who the kneels
before her with the ring on she tells him to rise and not only does Webster present him to
literally be rising but there’s this sense of him rising figuratively up the social spectrum by
marrying the duchess. At the same time the ring is symbolic of his downfall with the cardinal
taking the ring off the duchess in Ancona. Also in the severed hand to identify Antonio and
the Noose shown by the executioner to the duchess.
 Secrets – The echo heard by Antonio and Delio could be representative of a secret warning
from the ghost of the duchess.
 Poniard – ‘This was my fathers poniard’ From this we see how the dagger represents power
that a patriarch held within society and the power Ferdinand wants to obtain over his sister.
With unmarried women in the time of the renaissance being in the control of their male
relatives, it can be seen that Ferdinand is desperate to re-state his control and establish a
sense of dominance over her. The poniard also has another meaning in the sense that it can
be said to act as a phallic symbol, being a naked dagger held by Ferdinand it puts emphasis on
the perverse nature of society with the incestuous notion providing explanation to
Ferdinand’s obsession with his sister.
 Malcontent – Within this play Bosola acts as the malcontent. Typically, in Jacobean revenge
tragedies the role of the malcontent is not simply to be a contract killer but to play a role
within far more prominence and importance within the play, yet in this play initially Webster
simply portrays Bosola to be a mere assassin and it is only at the end of the play where the
audience is made aware of his developed sense of justice and righteousness where he takes
on the role of the revenger.

Props
Alter, Chair, tomb, bed, ring, noose, bloody handkerchief, dagger, hand, gold, apricots, paper.

Setting
Set within the court which is presented as being a hotbed for corruption and injustice. This is most
evidently seen through the interaction between Bosola and Ferdinand in act one, where Ferdinand is
attempting to hire Bosola as an intelligencer. When given gold by Bosola his reaction is ‘whose throat
must I cut’ highlighting this idea of him being knowledgeable regarding the activities in the court, with
it being assumed he must kill since by taking the money he would become obliged to serve.
Takes place within Malfi, Ancona and Rome.

Ending
The audience is left with a sense of hope with Delio bringing on Antonio’s eldest son with the
suggestion that the past should be left behind.
In Jacobean theory of tragedies there is a necessity to have an audience meaning that the drama
intends to be open ended and pose questions rather than answer them.

Audience
The play was first performed by the king’s men in 1613 in the globe and Blackfairs.
Performances used to take place within the evening/afternoon.
Renaissance period – time of economic and industrial developments.
Jacobean society – 1600’s
Bosola
 In my opinion the most interesting character within Duchess of Malfi is Bosola, who takes on
the role of the malcontent within the play. Typically, in Jacobean revenge tragedies the role
of the malcontent is not simply to be a contract killer but to play a role within far more
prominence and importance within the play, yet in this play initially Webster simply portrays
Bosola to be a mere assassin and it is only at the end of the play where the audience is made
aware of his developed sense of justice and righteousness where he takes on the role of the
revenger.
 Being made aware that he had spent time as a galley slave the initial portrayal of Bosola is of
him being a paid killer. Despite knowing that he will have to cut someone’s throat, he takes
the money from Ferdinand and agrees to act as an intelligencer. Within this role throughout
the majority of the play the audience is shown that he is good at what he does firstly through
deducing the duchess is pregnant and then giving her plums to induce the pregnancy and then
by effectively fooling the duchess to reveal the truth about her marriage.
 It is only after the death of the duchess where Ferdinand refuses to pay him that we see a
change take place within him. Vowing to make amends for his actions he refuses to kill
Antonio when ordered to by the Cardinal. Here we see Bosola take on the role of the revenger
whose role is made clear after he kills the Cardinal and Ferdinand. Here he is given the
opportunity to achieve his revenge and we see how Bosola here is no longer controlled by
money and is his own man.

Darkness
There are two main incidents where darkness is used by Webster as a tool to further enhance the
exposition of key scenes within the play. Typically, being performed at afternoon or early afternoon,
Webster would have used the back half of the stage to create the dark effect which is seen within the
play. The first incident where darkness is the focal point is during the moment where the duchess has
gone into labour. Darkness here is used to enhance the idea of spying and disguise within the play.
With Bosola and Antonio being the only two people out of their chambers the darkness adds to the
aura of suspicion on Bosola’s part and the sense of tension from Antonio’s.
Parallel to this incident is the moment where Antonio is mistakenly killed by Bosola. In my opinion the
darkness here is a dramatic requirement, with Webster requiring Bosola to kill Antonio to ultimately
portray his change throughout the play. The darkness in this circumstance provides explanation to the
event for the audience watching the play.

Spying
Bosola on the duchess
Ferdinand spying on the duchess before entering her bedroom with his poniard.

Blocking of Characters
Blocking of characters is important in enhancing the idea of spying. With Bosola being isolated on
stage at many times it enhances his characterisation of him being the spy and intelligencer in the play
using asides to present this sense of secrecy and privacy – providing the reader with this idea of
mystery and not knowing.

Key Quotes
Bosola to the cardinal “I do haunt you”
Antonio about Ferdinand “A most perverse and Turbulent nature”
Antonio about the duchess “divine”
Bosola to Ferdinand “Whose throat must I cut”
Ferdinand to the Duchess “This was my fathers poniard”
Ferdinand about the Duchess “infected blood”
Duchess to Ferdinand “Why might I not marry”
Cardinal to Bosola “Oh mercy”
Bosola “The last part of my life hath done me best service”

Is there a particular scene Webster makes memorable for you and how does he do this?
In my opinion the most memorable scene for me would have to moment where Bosola kills both the
cardinal and Ferdinand as part of his revenge, in order to make up for the wrongdoings of his past.
The scene itself is memorable for me as on the surface what it does is act to purge the corruption seen
within the play with Webster having Ferdinand to deliver a blow to the cardinal, not only showing the
chaotic nature of the scene but highlighting the failures of the two brothers. For me the wider
significance and implication of this scene however is with Bosola, the malcontent of the play, with this
scene ultimately presenting him to be a figure of change who has moved on from being the mere
contract killer who would cut throats for money, to someone who cannot be bought by gold and
someone who the audience feels sympathy for due to his change in character.