Duchess 1:1

Question 1

who is Delio?

Answer 1

• Antonio’s friend and one of only two initial people to be trusted with the secret of the Duchess’ marriage to Antonio
• he remains a faithful friend to the family to the end of the play

Question 2

who is Antonio?

Answer 2

• steward of the Duchess’ household
• will secretly marry the duchess and have 3 children with her

Question 3

Antonio’s character

Answer 3

• honest, a good judge of character, a loving husband and father
• passive and largely ineffectual in a crisis (ultimately unable to protect his family)
• unremarkable in comparison to the duchess

Question 4

‘A very formal…’

Answer 4

‘A very formal Frenchman in your habit.’ - Delio to A
- Antonio has been gone long enough to pick up the French style

Question 5

‘How do you like the…’

Answer 5

‘How do you like the French court?’ - Delio to A
- opens with a particular model of power and examination of its politics
- theme of power and corruption in Antonio’s reply

Question 6

‘I admire it…’

Answer 6

‘I admire it./ In seeking to reduce both state and people/ To a fixed order,’ - Antonio
- about French court
- brings the government and population together
- power and corruption
- is about to assess the French court methods

Question 7

‘their judicious..’

Answer 7

‘their judicious king/ Begins at home, quite first his royal palace/ Of flattering sycophants’ - Antonio
- gets rid of those who blindly agree
- ‘sycophant’ someone who is excessively obedient to those in power to gain advantage

Question 8

‘Considering duly that a…’

Answer 8

‘Considering duly that a prince’s court/ Is like a common fountain, whence should flow/ Pure silver drops in general, but if’t […]’ - Antonio
- should be clean, precious water everywhere

Question 9

‘in general, but if’t…’

Answer 9

‘in general, but if’t chance/ Some cursed example poison’t near the head,/ Death and diseases through the whole land spread.’ - Antonio
- if the water is corrupted at its source, the whole of it is

Question 10

Antonio’s metaphor for corrupting in court

Answer 10

• he compares the system to a ‘common fountain’ through which there should be clean, precious water everywhere (‘pure silver drops in general’)
• if there is ‘poison’ ‘near the head’ then the whole thing becomes corrupted (if the court is corrupt then the whole thing is)

Question 11

‘But a most…’

Answer 11

‘But a most provident council, who dare freely/ Inform him the corruption of the times?’ - Antonio
- replace the blind followers (‘flattering sycophants’) with those who will be honest and stand up to those in power

Question 12

how would a Jacobean audience respond to Antonio’s speech vs a modern audience (4-22)? - key points to note

Answer 12

• criticism wouldn’t be so openly received
• monarchy vs government (appointed by God)
• distance between state and people
• religion - corruption and hell
• censoring criticism (advisors and parties)
• fountain metaphor (one person responsible for corruption)
• implied criticism of James I

Question 13

‘Here comes…’

Answer 13

‘Here comes Bosola,/ The only court-gall.’ - Antonio
- an irritant to the court
- someone who chafes and criticises the court
- he is a malcontent

Question 14

‘Yet I observe…’

Answer 14

‘Yet I observe his railing/ Is not for simple love of piety’ - Antonio about Bosola
- abusing everyone basically

Question 15

Machiavellian

Answer 15

• cunningness
• the Cardinal

Question 16

the Cardinal’s entrance to 1:1

Answer 16

• ‘Here’s the Cardinal’
• dramatic
• he embodies what they have been talking about (corruption)

Question 17

Malcontent

Answer 17

• Bosola
• often appeared in early modern drama
• discontented with the social structure
• often an outsider who observes and comments on the action
• may even acknowledge they are in a play
• unhappy, unsettled, displeased with the world of the play, eager to change or dispute with it
• also Hamlet

Question 18

‘I have done you…’

Answer 18

‘I have done you/ Better service than to be slighted thus’ - Bosola to Cardinal
- C is ignoring him after hiring B to kill someone and B serving 2 years in prison

Question 19

‘Miserable age, where…’

Answer 19

‘Miserable age, where only the reward/ Of doing well is the doing of it.’ - Bosola
- gets ignored for going to the ‘galleys’ in ‘service’ of the Cardinal

Question 20

‘I fell into the…’

Answer 20

‘I fell into the galleys in your service, where for two years together I wore two towels instead of a shirt’ - Bosola to C
- bullies Cardinal, makes him face it
- went to prison for doing a job (murder) for C
- honest about his past

Question 21

‘slighted thus’

Answer 21

repeated by Bosola, he is indignated and bitter

Question 22

‘Would you could…’

Answer 22

‘Would you could become honest.’ - C to B
- “i’ll only deal with you if you polish up your image”
- wants to keep a clean image

Question 23

‘With all your…’

Answer 23

‘With all your divinity, do but direct me the way to it.’ - Bosola to C
- sarcasm, no respect for the Cardinal
- calling him out on his corruption

Question 24

‘I have known too many…’

Answer 24

‘I have known too many travel far for it and yet return as arrant knaves as they went forth because they carried themselves always along with them.’ - B to C
- some don’t change through divinity

Question 25

‘this great fellow were able to…’

Answer 25

‘this great fellow were able to possess the greatest devil and make him worse.’ - Bosola about the Cardinal
- ties to Antonio later when he says ‘the devil speaks in [the Cardinal’s lips]’

Question 26

‘I knew this fellow…’

Answer 26

‘I knew this fellow seven years in the galleys/ For a notorious murder, and ‘twas thought/ The Cardinal suborned it.’ - Delio about Bosola
- hints of corruption, is aware of the Cardinal
- the ‘seven years’ does not necessarily contradict Bosola’s ‘for two years’ (perhaps B only served 2 of a 7 year sentence)

Question 27

'’Tis great…’

Answer 27

'’Tis great pity/ He should be thus neglected. I have heard/ He’s very valiant.’ - Antonio about Bosola
- ironic, they are overlooking the corruption they just spoke about
- A is positive about Bosola (‘very valiant’ ‘his goodness’)

Question 28

‘This foul…’

Answer 28

‘This foul melancholy/ Will poison all his goodness’ - A about B
- Bosola has ‘goodness’
- overlooks his actions (murder, prison)

Question 29

‘It then doth follow…’

Answer 29

‘It then doth follow want of action/ Breeds all black malcontents’ - A about B
- modern idea that society has made him this way

Question 30

‘He and his brother are…’

Answer 30

‘He and his brother are like plum trees that grow crooked over standing pools.’ - Bosola
- talking about Ferdinand and the Cardinal
- ‘plum trees’ - resentment, sourness, richness, privilege and wealth - purple = royalty and the church
- ‘crooked’ - something “wrong”
- ‘standing pools’ - links to Tantalus later

Question 31

‘They are rich and…’

Answer 31

‘They are rich and o’erladen with fruit, but none but crows, pies and caterpillars feed on them.’ - Bosola
- idea of waste and disparity
- ‘rich and o’erladen’ links to the ‘plum tree’ metaphor
- ‘crows, pies and caterpillars’ crows and magpies are scavengers so this is a negative portrayal (links to the ‘flattering’ courtiers)

Question 32

‘Could I be one of…’

Answer 32

‘Could I be one of their flattering panders, I would hang on their ears like a horse leech till I were full, and then drop off.’ - Bosola
- ‘flattering panders’ refers to the ‘flattering sycophants’ aka courtiers that Antonio talks about earlier
- ‘horse leech’ ties to the ‘crows, pies and caterpillars’ and begs the questions what is their transaction? Are they using him (like it appears to be) or is he using them like ‘leech’ suggests

Question 33

‘Who would rely upon these…’

Answer 33

‘Who would rely on these miserable dependencies in expectation to be advanced tomorrow?’ - Bosola
- no point expecting reward (resentment of the Cardinal)

Question 34

‘What creature ever fed…’

Answer 34

‘What creature ever fed worse than hoping Tantalus?’ - Bosola
- Tantalus was punished by being placed in a pool with a fruit tree just out of reach (he could neither eat or drink)
= so good but out of reach
= ‘plum trees’ ‘standing pool’
= tantalising

Question 35

‘There are rewards for…’

Answer 35

‘There are rewards for hawks and dogs when they have done us service, but, for a soldier that hazards his limbs in a battle, nothing’ - Bosola
- ‘rewards’ - is stuck on the Cardinal thing
- sees himself as this wounded war hero

Question 36

‘but, for a soldier that… nothing but a kind of…’

Answer 36

‘but, for a soldier that hazards his limbs in battle, nothing but a kind of geometry is his last supportation.’ - Bosola
- all he can hope for is a crutch ‘(honourable pair of crutches’ or sling ‘fair pair of slings’)