Duchess 2:1 Flashcards
‘You said you would fain be…’
‘‘Tis the very…’
‘You said you would fain be taken for an eminent courtier?’ - Bosola
‘‘Tis the very main of my ambition.’ - Castruccio
- Castruccio wants to become a more senior courtier (specifically a judge), Bosola goes on to try and undermine this ambition
‘Let me see - you have a…’
‘Let me see - you have a reasonable good face for’t already and your nightcap expresses your ears sufficient largely.’ - Bosola
- insulting his ears
‘to hum three or…’
‘to hum three or four times or blow your nose till it smart again to recover your memory’ - Bosola
- continues to make fun of Castruccio, undermining his ambition through insecurities like his large eaes
- perhaps these are things that C already does
‘When you come to be a…’
‘When you come to be a president in criminal causes, if you smile upon a prisoner, hang him, but if you frown upon him and threaten him, let him be sure to ‘scape the gallows.’ - Bosola
- making fun of the very role that Castruccio aims, undermining his ambition
- this suggests that Castruccio wants to be a judge/magistrate
‘I would be a very…’
‘I would be a very merry president.’ - Castruccio
- lighthearted despite Bosola’s insults
‘I will teach a trick to…’
‘I will teach a trick to know it: give out you lie a-dying and, if you hear the common people curse you, be sure you are taken for one of the prime nightcaps.’ - Bosola to C
- he will know that he is an ‘eminent fellow’ (senior courtier) when the common people curse him
‘Why, from your…’
‘Why, from your scurvy face-physic!’ - Bosola to Old Lady
- disgusting cosmetics/diseased face
- expression of disgust as a greeting - she would have loosely been a member of the court so he would have known her
‘There was a lady in France that, having had…’
‘There was a lady in France that, having had the smallpox, flayed the skin off her face to make it more level and, whereas before she looked like a nutmeg-grater, after she resembled an abortive hedgehog.’ - Bosola
- comparing the old lady in her make-up to an ‘abortive hedgehog’
- harsh comments, this scene helps to characterise Bosola as a misogynist, we know how he will treat/view other women in the play because of this scene
‘No, no, but you call it careening of…’
‘No, no, but you call it careening of an old morphewed lady to make her disembogue again.’ - Bosola
- scraping clean an old lady (like barnacles off a ship) so that she can go forth again (return to the sea)
‘One would suspect it for a shop of…’
‘One would suspect [your closet] for a shop of witchcraft: to find it in the fat of serpents, spawn of snakes, Jews’ spittle and their young children’s ondures, and all these for the face.’ - Bosola to Old Lady
- anti-Semitic insult associating bodily excretions of Jewish people with ingredients used by witches
- suggesting that she makes concoctions like a witch would
‘I would sooner eat a…’
‘I would sooner eat a dead pigeon taken from the soles of the feet of one sick of the plague than kiss one of you fasting.’ - Bosola to Old Lady
- a dead pigeon, cut open and applied to the feet of a patient was through to draw out dangerous vapours and even cure the plague
- to ‘eat such a bird would presumably be fatal’ - Leah Marcus (Karen Britland edits)
- ‘you fasting’ - breath would be worse
‘Here are two of you whose…’
‘Here are two of you whose sin of your youth is the very patrimony of the physician’ - Bosola to Old Lady and Castruccio
- STD’s from promiscuity, pay the doctors inheritance to his children
‘I do wonder you do not…’
‘I do wonder you do not loath yourselves. Observe my meditation now:’ - Bosola
- then switches into verse (performative, shows his education)
‘Observe my meditation now:’
‘Observe my meditation now:’ - Bosola
- meditations were introspective, implicitly religious passages, a dark vision of the brevity and nastiness of human existence (according to the 1995 Cambridge edition of the play)
- shows his education
‘What thing is in this outward…’
‘What thing is in this outward form of man/ To be beloved?’ - Bosola’s ‘meditation’
- is there anything pleasing in man?
‘We account it ominous…’
‘We account it ominous/ If nature do produce a colt or lamb,/ A fawn of goat, in any limb resembling/ A man, and fly from’t as a prodigy.’ - Bosola’s ‘meditation’
- deformed offspring are a mad omen
- amazed by animals with human features, they are considered superior
‘Man stands amazed to see…’
‘Man stands amazed to see his deformity/ In any other creature but himself.’ - Bosola’s ‘meditation’
- reject uniqueness in our own species
theme of internal corruption in humans (Bosola’s ‘meditation’)
‘deformity’ ‘we bear diseases’ ‘ulcerous wolf’ ‘a rotten and dead body’
‘But in our own flesh, though we bear…’
‘But in our own flesh, though we bear diseases,/ Which have their true names only ta’en from beasts -/ As the most ulcerous wolf and swinish measle-‘ - Bosola’s ‘meditation’
- ‘bear diseases’ suggests internal corruption
‘Though we are eaten up of…’
‘Though we are eaten up of lice an worms,/ And though continually we bear about us/ A rotten and dead body, we delight/ To hide it in rich tissue.’ - Bosola’s ‘meditation’
- appearance and reality
- despite the fact we die and decompose to nothing, we hide our rotten bodies with rich tissue and cosmetics
‘And though continually we…’
And though continually we bear about us/ A rotten and dead body, we delight/ To hide it in rich tissue. All our fear -/ Nay, all our terror- is lest our physician/ Should put us in the ground to be made sweet.’ - Bosola’s meditation
- why care about cosmetics when we’re so scared of death
‘[To Castruccio] Your…’
‘[To Castruccio] Your wife’s gone to Rome.’ - Bosola
- implying that she’s with the Cardinal (he doesn’t seem to pick up on it)
‘[To both] You two couple…’
‘[To both] You two couple and get you to the wells at Lucca to remove your aches.’ - Bosola to Castruccio and the Old Lady
- suggesting they should pair up and be treated for bone aches in thermal baths (focus on their age)
‘I have other work on…’
‘I have other work on foot.’ - Bosola after C and the Old Lady leave
- he has two jobs: playing malcontent (which he has just been doing) and spying on the duchess (which he is going to talk about/act on now)
‘I observe our Duchess/ Is…’
‘I observe our Duchess/ Is sick a-days: she pukes, her stomach seethes,/ The fins of her eyelids look most teeming blue.’ - Bosola (soliloquy)
- signs that she is pregnant
‘She wanes i’th’…’
‘She wanes i’ th’ cheek and waxes fat i’ th’ flank/ And, contrary to our Italian fashion,/ Wears a loose-bodied gown. There’s somewhat in’t.’ - Bosola
- worked out that the duchess is pregnant
- hasn’t explicitly said it though, letting the audience put the signs together like he has
‘I have a trick may…’
‘I have a trick may chance discover it -/ A pretty one - I have bought some apricots./ The first our spring yields.’ - Bosola
- apricots were believed to induce labour
‘And so long since…’
‘And so long since married?/ You amaze me.’ - Delio
- Antonio has told Delio of his marriage to the Duchess and her pregnancy
‘Let me seal your…’
‘Let me seal your lips forever,/ For did I think that anything but th’ air/ Could carry these words from you, I should wish/ You had no breath at all.’ - Antonio to Delio after telling him (we guess) about the Duchess’ pregnancy/their marriage
- ‘And so long since married?/ You amaze me.’ - Delio
‘[To Bosola] Now, sir, in your…’
‘[To Bosola] Now, sir, in your contemplation? You are studying to become a great wise fellow?’ - Antonio
- Bosola looks preoccupied, we know he is actually scheming
- Antonio’s comment could be considered patronising/mocking, implying that he is not a ‘great wise fellow’ but tries to be
‘Oh, sir, the opinion…’
‘Oh, sir, the opinion of wisdom is a foul tetter that runs over a man’s body.’ - Bosola
- ‘foul tetter’ - skin disease
‘If simplicity direct us to have no…’
‘If simplicity direct us to have no evil, it directs us to a happy being, for the subtlest folly proceeds from the subtlest wisdom. Let me be simply honest.’ - Bosola
- ‘subtlest wisdom’ - deep and penetrating wisdom
- not trying to be a ‘great wise fellow’
- important to be aware that Bosola completed higher education
‘Because you would not seem to appear to…’
‘Because you would not seem to appear to th’ world puffed up with your preferment, you continue this out-of-fashion melancholy. Leave it; leave it!’ - Antonio
- B doesn’t want to seem vain
- Antonio is telling B that there is no need for him to be angry at the world now he has a good job (context link to the 1600s and the rise of education but lack of jobs)
‘Give me leave to be honest in…’
‘Give me leave to be honest in any phrase, in any compliment whatsoever. Shall I confess myself to you? I look no higher than what I can reach.’ - Bosola
- knows his place, not trying to reach above him (ironic given Antonio married above his status)
- he was just criticising Castruccio for having too-high ambitions, he thankfully doesn’t contradict himself here
‘They are the gods that must…’
‘They are the gods that must ride on winged horses; a lawyers mule of a slow pace will both suit my disposition and business, for, mark me, when a man’s mind rides father than his horse can gallop, they quickly both tire.’ - Bosola
‘You would look up to…’
‘You would look up to heaven, but I think the devil that rules i’th’air stands in your light.’ - Antonio
- Bosola looks up to greater things but the devil stands in his way
‘Oh, sir, you are lord of the…’
‘Oh, sir, you are lord of the ascendant, chief man with the Duchess; a duke was your cousin-german removed. Say you were lineally descended from King pippin’ - Bosola
- Antonio is a favourite of the Duchess’ but Bosola argues that he is no better simply because he is distantly related to someone from greatness
‘Search the heads of the greatest…’
‘Search the heads of the greatest rivers in the world, you shall find them but bubbles of water.’ - Bosola
- everyone is the same - no superior station
‘Some would think the…’
‘Some would think the souls of princes were brought forth by some more weighty cause than those of meaner persons. They are deceived.’ - Bosola
- people are deceived to think that princes are brought into the world any differently to ‘meaner persons’
‘There’s the same hand…’
‘There’s the same hand to them, the like passions sway them; the same reason that makes the vicar go to law for a tithe-pig and undo his neighbours, makes them spoil a whole province and batter down goodly cities with the cannon.’ - Bosola
- only real difference between Princes and anyone else is their power, the motivations are the same
‘You arm, Antonio…’
‘Your arm, Antonio. Do I not grow fat?/ I am exceeding short-winded.’ - Duchess
‘Bosola,/ I would have you, sir…’
‘Bosola,/ I would have you, sir, provide for me a litter -/ Such a one as the Duchess of Florence rode in.’ - Duchess
- ‘a litter’ - the vehicles in which someone sits and is carried on the shoulders of others
- ‘The Duchess used one when she was great with child.’ - Bosola
‘The Duchess used one when…’
‘The Duchess used one when she was great with child.’ - Bosola
- hinting as his knowledge of the Duchess’ pregnancy
‘I am/ So troubled…’
‘I am/ So troubled with the mother.’ - Duchess
- ‘the mother’ was a humoural disease in which cold, wet vapours arise from the womb, it caused mental discomfort/hysteria
- it was thought to be common in lusty widows
‘I have heard you say that the…’
‘I have heard you say that the French courtiers/ Wear their hats on ‘fore the king.’ - Duchess
- it was a sign of respect to remove ones hat, she wants Antonio to behave as her equal
‘Why should we not bring up…’
‘Why should we not bring up that fashion?/ ‘Tis ceremony more than duty that consists/ In the removing of a piece of felt./ Be you the example to the rest o’ th’ court;/ Put on your hat first.’ - Duchess
- suggesting that removing ones hat in the presence of superiors has no real meaning, it is merely muscle memory/habit
‘You must pardon me./ I have…’
‘You must pardon me./ I have seen in colder countries than in France,/ Nobles stand bare to th’prince, and the distinction/ Methought showed reverently.’ - Antonio
- has seen courtiers in colder countries remove their hats
‘I have a present…’
‘I have a present for your grace. […] Apricots, madam.’ - Bosola
‘Oh, sir, where are…’
‘Oh, sir, where are they?/ I have heard of none to year.’ - Duchess
‘[Aside] Good…’
‘[Aside] Good, her colour rises.’ - Bosola
- the asides contribute to the rising tension, he provides a sort of commentary as his plan unfolds
- equally the short sentences and shared lines in this part of the scene create a faster pace
‘Indeed, I thank…’
‘Indeed, I thank you. They are wondrous fair ones./ What an unskilful fellow is our gardener!/ We shall have none this month.’ - Duchess
- shows a sort of naiivety in contrast to Bosola’s asides
‘I forgot to tell you, the…’
‘I forgot to tell you, the knave gardener -/ Only to raise his profit by them the sooner -/ Did ripen them in horse dung.’ - Bosola
- ripened the fruit with horse dung so they would ripen quicker and the gardener could sell them before anyone else
- ‘Say then my corruption grew out of horse dung’ - Bosola, 1:1
‘Oh, you…’
‘Indeed, madam…’
‘Oh, you jest!/ You shall judge. [To Antonio] Pray, taste one.’ - Duchess
‘Indeed, madam,/ I do not love the fruit.’
‘Sir, you are loath/ To…’
‘Sir, you are loath/ To rob us of our dainties. ‘Tis a delicate fruit./ They say they are restorative!’ - Duchess
- he said he doesn’t like them so that the Duchess can eat them
'’Tis a pretty…’
'’Tis a pretty art, this grafting.’ - Bosola
‘‘Tis so - a bettering of nature.’ - Duchess
- bosola implies that the Duchess had sex with someone below her status, similarly to how prize fruit trees are grafted to lesser plants
‘To make a pippin grow…’
‘To make a pippin grow upon a crab,/ A damson on a blackthorn.’ - Bosola
- continuing his line of thought linked to higher status integrating with lower status (what he thinks the duchess has done)
‘[Aside] How greedily…’
‘[Aside] How greedily she eats them!’ - Bosola
‘but for that and the loose…’
‘but for that and the loose-bodied gown,/ I should have discovered apparently/ The young springall cutting a caper in her belly.’ - Bosola
- if it wasn’t for the loose fitting gown he would’ve discovered her pregnancy sooner
‘I thank you, Bosola…’
‘I thank you, Bosola. They were right good ones,/ If they do not make me sick-‘ - Duchess
‘This green fruit and my…’
‘This green fruit and my stomach are not friends./ How they swell me!’ - Duchess
‘[Aside] Nay, you are too…’
‘[Aside] Nay, you are too much swelled already.’ - Bosola
‘Oh, I am in an extreme…’
‘I am…’
‘Oh, I am in an extreme cold sweat!’ - Duchess
‘I am very sorry.’ - Bosola
- B’s flat tone denotes a lack of genuine emotion
‘Lights to my…’
‘Lights to my chamber! Oh, good Antonio,/ I fear I am undone.’ - Duchess
- ‘undone’ could refer to being sick, her secret being our, or going into labour
‘Oh, my most trusty…’
‘Oh, my most trusty Delio, we are lost!/ I fear she’s fallen in labour and there’s left/ No time for her remove.’ - Antonio
What role does Delio take on at the end of 2:1?
He gives advice and keeps Antonio on track
‘Have you prepared…’
‘Have you prepared/ Those ladies to attend her and procured/ That politic safe conveyance for the midwife/ Your Duchess plotted?’ - Delio
‘I have’ - Antonio
- A did have a plan but it can’t be executed now - we, as an audience, are reasonably understanding of his stress
‘Make use then of this…’
‘Make use then of this forced occasion./ Give out that Bosola hath poisoned her/ With these apricots. That will give some colour/ For her keeping close.’ - Delio
‘Fie, fie! The…’
‘Fie, fie! The physicians/ Will then flock to her.’ - Antonio
‘For that you may pretend…’
‘For that you may pretend/ She’ll use some prepared antidote of her own/ Lest the physicians should re-poison her.’ - Delio
‘I am lost in…’
‘I am lost in amazement! I know not what to think on’t.’ - Antonio
