Duchess 2:4

Question 1

relevance of Rome/Catholicism in 2:4

Answer 1

• the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church
• the Cardinal, as a Catholic priest, should be celibate and unmarried
• Protestant England audiences enjoyed depictions of Catholic priests as immoral monsters, particularly after the 1605 Gunpowder Plot (Fawkes was Catholic)

Question 2

‘Prithee tell me/ What…’

Answer 2

‘Prithee tell me/ What trick didst thou invent to come to Rome/ Without thy husband?’ - Cardinal
- theme of deceit continues, corruption everywhere (‘witty, false one’)

Question 3

‘Why, my lord, I told him…’

Answer 3

‘Why, my lord, I told him/ I cam to visit an old anchorite/ Here, for devotion.’ - Julia
- first time we have heard her speak
- told her husband she came to see a nun so that he would let her go alone

Question 4

‘Thou art a witty…’

Answer 4

‘Thou art a witty, false one -/ I mean, to him!’ - Cardinal

Question 5

‘You have prevailed with me/ Beyond…’

Answer 5

‘You have prevailed with me/ Beyond my strongest thoughts. I would not now/ Find you inconstant.’ - Julia
- in the past she thought he wouldn’t stick around, tentative criticism

Question 6

‘Do not put thyself/ To such a…’

Answer 6

‘Do not put thyself/ To such a voluntary torture, which proceeds/ Out of your own guilt.’ - Cardinal
‘You fear my constancy because you have approved/ Those giddy and wild turnings in yourself.’ - C
- worried about him being unfaithful and ‘inconstant’ because she isn’t
- her responses get shorter from these accusations: ‘How, my lord?’ ‘So, my lord!’ (Cardinal controls convo, she is sort of an object - falconry metaphor)

Question 7

‘Sooth, generally for…’

Answer 7

‘Sooth, generally for women/ A man might strive to make glass maleable/ Ere he should make them fixed.’ - Cardinal
- misogyny
- more likely to bend glass than find a constant woman, goes on to say you need a telescope to find one (‘go borrow that fantastic glass’)
- Julia barely replies: ‘So, my lord!’

Question 8

‘We had need go borrow that…’

Answer 8

‘We had need go borrow that fantastic glass/ Invented by Galileo, the Florentine,/ To view another spacious world i’th’moon,/ And look to find a constant woman there.’ - Cardinal
- need a telescope to look to another world to find a constant woman

Question 9

critic assessment of Julia-Cardinal relationship

Answer 9

• contrasts the Duchess and Antonio (inverted dynamic)
• A and D can challenge each other
• C and J are much less balanced

Question 10

what is Julia’s reaction to the Cardinal’s misogynistic comments?

Answer 10

• her sentences get shorter: ‘How, my lord?’ ‘So, my lord!’
• she cries: ‘[Weeping] This is very well, my lord.’

Question 11

‘Why do you weep?/ Are…’

Answer 11

‘Why do you weep?/ Are tears your justification?’ - Cardinal
- suggesting she hopes to be forgiven because of her tears not action
- protestant ideas of ‘justification by faith alone’ ie. that a sinner can be redeemed by faith not good words or actions

Question 12

‘The self-same tears/ Will…’

Answer 12

‘The self-same tears/ Will fall into your husband’s bosom, lady,/ With a loud protestation that you love him/ Above the world.’ - Cardinal

Question 13

‘You cannot me…’

Answer 13

‘You cannot me make cuckhold.’ - Cardinal to Julia

Question 14

‘You may thank me, lady…’

Answer 14

‘You may thank me, lady./ I have taken you off your melancholy perch,/ Bore you upon my fist, and showed you game,/ And let you fly at it.’ - Cardinal
- controlling
- falconry imagery (the idea of her as an object)
- ‘showed you game’ - opened opportunities for her

Question 15

‘I pray thee…’

Answer 15

‘I pray thee, kiss me.’ - Cardinal
- ordering Julia around

Question 16

‘When you east with thy…’

Answer 16

‘When you wast with thy husband, thou wast watched/ Like a tame elephant.’ - Cardinal
- she was an accessory (arguably the idea of her as the Cardinal’s falcon has a similar suggestion

Question 17

‘Thou hadst only kisses…’

Answer 17

‘Thou hadst only kisses from him and high feeding/ But what delight was that? ‘Twas just like one/ That hath a little fingering on the lute,/ Yet cannot tune it.’ - Cardinal
- Castruccio has stimulated Julia’s appetites bu cannot satisfty them

Question 18

what phrase does the Cardinal repeat in his interaction with Julia in 2:4?

Answer 18

‘You may thank me’ ‘Still, you are to thank me’ ‘Still, you are to thank me’
- he seems to feel that he has done julia a favour of sorts

Question 19

‘Rest firm - for my…’

Answer 19

‘Rest firm - for my affection to thee,/ Lightning moves slow to’t.’ - Cardinal
- saying his passion for julia is great, a sort of half-hearted reassurance now someone else has arrived

Question 20

‘Your husband, old…’

Answer 20

‘Your husband, old Castruccio, is come to Rome’ - Servant

Question 21

‘Signior Delio…’

Answer 21

‘Signior Delio? [Aside] ‘Tis one of my old suitors.’ - Julia
- slight explains his following behaviour (asking her to be his mistress) however we still see a very different side to Delio to the confidant

Question 22

‘Do you…’

Answer 22

‘Do you lie here?’ - Delio
- asking Julia either whether she is lodging there or whether she lies in saying that he is ‘welcome’

Question 23

‘Our Roman prelates…’

Answer 23

‘Our Roman prelates/ Do not keep lodging for ladies.’ - Julia
- explaining her presence in the Cardinal’s palace

Question 24

‘I never knew man and…’

Answer 24

‘I never knew man and beast, of a horse and a knight,/ So weary of each other.’ - Delio
- presenting this humorous image of Castruccio

Question 25

‘Lady, I know not whether…’

Answer 25

‘Lady, I know not whether/ You want money, but I have brought you some.’ - Delio
- parallel to Bosola
- note the female context to this action
- the money is ‘from [his] own allowance’

Question 26

‘I must hear the condition…’
‘Look on’t…’

Answer 26

‘I must hear the condition ere I be bound to take it.’ - Julia
‘Look on’t. ‘Tis gold. Hath it not a fine colour?’ - Delio
- delio tries to avoid/procrastinate telling julia what he wants from her

Question 27

‘Your husband’s come…’

Answer 27

‘Your husband’s come -/ Hath delivered a letter to the Duke of Calabria that,/ To my thinking, hath put him out of his wits.’ - Servant
- ‘Duke of Calabria’ is Ferdinand
- ‘out of his wits’ just like Bosola anticipated

Question 28

‘Pray, let me know…’

Answer 28

‘Pray, let me know your business and your suit/ As briefly as can be.’ - Julia

Question 29

‘With good speed: I would…’

Answer 29

‘With good speed: I would wish you-/ At such time as you are non-resident/ With your husband - my mistress.’ - Delio
- this seems completely out of character, perhaps it could be explained by the fact he is a previous suitor of Julia or because he is using her for information (once she leaves he quickly turns to thoughts of Antonio)

Question 30

‘Sir, I’ll go ask…’

Answer 30

‘Sir, I’ll go ask my husband if I shall,/ And straight return your answer.’ - Julia
- she is going to be very aware of this moment how the Cardinal just called women (like her) inconstant and how - if she accepted - she would be proving him right
- this reply shows her wit and also gives her the upper hand as Delio doesn’t know what she thinks

Question 31

‘Is this her wit or…’

Answer 31

‘Is this her wit or honesty that speaks thus?’ - Delio

Question 32

‘I heard one say that the Duke was…’

Answer 32

‘I heard one say that the Duke was highly moved/ With a letter sent from Malfi. I do fear Antonio is betrayed.’ - Delio
- his quick return to thoughts of Antonio could suggest that he is using Julia for information

Question 33

‘How fearfully/ Shows his…’

Answer 33

‘How fearfully/ Shows his ambition now - unfortunate Fortune!’ - Delio
- assumes that Antonio married the Duchess due to his ambition (perhaps implies Delio’s own ambition)