Duchess 3:2 Flashcards
how is tension introduced in 3:2 before it even begins?
- we know that F is on the way and Antonio is in the Duchess’ room
‘[To Antonio] You get…’
‘[To Antonio] You get no lodging here tonight, my lord.’ - Duchess
‘I must…’
‘Must? You are a…’
‘I must lie here.’ - A
‘Must? You are a lord of misrule!’ - Duchess
- joking, comfortable with each other
‘Indeed, my rule…’
‘Indeed, my rule is only in the night.’ - Antonio
- will always have a subordinate role, lower class
‘Alas, what pleasure…’
‘Alas, what pleasure can two lovers find in sleep?’ - Duchess
‘For she’s the…’
‘I shall like her…’
‘For she’s the sprawlingest bedfellow.’ - Cariola
‘I shall like her the better for that.’ - Antonio
- sweet, joking atmosphere (heightening our unease an audience at what is to come)
‘I’ll stop your…’
‘I’ll stop your mouth. [Kisses him.]’ - Duchess
‘Nay, that’s but…’
‘Nay, that’s but one! Venus had two soft doves/ To draw her chariot: I must have another. [Kisses her.]’ - Antonio
- parallels the Cardinal asking Julia ‘I pray thee, kiss me.’
- romantic
‘Oh, fie upon this…’
‘Oh, fie upon this single life! Forgo it!’ - Antonio
- clearly happy enough in his relationship to want the same for others
‘[Aside] Pray thee…’
‘[Aside] Pray thee, Cariola, let’s steal forth the room/ And let her talk to herself. […] I love to see her angry. Softly, Cariola.’ - Antonio
- playful and romantic
‘Methinks his presence, being…’
‘Methinks his presence, being now in court,/ Should make you keep your own bed, but you’ll say/ Love mixed with fear is sweetest.’ - Duchess
- she thinks she is talking to Antonio but he and Cariola have snuck out and Ferdinand has entered ‘unseen’
‘I’ll assure you/ You shall get…’
‘I’ll assure you/ You shall get no more children till my brothers/ Consent to be your gossips.’ - Duchess
- she thinks she is talking to Antonio but he and Cariola have snuck out and Ferdinand has entered ‘unseen’
- we know that Ferdinand and the Cardinal will never be godparents (‘gossips’)
'’Tis welcome:/ For know, whether I am…’
'’Tis welcome:/ For know, whether I am doomed to live or die,/ I can do both like a prince.’ - Duchess upon seeing Ferdinand
- doesn’t shy away
- ‘So I, through flights and threatenings, will assay/ This dangerous venture.’ - Duchess, 1:2
- ‘like a prince’ - doesn’t hold herself to lower standards because of her gender
‘Ferdinand gives her a…’
‘Die…’
‘Ferdinand gives her a poniard’
‘Die then, quickly.’ - F
- implying suicide, won’t kill her himself (cowardly)
- ‘This was my father’s poniard.’ - F, 1:2
‘Virtue, where…’
‘Virtue, where art thou hid? What hideous thing/ Is it that doth eclipse thee?’ - Ferdinand
- not even addressing the Duchess anymore, dehumanising her whilst humanising ‘Virtue’
‘Or is it true: thou…’
‘Or is it true: thou art but a bare name/ And no essential thing?’ - Ferdinand to “virtue”
- effectively suggesting the Duchess has lost her virtue
‘Sir…’
‘Do…’
‘No…’
‘Sir-‘ - Duchess (cut off, loss of control/power, contrasts to earlier in this scene)
‘Do not speak!’ - Ferdinand (anger, unpredictability, male dominance)
‘No, sir./ I will…’ - Duchess (contradicting the man and therefore contradicting her gendered role)
- apart from gender, they have equal power (because they are twins, no class or age divide)
What does Gibbons suggest about the use of a mirror in 3:2 when Ferdinand sneaks into the Duchess’ private chamber?
‘in such cases [the mirror] is an emblem of female vanity’, providing a visual allusion to the Dance of Death
- for example, a small mirror is used in the Dominic Dromgoole (2014) version, she first sees Ferdinand in this
‘I pray, sir, hear…’
‘I pray, sir, hear me: I am married.’ - Duchess
‘Happily not to your…’
‘Happily [married] not to your liking, but for that,/ Alas! Your shears do come untimely now/ To clip the bird’s wings that’s already flown.’ - Duchess
- Ferdinand is too late
‘Will you see…’
‘Yes, if I could…’
‘Will you see my husband?’ - Duchess (mature, rational)
‘Yes, if I could change/ Eyes with a basilisk.’ - Ferdinand (childish, immature, basilisks were believed to kill with one look)
‘The howling of a…’
‘The howling of a wolf/ Is music to thee, screech owl.’ - Ferdinand
- insulting the Duchess’ husband
- foreshadowing in the ‘howling of a wolf’
‘What e’er thou art that hast…’
‘What e’er thou art that hast enjoyed my sister-/ For I am sure thou hear’st me - for thine own sake/ Let me not know thee.’ - Ferdinand
- correctly assumes that the Duchess’ husband is near
- suppressed anger revealing itself (immaturity whilst the Duchess remains calm and collected)
‘I came hither prepared/ To work…’
‘I came hither prepared/ To work thy discovery, yet am now persuaded/ It would beget such violent effects/ As would damn us both.’ - Ferdinand
‘Therefore, use all means…’
‘Therefore, use all means/ I never may have knowledge of thy name./ Enjoy thy lust still and a wretched life/ On that condition - and for thee, vile woman […]’ - Ferdinand
‘Let not the sun…’
‘Let not the sun/ Shine on him till he’s dead’ - Ferdinand
- threats
‘If thou do love him…’
‘If thou do love him, cut out thine own tongue/ Lest it bewray him.’ - Ferdinand
- threatening but the Duchess remains calm in her response: ‘Why might not I marry?’ - D
‘Thou art…’
‘Thou art undone’ - Ferdinand
- ‘Oh, good Antonio,/ I fear I am undone!’ - D. 2:1
‘You are in this…’
‘You are in this/ Too strict, and were you not my princely brother/ I would say too wilful. My reputation/ Is safe.’ - Duchess
‘Dost thou know what…’
‘Dost thou know what reputation is?/ I’ll tell thee […] Once upon a time, Reputation, Love and Death […]’ - Ferdinand
- story-telling, in the 2014 Dromgoole production Ferdinand sat cross-legged on the floor before encouraging his sister to join him
- ‘it’s using the tool you used as seven-year-olds together to punish, its emotional manipulation and a real full stop to the whole of their relationship’ - Will Keen (Ferdinand, National Theatre 2003)
‘it’s to do with specific…’
‘it’s to do with specific vengeance, it’s using the tool you used as seven-year-olds together to punish, its emotional manipulation and a real full stop to the whole of their relationship’ - Will Keen (Ferdinand, National Theatre 2003)
- on the ‘Reputation, Love and Death’ parable Ferdinand tells
'’Do not forsake me, for it…’
'’Do not forsake me, for it is my nature,/ If once I part from any man I meet,/ I am never found again’.’ - Ferdinand to the Duchess (ending of the parable)
‘You have shook…’
‘You have shook hands with reputation/ And made him invisible. So, fare you well./ I will never see you more.’ - Ferdinand to the Duchess
‘Why should only I…’
‘Why should only I,/ Of all the other princes of the world,/ Be cased up like a holy relic?’ - Duchess
- demonstrating gender differences
- standing up for herself and her actions
‘I will never see…’
‘Enter…’
‘I will never see thee more.’ - Ferdinand (‘Exit’)
‘Enter Antonio with a pistol’ - SD
- modern symbolism of the ‘pistol’ in contrast to the poniard
- would he have actually used it? cowardly weapon?
‘We are… I should…’
‘We are/ Betrayed. How came he hither? I should turn/ This to thee for that. [Points the pistol at Cariola]’ - Antonio
- avoiding responsibility? guilt for not intervening
‘and when/ That you have…’
‘and when/ That you have cleft my heart you shall read there/ Mine innocence.’ - Cariola
‘That gallery gave…’
‘I would this terrible…’
‘That gallery gave him entrance.’ - Duchess
‘I would this terrible thing would come again/ That, standing on my guard, I might relate/ My warrantable love. Ha!’ - Antonio
- the Duchess is much less emotional than Antonio but her shorter sentences show that she has been distressed by her brother’s actions
- Antonio is almost comedic
‘He left this…’
‘She…’
‘He left this with me-‘ - Duchess
‘She shows the poniard’ - SD
‘And it seems did…’
‘And it seems did wish/ You would use it on yourself?’ - Antonio
- a little bit on the backfoot, trying to work out what’s happened, his lines in this part of the scene are mostly questions: ‘How now? Who knocks? More earthquakes?’
‘This hath a handle…’
‘This hath a handle to’t/ As well as a point. Turn it towards him/ And so fasten the keen edge in his rank gall.’ - Antonio
‘I stand/ As if a…’
‘I stand/ As if a mine beneath my feet were ready/ To be blown up.’ - Duchess
- rising tensions
‘Methinks unjust…’
‘Methinks unjust actions/ Should wear these masks and curtains, and not we./ You must instantly part hence.’ - Duchess
- recognition of the injustice, why should they have to hide?
- she is making all the decisions (‘I have fashioned it already.’) and taking charge - stark contrast to Antonio’s reaction in the labour scene
- more worried about Antonio
‘He told me, as he…’
‘He told me, as he mounted into th’saddle,/ You were undone.’ - Bosola
- she has to quickly find a (plausible) alternative meaning for ‘undone’
‘Antonio […] Hath dealt so…’
‘Antonio […] Hath dealt so falsely with me in’s accounts-/ My brother stood engaged with me for money/ Ta’en up of certain Neapolitan Jews/ And Antonio lets the bonds be forfeit.’ - Duchess
- Ferdinand acted as security for a loan she took out but Antonio hasn’t paid the interest so the moneylenders are after F
Bosola’s reaction to the Duchess’ story about Antonio dealing ‘falsely’ with her accounts
‘Strange! [Aside] This is cunning.’ - B
‘The place that you…’
‘The place that you must fly to is Ancona./ Hire a house there. I’ll send after you/ My treasure and my jewels.’ - Duchess
- she is in control, making all the decisions, repetition of ‘must’ and ‘I’ll’
‘I have got well…’
‘I have got well by you! You have yielded me/ A million of loss; I am like to inherit/ The people’s curses for your stewardship.’ - Duchess to Antonio
- in front of Bosola and the officers so now in a public/performative tone
- secret meanings placed in their words - ‘I have got well by you’ could also refer to how she has had many children by him
‘I would have this man be…’
‘I would have this man be an example to you all;/ So shall you hold my favour.’ - Duchess
- alt. she thinks the world of him
‘I am all…’
‘I am all yours, and ‘tis very fit/ All mine should be so.’ - Antonio
- public conversation so the idea of him loving her is a double meaning
‘You may see, gentlemen…’
‘You may see, gentlemen, what ‘tis to serve/ A prince with body and soul.’ - Antonio
- public convo w/ alt. meanings underneath (private conversation between the two of them)
‘I would know what…’
‘I would know what are your opinions of this Antonio.’ - Duchess
- very democratic, equalising
- the officers go on to insult Antonio: ‘I thought your grace would find him a Jew’ (racist idea that Jews were dishonest), ‘He stopped his ears with black wool and to those came to him for money said he was thick of hearing.’, ‘hermaphrodite’
‘He stopped his ears with…’
‘He stopped his ears with black wool and to those came to him for money said he was thick of hearing.’ - 1 Officer
- suggesting that Antonio refused to give people loans
‘Some said he was an…’
‘Some said he was an hermaphrodite for he could not abide a woman.’ - 2 Officer
- ‘hermaphrodite’ - a person who has both male and female reproductive organs but here implying effeminate or homosexual
‘Leave us!’
‘Leave us!’ - Duchess
- quickly has enough of the officers being horrible about Antonio
‘That these are rogues that…’
‘That these are rogues that in’t prosperity/ But to have waited on his fortune could have wished/ His dirty stirrup riveted through their noses […] Would have prostituted their daughters to his lust […] and do these lice drop off now?’ - Bosola about the officers
- a comment on corruption, the officers previously flattered Antonio and would have done anything for his favour but now that he is out of favour quickly change their minds
‘Princes pay flatterers…’
‘Princes pay flatterers/ In their own money: flatterers dissemble their vices/ And they dissemble their lies.’ - Bosola
- flatterers pretend that princes are virtuous while princes pretend that the flatterers aren’t lying
how does Bosola describe Antonio?
- ‘too honest’
- ‘what a most unvalued jewel/ You have in a wanton humour thrown away’
- ‘most faithful’
- ‘a soldier that thought it/ As beastly to know his own value to little/ As devilish to acknowledge it too much.’
- ‘His breast was filled with all perfection’ but ‘made so little noise of’t.’
‘Let me show you what a…’
‘Let me show you what a most unvalued jewel/ You have in a wanton humour thrown away/ To bless the man shall fine him.’ - Bosola about Antonio
‘Will you make yourself a…’
‘Will you make yourself a mercenary herald,/ Rather to examine men’s pedigrees than virtues?’ - Bosola
- demonstrating similar values to the Duchess by condemning the valuation pedigree over virtue
‘For know - an honest…’
‘For know - an honest statesman to a prince/ Is like a cedar planted by a spring:/ The spring bathes the tree’s root; the grateful tree/ Rewards it with his shadow. You have not done so.’ - Bosola
- positive relationship, contrasts with ‘plum trees that grow crooked over standing pools’
‘Than depend on so..’
‘Than depend on so changeable a prince’s favour.’ - Bosola
‘This good one that you…’
‘This good one that you speak of is my husband.’ - Duchess
- turning point as she reveals the truth to Bosola
‘Do I not dream? Can…’
‘Do I not dream? Can this ambitious age/ Have so much goodness in’t as to prefer/ A man so merely for worth without these shadows/ Of wealth and painted honours? Possible?’ - Bosola’s reaction to the Duchess revealing that Antonio is her husband
- shakes his world view (in a positive manner)
- amazed and happy
- respects the Duchess’ integrity more?
‘I have had three..’
‘I have had three children by him. ‘ - Duchess
- revealing even more info to Bosola
‘That some preferment…’
‘That some preferment in this word can yet/ Arise from merit.’ - Bosola’s reaction to Duchess telling him about Antonio/their kids
‘The virgins of your…’
‘The virgins of your land/ That have no dowries shall hope your example/ Will raise them to rich husbands.’ - Bosola’s reaction to Duchess telling him about Antonio/their kids
‘In honour of this…’
‘In honour of this trophy of a man,/ Raised by that curious engine, your white hand’ - Bosola
‘You shall take charge…’
‘You shall take charge of all my coin and jewels,/ And follow him, for he retires himself/ To Ancona.’ - Duchess
- so enamoured by his view of Antonio and ‘pedigree’ that she reveals the location of Antonio, compromising his safety
‘I would wish your grace…’
‘I would wish your grace to feign a pilgrimage […] So may you depart/ Your country with more honour and your flight/ Will seem a princely progress’ - Bosola
‘Sir, your direction…’
‘Sir, your direction/ Shall lead me by the hand.’ - Duchess to Bosola
- putting all her trust in him, painful and tense for the audience
‘In my opinion,/ She were better…’
‘In my opinion,/ She were better progress t o the baths/ At Lucca or go visit the Spa/ In Germany, for, if you will belive me,/ I do not like this jesting with religion,/ This feigned pikgrimage.’ - Cariola
- ignores her despite her status as a trusted friend, turning point
‘Thou art a…’
‘Thou art a superstitious fool!’ - Duchess
- completely disregarding Cariola
‘Past sorrows, let us…’
‘Past sorrows, let us moderately lament them;/ For those to come, seek wisely to prevent them.’ - Duchess
‘What rests, but I…’
What rests, but I reveal/ All to my lord?’ - Bosola
‘Now, for this act…’
‘Now, for this act, I am certain to be raised’ - Bosola
