Duchess 4:1 Flashcards
‘This is a pivotal…’
‘This is a pivotal scene in understanding the Duchess’ psyche’ - Monica Kendall
‘Nobly, I’ll describe her:/ She’s…’
‘Nobly, I’ll describe her:/ She’s sad as one long used to’t, and she seems/ Rather to welcome the end of misery/ Than shun it - a behaviour so noble’ - Bosola
- admiration of her composure, acceptance, and fortitude
how is 4:1 sometimes staged?
some productions place the Duchess in a small box, others imply she has lots of space
‘You may discern the shape of…’
‘You may discern the shape of loveliness/ More perfect in her tears than in her smiles’ - Bosola about the Duchess
- echoes Antonio’s monologue about the Duchess early in the play
‘her silence,/ Methinks…’
‘her silence,/ Methinks, expresseth more than if she spoke.’ - Bosola
‘Her melancholy seems to…’
‘Her melancholy seems to be fortified/ With a strange disdain.’ - Ferdinand
- contrasts with the negative (Bosola refuses to be intimidated, instead referring to her ‘restraint’)
‘why dost thou wrap thy…’
‘why dost thou wrap thy poisoned pills/ In gold and sugar?’ - Duchess
- accusatory - link to Bosola’s inconsistency/divided personality and betrayal
- ‘gold and sugar’ represent wealth, luxury, and status perhaps commenting on her castle being her prison
'’Cause once he rashly made…’
'’Cause once he rashly made a solemn vow/ Never to see you more - he comes i’th’night’ - Bosola to the Duchess
‘He will kiss your hand/ And…’
‘He will kiss your hand/ And reconcile himself, but, for his vow,/ He dares not see you.’ - Bosola
- sticking to his vow but not really the meaning behind it, arguably this action would suggest that he is no longer rejecting her (except for the trick)
‘[Exit Bosola and Servants…’
‘[Exit Bosola and Servants with lights]’
- darkened room
- the indoors Blackfriars theatre was never entirely dark and performances at the Globe took place in daytime so Webster is relying on his audience’s awareness of theatrical props and their conventions
‘This darkness…’
‘This darkness suits you well.’ - Ferdinand
- he’s got her where he wants her
- religious connotation of her sinfulness
‘For I account it the honorablest…’
‘For I account it the honorablest revenge/ Where I may kill, to pardon.’ - Ferdinand
- feels like he has the moral high ground, playing God
- oxymoron of honourable revenge
‘Where are your cubs?’
‘Where are your cubs?’ - Ferdinand
- animalistic, de-humanising suggestion of the Duchess
- implies she is just an animal bearing large litters
‘For though our national…’
‘For though our national law distinguish bastards/ From true legitimate issue, compassionate nature/ Makes them all equal.’ - Ferdinand
- rejecting her children (physical evidence of her sexuality)
‘You violate a sacrament…’
‘You violate a sacrament o’th’church/ Shall make you howl in hell for’t.’ - Duchess
- accusing him of disrespecting her legitimate marriage and in doing so disrespecting God
‘You were too much…’
‘You were too much i’th’light. But no more.’ - Ferdinand
- light-dark symbolism, the public vs private
- jealousy? wants to be more in the light or wants her out of it? (perhaps dislikes how he feels he shares her with the public)
- link to ‘This darkness suits you well.’
‘Here’s a hand/ To which you have…’
‘Here’s a hand/ To which you have vowed much love. The ring upon’t/ You gave.’ - Ferdinand
- double meaning: Antonio and Ferdinand (ambiguity)
- realistically she didn’t give the ring, it was taken
‘Gives her a dead…’
‘Gives her a dead man’s hand’
‘I will leave this ring with…’
‘I will leave this ring with you for a love token,/ And the hand, as sure as the ring.’ - Ferdinand
- the ‘ring’ has been a symbol of love and purity but is now corrupted by Ferdinand