Duchess of Malfi: Sin/Innocence Flashcards
‘Observe his _______ character: he is a ____________ churchman’
‘Observe his inward character: he is a melancholy churchman’
‘You ________ a sacrament o’th’Church Shall make you _______ in hell for’t.’
‘You violate a sacrament o’th’Church Shall make you howl in hell for’t.’
Duchess
“Whether we fall by ________, blood, or ____, / Like diamonds we are ____ with our own _____.”
“Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, / Like diamonds we are cut with our own dust.”
Ferdinand (punishment is according to our own sinful actions)
‘My _____________ will carry me to see her in the ___________ acts of ___’
‘My imagination will carry me to see her in the shameful acts of sin’
‘The _____ speaks in them’
‘The devil speaks in them’
(Bosola about Ferdinand + Cardinal)
“The _______, as always with Webster, is the act of ____ and its _______________.”
“The theme, as always with Webster, is the act of sin and its consequences.”
Cecil
‘My ______ is all _________’
‘My laurel is all withered’
Duchess (A3 S5)
- Laurel = flower garland, her days of glory are over/decaying fortune
‘This ________ suits you well’
‘This darkness suits you well’
Ferdinand (A5 S1)
- Reference to gender/social norms
- Women expected to be ‘locked up’, hidden/shunned from the light of society
‘The office of ________ is _________ when one _____ hangs another’
‘The office of justice is perverted when one thief hangs another’ (Bosola)
- Hypocrisy of punishing those who commit immoral acts if the punisher themself has committed such acts
- Equally mutual in terms of sin
‘This great ________ were able to possess the __________ devil and make it _______’
‘This great fellow were able to possess the greatest devil and make it worse’ (Bosola about Cardinal)
- Extent of the Cardinal’s evil/destruction unquantifiable
- Cardinal’s soul is morally and ethically crooked/corrupt
‘The ______ is seen by Webster as __________ corrupt’
‘The world is seen by Webster as incurably corrupt’
Cecil
‘Return _____ soul from _____________ and lead mine out of this __________ hell’
‘Return fair soul from darkness and lead mine out of this sensible hell’ (Bosola)
- Her waking up will ease his guilt/the shame of committing murder
- Bosola feels as if he is in hell on earth, tormented by his guilt
‘_______!’
(Duchess’ last line)
‘Mercy!’
- The duchess’ last words
- Multiple meanings: mercy for Bosola, mercy for her own soul
‘I am Duchess of Malfi ____’
‘I am Duchess of Malfi still’
- Stoicism
- Asserting her identity
- ‘still’ = resistance to the torture, attempts to downgrade/destroy her have failed
‘How _______ is a guilty ____________!’
‘How tedious is a guilty conscience!’ (Cardinal)
- Burdened/riddled with the guilt of his actions
- Tiresome carrying the guilt of his actions
‘tragedy of a _________ woman who achieves ________ through her death’
‘tragedy of a virtuous woman who achieves heroism through her death’
R.S White
Ferdinand, is a ‘complete ___________ of man into _______’
Ferdinand, is a ‘complete descent of man into beast’
Ribner
