Flamineo

Question 1

Flamineo convincing Bracciano that Vittoria likes him

Irony - corruption of the rich and difference between appearance and reality
Nobility judged on sinfulness - ability to woo women etc - sycophantic

Answer 1

‘pursue your noble wishes’

Question 2

Flamineo listening to Camillo’s issues

Double entendre - wordplay on ‘count’ presents Camillo’s lack of intelligence and impotence - duality of meaning mirrors machiavellian principles

Answer 2

‘strange you should lose your count’

Question 3

Flamineo convincing Bracciano that Vittoria likes him

Misogynistic - presents women as cunning and manipulative
Use of noble syntax presents Flamineo attempting to be seen as noble compared to women - polarisation

Answer 3

‘her coyness? That’s but the superficies of lust most women have… O they are politic’

Question 4

Flamingo talking of female attitude to marriage

Women clamour for good marriages but are immoral and seek affairs when they have a marriage - duplicity of women
Zoomorphic imagery matches animalistic base instincts of women such as lust

Answer 4

‘tis just like a summer bird-cage in a garden: the birds that are without despair to get in, and the birds that are within despair…’

Question 5

Flamineo talking of Camillo

Harsh lexis of plosives - brutality of machiavellian order
quicksilver = poison used in revenge tragedies also used by gilders who went insane from poisoning - presents Camillo as unworthy of being a noble and equivalent to a peasant
Liver is seat of passions - Camillo as lacking in passion - impotence

Answer 5

‘a gilder that hath his brains perished with quicksilver is not more cold in the liver’

Question 6

Flamingo talking of Camillo

Insult to Camillo is Flamineo has called women ‘politic’ - emasculates Camillo
Lack of intelligence of Camillo - difference between appearance and reality - inept for position of power

Answer 6

‘this fellow by his appeal some men would judge a politician, but call his wit into question…’

Question 7

Flamineo advising Camillo on what to do

Corruption of society - religion should be abstained from - ease of which men are drawn away from religion

Answer 7

‘let her not go to church’

‘‘twere for her honour’

Question 8

Flamineo advising Camillo on what to do

Flamineo acts likes a lawyer - presents law as written by those in power - corrupt
Difference between appearance and reality - Flamineo says he wants nothing but actually wants Vittoria to be with Bracciano - mirrors that law written in latin - unintelligible on the surface like Flamineo’s motives

Answer 8

‘this is my counsel and I ask no fee for’t’

Question 9

Flamineo advising Camillo on what to do

Disease imagery - Camillo and those who are corrupted by society (LC) don’t see it as diseased but the real malcontents know it is
Appearance v reality

Answer 9

‘they that have the yellow jaundice think all objects they look on to be yellow’

Question 10

Flamineo arguing with Cornelia

Would rather have had a prostitute as mother - plurality of fathers to take care of him - society rewarding infidelity and sin
Raised in sinful environment would have made his sinfulness easier attained

Answer 10

‘I would the commons’t courtesan in Rome had been my mother’

Question 11

Flamineo telling Bracciano about the plans he’s made for him and Vittoria

Elevates Vittoria to level of deity - ironic - against one of 10 commandments - do not covet what your neighbour has - fundamental sin

Answer 11

‘so high a spirit’

Question 12

Flamineo in asides about Camillo

Diamond imagery - supposed to be the hardest precious stone - artificiality of Camillo as a diamond suggests impotence
Irony - also represent strength, clarity and truth - more so represents Flamineo

Answer 12

‘you are a goodly foil, I confess, well set out - but covered with a false stone, yon counterfeit diamond’

Question 13

Flamineo after Bracciano has finished talking to Isabella, Monticelso and Francisco

Prose

Answer 13

suggests private sphere where Flam can do away with appearance v reality of public sphere - suggests what they are talking of is immoral bc Flam - lesser gentry - talking as an equal to B - a duke - Machiavellian practices

Question 14

Flamineo talking with Marcello about Vittoria before her trial

Flam names B as the spirit here and him as the witch who controls it - like he manipulated B into being with his sister for his own gain
Criticism of JI’s patronage which enc. machiavellian vying for power - James is creating the witches he despises

Answer 14

‘followest the duke, feeds’t his victories, as witches do their serviceable spirits’

Question 15

Flamingo talking with Marcello about Vittoria before her trial

Nihilistic way of thinking - you get little for being virtuous and loyal (metaphor of water in hands) and water can spread disease - presents inevitability of machiavellian infection (into blood) bc being bad reaps more benefits

Answer 15

‘even with thy prodigal blood: what hast got?… a poor handful, which in thy palm thou bears’t, as men hold water’

Question 16

Flamineo whilst talking with Lodovico and Marcello

Ref to ‘the white devil’ - no one is completely innocent in this play - even those who ‘cure’ sinfulness of themselves/others through their virtue are still using a type of poison to do so - like Isab - she lies whilst protecting B’s reputation and gave Lodo pension for his loyalty when it will only fuel his sinfulness

Answer 16

‘physicians that cure poisons still do work with counter poisons’

Question 17

Flamineo when Bracciano turns on him for pandering his whore sister to him

Suggests there may be multiple ‘white devils’ - dentals reinforce brutality of society if this is the case - link to parable of the white devil
Semi-colon and capitalisation of ‘Duke’ but not ‘Secretary presents Flamineo’s subordinate nature and the division between him and duke socially
Spanish fig = poison ; Italian sallet = Italian salad - poisonous concoction - both Catholic countries that are represented by poison - xenophobia and demonisation of ‘Catholic other’

Answer 17

‘as in this world there are degrees of evils: so in this world there are degrees of devils. You’re a great Duke; I your poor secretary. I do look now for an Spanish fig, or an Italian sallet daily’

Question 18

Flamineo at the wedding of Vittoria and Bracciano

Flam refs Capuchins - religious order of monks know for piety but also violence - mirrors previous scene when precautions were taken so papal election was not influenced by bribery hypocrisy - appearance v reality
Est. in 1528 to restore original austerity and simplicity of Franciscans - ref to Francisco and his crusade for revenge

Answer 18

‘Capuchins’

Question 19

Flamineo and Marcello at the wedding of Vittoria and Bracciano

Marcello resents Zanche as a devil - but not the white devil bc her dark skin is synonymous with darkness and evil
Falm contrasts this with ‘light’ - underhanded - Zanche as an instrument to witchcraft and completely sinful on the surface due to dark skin

Answer 19

‘why doth this devil haunt you, say? (Marc)

‘I know not: for by this light, I do not conjure her’

Question 20

Flamineo talking with Hortensio at Vittoria and Bracciano’s wedding

Pun on ‘satan’ but also alludes to disguise of appearance v the reality of women - they are sinful and are the beginnings of STDs, so satan - their ‘lord’ cannot save them and neither can pretty clothes

Answer 20

‘their satin cannot save them. I am confident they have a certain spice of the disease’

Question 21

Marcello talking about Flamineo to Cornelia at Vittoria and Bracciano’s wedding

Presents Flamineo as destroyer of Catholic values while Maarcello is the upholder?
Reflects wider situation during setting in Europe of factions of Christianity emerging - mending of crucifix presents fear of English that Catholicism will take over - WD performed soon after Gunpowder Plot 1605

Answer 21

‘he took the crucifix between his hands and broke a limb off’

Question 22

Flamineo murdering his brother, Marcello at Vittoria and Bracciano’s wedding

Desensitisation of murder and violence seen in stage directions and continuing of wedding celebrations - links to dumb shows - Marcello’s death is unexpected and not gory

Answer 22

‘Flamineo runs Marcello through’

Question 23

Marcello’s dying words after Flamineo has killed him at Vittoria and Bracciano’s wedding

Reference to family trees being corrupted by ambition i.e. ambition of V as seen through her reference to wide yew tree in her dream - message that natural order should be respected - JI encouraged nobles to vie for power through his patronage to favourites = enc. machiavellian ideals - Webster foreshadows J’s downfall bc of this through half rhyme

Answer 23

‘that tree shall long time keep a steady foot, whose branches spread no wider than the root’

Question 24

Flamineo trying to win over Giovanni’s favour

Both birds described as female but both relate to G now and in future = emasculates G - perhaps Flam thinks he can control G as he did B by overseeing the growth of his ‘tallants’ so they will grow to serve Flam

Answer 24

‘wise was the courtly peacock’
‘said the eagle was a far fairer bird than herself, not in respect of her feathers, but in respect of her long tallants ‘

Question 25

Flamineo trying to win over Giovanni’s favour

If grief is the eldest - aka first repercussion for sinful behaviour then more will follow for Flam’s sins
Ref to Duchess of Malfi - Cardinal says sorrow is the eldest child of sin

Answer 25

‘I have heard grief named the eldest child of sin’

Question 26

Flamineo after Giovanni has condemned him

If chimney is an immoral filter, Flam (bc of meritocracy) is allowing immorality to escape into society but cannot be seen as smoke dissipates - appearance of morality v reality of immorality || Flam is the white devil here
Flamineo = FLAMing firebrand - one who deserves to burn in hell - knows he’s immoral but cannot stop

Answer 26

‘A flaming firebrand casts more smoke without a chimney than within’t’

Question 27

Flamineo after he sees Cornelia mourning Marcello

Suggests that conscience in this machiavellian society is so repressed and hidden it’s hard to find - personifies conscience as a ‘maze’
Also difference between appearance and reality

Answer 27

‘sometimes when my face was full of smiles, have felt the maze of conscience in my breast’

Question 28

Flamineo after he sees Bracciano’s ghost

Half rhyme and fact that couplet goes over 2 lines presents the twisted nature of Flam’s thoughts and motives bc he has become desperate
Antithesis of blood and good is incompatible normally but compatible in machiavellian society bc revenge is good for the individual

Answer 28

‘all these shall with Vittoria’s bounty turn to good, or I will drown this weapon in her blood’

Question 29

Flamineo demanding reward from Vittoria for his service to Bracciano

Could these be the two jewels of V and B? Suggests that all B left was sinfulness encapsulated by his wealth
Presents sinfulness of great men being passed onto lower classes who emulate their behaviour

Answer 29

‘my lord hath left me yet two case of jewels’

Question 30

Flamineo after tricking Vittoria and Zanche into thinking they had shot him

Flam here resembles the white devil through the stage directions and his display of appearance v reality of seeming to be dead but not really being so
But Flam maintains that women are the real devils - misogynistic - men give their souls to devil (women) for pleasure their bodies bring and the devil (women) give men the bill - consequences of succumbing to their sexuality

Answer 30

‘riseth’

‘we lay our souls to pawn to the devil for a little pleasure and a woman makes the bill of sale’

Question 31

Flamineo as he dies

If thunder is machiavellian actions of ‘great men’, performed by their followers - Flam doesn’t regret his actions bc he’s always acted the way society has taught him to
Flam wills thunder to follow in his wake which contrasts Giov’s words that sinners will be punished = hope for future

Answer 31

‘strike thunder, and strike out to my farewell’