guilt, death and suffering

Question 1

‘ i am a - - - - - - - - - w - - - s - - m - - - - - / as t - - t - - - - - — s - - - - is w - - - h - - o - - ‘

Answer 1

‘ i am acquainted with sad misery / as the tanned galley - slave is with his oar’ duchess 4.2

suffering prevalent as the duchess likens herself to a slave. this begins bosola’s sudden revelation that being moral is good, perhaps because he can empathise on account of having been a slave himself

Question 2

‘ f - - - - - - s - - - - o - - - to h - - - h - - e - - s - - - - to b - - - - - my t - - - - - - ‘

Answer 2

‘fortune seems only to have her eye-sight to behold my tragedy’ duchess 4.2

duchess believes fate is against her and wishes only to cause her suffering and tragedy (whilst ferdinand is being an idiot) contrasting bosola’s view on fate, namely that it is random

Question 3

‘ t - - w - - - s - - - - f - - - h - - g - - - - , a - - s - - - - - it up’

Answer 3

‘the wold shall find her grave, and scrape it up’ ferdinand 4.2

ferdinand’s guilt after killing the duchess is so strong that he believes he is a wolf. this sudden change from sane to insane emphasises the effect that guilt can have on mental health

Question 4

‘ we a - - o - - - l - - - d - - - w - - - - - or v - - - - - - g - - - - - / o , t - - - g - - - - - w - - - - ! / d - - - w - - - - - - - a - - f - - - - - - m - - - - - - l - - - ! ‘

Answer 4

‘ we are only like dead walls, or vaulted graves / o, this gloomy world! / doth, womanish and fearful, mankind live!’ bosola, 5.5

bosola’s death scene. despite being directly responsible for duchess and antonio’s suffering, he is happy to have avenged them to the point where he no longer fears his own death. the implicit comparison between being ‘womanish’ and cowardly seems ironic in this case considering that the duchess displayed more bravery and courage than any of the male characters, including bosola

Question 5

‘ c - - - - h - - f - - - : m - - - e - - - d - - - - - : s - - d - - - y - - - - ‘

Answer 5

‘ cover her face : mine eyes dazzle : she died young.’ ferdinand 4.2

just after killing the duchess we see ferdinands first signs of guilt ‘she died young’ seems irrelevant in this case because ferdinand orchestrated her death himself, it is clearly just an excuse. ‘mine eyes dazzle’ has two meanings the first being one with tears and the second being the duchess’ angelic goodness was dazzling to his eyes as he was used to only see darkness. this theory is backed up by the many references throughout the play to the duchess being associated with light