POWER

Question 1

Physical power DoM

Answer 1

Ferdinand kills Duchess
Card kills Julia, bOSOLA (The “undertaker”)
Court power exerted often in murder and sexual regarding duchess - “mine eyes dazzle”

Bosola over female reproductive system - apricots, giving duchess “extreme cold swears” - a physical suffering associated with femininity, as she is “troubled with the mother”

Question 2

Physical power SND

Answer 2

Stanley - poker night, breaking lightbulbs on wedding night, throwing meat
Exerts physical power on female sexuality with rape scene - “maybe you wouldn’t be bad to - interfere with “maybe also the ending unbuttoning blouse

Blanche - physical power intertwined with sexuality, sexually overpowers the young man and has a history
Power linked to looks: “you’ve got to be soft and attractive” to have power”
She holds over Mitch by withholding her sexuality: “old fashioned ideals” and by displaying it in the light in the poker game.

Question 3

Verbal power - DoM

Answer 3

Duchess. - lies to her brothers that “I’ll never marry”,
Stands up to them until the end with stoicism:
“I am Duchess of Malfi, still”
Power over Antonio with imperatives: “Kneel”
Voice is her resistance as she says “curses shall be their first language” to children because “they were born accursed”

Ferdinand exerts verbal power to impose his wishes on his court and sister:
“Laugh when laugh”,
Chamber visit telling to kill herself:
“This was my father’s poniard” “Die then, quickly”
But when he goes mad, power is lost, and his physical power kills duchess, not verbal

Question 4

Verbal power SND

Answer 4

Blanche uses verbal power to defame Stanley to Stella:
“Don’t hang back with the brutes.”
Exerts verbal power over all other characters by LYING, saying “what ought to be true”. Shouts “fire” to exert power over Mitch, and lies to him

Stanley exerts verbal power on his poker table - shouts at Mitch “sit down!”
He can’t control Mitch who leaves, however.
Similarly, argues with Stella that night:
“I said to hush up!”
But verbal conflict puts them at equal power:
“This is my house and I’ll talk as much as I want to!”
Verbal power is less effective than physical for men.

Question 5

Controlling space DoM

Answer 5

Ferdinand exerts power over the Duchess by controlling her space
Chamber invasion and imprisonment, controlling also the events in that space, choosing to unleash madmen
Ferdinand’s power over her “counterfeits heaven’s thunder”

Ferdinand uses light to exert power over the duchess: light-trick of dead children, visiting her in the dark, dead man’s hand.

Question 6

Controlling space SND

Answer 6

Stanley exerts power over Blanche by controlling her space - bathroom:
“Get OUT of the BATHROOM”
“Ticket! Back to Laurel!”
Blocking off her exit scene 10

Contrasting to Ferdinand, Stanley illuminates to exert power:
Tearing paper lantern
His light of control is associated with destruction:
‘Rushed about the place smashing the light bulbs with it”

And blanche uses light to exert power, hiding her age in the dark from Mitch:
To have power she must “put a paper lantern over the light”