English Study Buddy

A. Either:
‘In the Cardinal and Ferdinand Webster embodies human perversion of mind and feeling respectively.’ Examine Webster’s presentation of ‘th’Arragonian brethren’ in the light of this comment.
Or:
How effectively in your view does Webster in The Duchess of Malfi exploit the conflict between public and private worlds?

B. What, if anything, stops this play from being the Jacobean equivalent of the modern horror video?

C. Turn to Act 2 Scene 5 (Enter Cardinal and Ferdinand). Compare the behavior of the Cardinal and Ferdinand in this scene. What do you find of interest and significance in their reactions?

D. T. S. Eliot thought that all Webster’s dramatic energies in The Duchess of Malfi were “directed towards chaos.” Do you think that this is an apt criticism?

E. Do you agree that Webster’s delight in lurid stage effects in this play leaves little room for complex characterization?

A. “Jacobean dramatists encourage their audience to be too fascinated by the gruesome”.  How far does your reading of the play support this view?

B. In the force of its imagery lies its strength”. Consider this opinion of The Duchess of Malfi.

C. Look again at the opening scene of the play. Draw out at least three ways in which the scene provides the reader with clues about plot development.

D. Look again at Act III, Scene II, lines 280-296 of The Duchess of Malfi. What is ironic in this extract and how does this reflect Bosola’s personal tragedy, as revealed in other scenes?

A. “…O, this gloomy world! In what a shadow, or deep pit of darkness, Doth womanish and fearful mankind live!”

B. Do you think that Bosola’s dying words give an accurate impression of the world of the play?

C. “The violence and horror in The Duchess of Malfi should not blind us to the subtlety of Webster’s stagecraft.”  Discuss.

D. What sympathy have you for the view that violence in The Duchess of Malfi is seen as an end in itself?

E. “Our interest is held by the mental anguish of the characters as much as by the intrigues of the plot.  “To what extent do you agree with this statement?

F. “The Duchess does not achieve tragic status because it is her own shortcomings which bring about her downfall.”  Discuss this view of the Duchess.

G. At one point in the play Antonio expresses the opinion that Ferdinand and the Cardinal are twins “in quality”.  To what extent do you agree that the two brothers are similar?

H. In the final scene of the play, Bosola speaks of himself as an actor in the main of all:

Much ‘gainst mine own good nature, yet i’ th’ end
Neglected.

By examining the ways in which Webster presents Bosola throughout the play, discuss your response to these comments.

A. Either:
“Webster uses physical horrors for highly effective dramatic purposes.” Consider this statement, making full illustration from the play to support your answer.
Or:
Trace the actions of Ferdinand through the play, showing how shrewdly Webster portrays his developing madness.

B. Look at the dialogue between the Cardinal and Ferdinand in Act 2, Scene 5. What do you think is the dramatic impact of this scene?  You may, if you wish, consider:

• The imagery
• The relationship between Ferdinand and the Cardinal
• The theme of womanhood.

C. The Duchess is described variously as ‘right noble’, a ‘lusty widow’ and a ‘notorious strumpet’.  Do you think that these contrasting opinions can be reconciled in the play as a whole?

D. “In Webster’s world there are no heroes.”  Discuss.

E. Would you wish to defend Webster against the charge of theatrical sensationalism?

Either:
A. In The Duchess of Malfi, Webster is said to have converted melodrama into tragedy. Do you agree?
Or:
B. Examine Webster’s presentation of the character of Antonio; how
far is he a tool of the plot, and how far has the dramatist given him individuality?

Either:
C. Critics have commented on the dramatic passion Webster has evoked in The Duchess of Malfi. How would you interpret the term “dramatic passion” in relation to the play?
Or:
D. How far is Webster able to engage our sympathies for the Duchess of Malfi, and how far is this sympathy essential to the appreciation of the play?

Either:
A. Examine the role of Bosola, indicating clearly what his part contributes to the play as a whole.
Or:
B. Critics have drawn attention to Webster’s concise style and dramatic skill. Discuss and illustrate what you think is meant by either of these features.

Either:
C. “The Duchess earns our sympathy in the play.”  By what means does Webster draw us to a sympathetic understanding?
Or:
D. There has been much comment on Webster’s dramatic skill.  Discuss, in detail, one scene in the play where you think his gifts are particularly apparent.

With reference to the language, imagery and tone of this scene, say what you learn from it about the two characters and about Webster’s principal concerns in The Duchess of Malfi.

Duchess: O, they are very welcome:
When Fortune’s wheel is overcharg’d with princes,
The weight makes it move swift. I would have my ruin
Be sudden:-I am your adventure, am I not?
Bosola: You are, you must see your husband no more-
Duchess:  What devil art thou, that counterfeits heaven’s thunder?
Bosola: Is that terrible? I would have you tell me
Whether is that note worse that frights the silly birds
Out of the corn, or that which doth allure them
To the nets? You have hearken’d to the last too much.
O misery! like to a rusty o’ercharg’d cannon,
Shall I never fly in pieces? come: to what prison?
Bosola: To none:-
Duchess: Whither then?
Bosola: To your palace.
Duchess: I have heard
That Charon’s boat serves to convey all o’er
The dismal lake, but brings none back again.
Bosola: Your brothers mean you safety, and pity.
Duchess: Pity!
With such a pity men preserve alive
Pheasants and quails, when they are not fat enough
To be eaten.
Bosola:  These are your children?
Duchess: Yes;-
Bosola:  Can they prattle?
Duchess: No: But I intend, since they were born accurs’d,
Curses shall be their first language.
Bosola:  Fie, madam, Forget this base, low fellow.
Duchess: Were I a man
I’d beat that counterfeit face into thy other.
Bosola:  One of no birth-
Duchess:  Say that he was born mean:
Man is most happy when’s own actions
Be arguments and examples of his virtue.
Bosola:  A barren, beggarly virtue.
Duchess: I prithee, who is greatest? Can you tell?
Sad tales befit my woe: I’ll tell you one.
A salmon, as she swam into the sea,
Met with a dog-fish, who encounters her
With this rough language: ‘Why art thou so bold
To mix thyself with our high state of floods,
Being no eminent courtier, but one
That for the calmest and fresh time o’th’year
Dost live in shallow rivers, rank’st thyself
With silly smelts and shrimps? and darest thou
Pass by our dog-ship, without reverence?’
‘O’, quoth the salmon, ’sister, be at peace:
Thank Jupiter we both have pass’d the net!
Our value never can be truly known
Till in the fisher’s basket we be shown;
I’th’ market then my price may be the higher,
Even when I am nearest to the cook and fire.’
So, to great men, the moral may be stretched:
Men oft are valued high, when th’are most wretched.
But come; whither you please: I am arm’d ‘gainst misery;
Bent to all sways of the oppressor’s will.
There’s no deep valley, but near some great hill. Exeunt.
Act 3, Scene 5, lines 92-143

Comment on the dramatic effectiveness of the following passage from the play. (In your answer you should consider staging methods, relation to the play as a whole, character development, language and handling of themes.)

[Exit SERVANTS with lights, enter FERDINAND]
FERDINAND. Where are you?
DUCHESS. Here sir.
FERDINAND This darkness suits you well.
DUCHESS. I would ask your pardon.
FERDINAND You have it;
For I account it the honorabl’st revenge
Where I may kill, to pardon: where are your cubs?
DUCHESS. Whom?
FERDINAND. Call them your children;
For though our national law distinguish bastards
From true legitimate issue, compassionate nature
Makes them all equal.
DUCHESS. Do you visit me for this?
You violate a sacrament o’th’ Church
Shall make you howl in hell for’t.
FERDINAND. It had been well.
Could you have liv’d thus always: for indeed
You were too much i’th’ light. But no more;
I come to seal my peace with you: here’s a hand,
[gives her a dead man’s hand]
To which you have vow’d much love: the ring upon’t
You gave.
DUCHESS. I affectionately kiss it.
FERDINAND. Pray do: and bury the print of it in your heart.
I will leave this ring with you, for a love-token:
And the hand, as sure as the ring: and do not doubt
But you shall have the heart too.
When you need a friend
Send it to him that ow’d it: you shall see
Whether he can aid you.
DUCHESS. You are very cold.
I fear you are not well after your travel:
Ha! Lights: Oh horrible!
FERDINAND. Let her have lights enough.
[Enter SERVANTS with lights]
[Exit]
DUCHESS. What witchcraft doth he practise, that he hath left
A dead man’s hand here-
[Here is discover’d, behind a traverse, the artificial figures of ANTONIO and his children; appearing as if they were dead.]

The ending of the play is given below. How far do you consider that justice is served by this final outcome of events?

BOSOLA. Now my revenge is perfect: sink, thou main cause
Of my undoing: [he wounds FERDINAND] the last part of my life
Hath done me best service. Give me some wet hay,
I am broken winded. I do account this world but a dog-kennel:
I will vault credit, and affect high pleasures
Beyond death.
He seems to come to himself,
Now he’s so near the bottom.
My sister, oh! my sister, there’s the cause on’t.
Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust,
Like diamonds we are cut with our own dust. [Dies.]
Thou hast thy payment too.
Yes, I hold my weary soul in my teeth;
‘Tis ready to part from me. I do glory
That thou, which stood’st like a huge pyramid
Begun upon a large and ample base,
Shalt end in a little point, a kind of nothing.
[Enter PESCARA, MALATESTE, RODERIGO and GRISOLAN.]
How now, my lord?
O sad disaster!
How comes this?
Revenge, for the Duchess of Malfi, murdered
By th’ Aragonian brethren; for Antonio,
Slain by this hand; for lustful Julia,
Poison’d by this man; and lastly, for myself,
That was an actor in the main of all,
Much ‘gainst mine own good nature, yet i’th’ end
Neglected.
How now, my lord?
Look to my brother:
He gave us these large wounds, as we were struggling
Here i’th’rushes. And now, I pray, let me
Be laid by, and never thought of.
How fatally, it seems, he did withstand
His own rescue!
Thou wretched thing of blood,
How came Antonio by his death?
In a mist: I know not how:
Such a mistake as I have often seen in a play.
Oh, I am gone: We are only like dead walls, or vaulted graves
That, ruin’d, yield no echo. Fare you well;
It may be pain: but no harm to me to die
In so good a quarrel.
Oh this gloomy world,
In what a shadow, or deep pit of darkness
Doth, womanish, and fearful, mankind live?
[Dies.]
Let worthy minds ne’er stagger in distrust
To suffer death or shame for what is just:
Mine is another voyage.
The noble Delio, as I came to th’palace,
Told me of Antonio’s being here, and show’d me
A pretty gentleman his son and heir.
[Enter DELIO with ANTONIO’S son.]
O sir, you come too late.
I heard so, and
Was arm’d for’t ere I came. Let us make noble use
Of this great ruin; and join all our force
To establish this young hopeful gentleman
His mother’s right. These wretched eminent things
Leave no more fame behind ‘em, than should one
Fall in a frost, and leave his print in snow,
As soon as the sun shines, it ever melts
Both form and matter. I have ever thought
Nature doth nothing so great for great men,
As when she’s pleas’d to make them lords of truth:
Integrity of life is fame’s best friend,
Which nobly, beyond death, shall crown the end. [Exit.]
FINIS.

Using the extract below as your starting point, show how you think Bosola’s character develops during the course of the play.  Compare and contrast specific incidents in your discussion.

BOSOLA [Enter CARDINAL.] I do haunt you still.
So. I have done you better service than to be slighted thus.
Miserable age, where only the reward of doing well, is the doing of it!
You enforce your merit too much.
I fell into the galleys in your service, where, for two years together, I wore two towels instead of a shirt, with a knot on the shoulder, after the fashion of a Roman mantle. Slighted thus? I will thrive some way: blackbirds fatten best in hard weather: why not I, in these dog-days?
Would you could become honest-
With all your divinity, do but direct me the way to it. I have known many travel far for it, and yet return as arrant knaves, as they went forth; because they carried themselves always along with them. [Exit CARDINAL]
Are you gone? Some fellows, they say, are possessed with the devil, but this great fellow were able to possess the greatest devil, and make him worse.