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A* OCR English Lit Duchess of Malfi plot summary and quote bank
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Detailed scene-by-scene plot summary and quote bank - quotes corresponding to each scene in a table. Helped me achieve an A*.
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OCR A level English Lit critics (AO5) table from A* student for The Duchess of Malfi
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English A level A* student Duchess of Malfi context (AO3) notes
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The Duchess of Malfi - Quotes
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Drama + poetry pre-1900: Section 2The Duchess of Malfi
AO1 (12.5%)
Plot summary:
Key events Key quotes
1.1 Act I and the first half of Act II are set in Amalfi at the Duchess’s palace A - “I admire it. In seeking to reduce both
state and people to a fixed order, their
Delio welcomes back his old friend Antonio, the Duchess’s steward, after his long absence - spent at the French court, judicious king begins at home”
which Antonio praises
“A prince’s court is like a common fountain,
Antonio and Delio’s conversation is interrupted by a less harmonious discussion between Bosola and the Cardinal, in whence should flow pure silver drops in
which Bosola makes unsuccessful demands for reward due to his sinister past services which led to him serving a general. But if’t chance some cursed
sentence in the galleys example poison’t near the head, death and
diseases through the whole land spread.”
The Cardinal dismisses Bosola and exits, and then Antonio and Delio approach - they engage in discussion with
Bosola, who surlily describes the parasitic nature of the court. Bosola then leaves A ABOUT B - “I observe his railing is not
for simple love of piety; indeed, he rails at
Antonio is alone with Delio once more, so Delio explains that Bosola had served a sentence in the galleys for a those things which he wants -- would be as
suspected murder carried out on the Cardinal’s orders, and was later released after an act of bravery. This impresses lecherous, covetous or proud, bloody or
Antonio, who regrets the malcontent’s bitterness - as it is a threat to his goodness envious as any man if he had means to be so”
B TO C - “Miserable age, where the only
reward of doing well is the doing of it!”
“I will thrive some way. Blackbirds fatten
best in hard weather: why not I in these
dog-days?”
B ABOUT C - “Some fellows, they say, are
, possessed with the devil, but this great
fellow were able to possess the greatest devil
and make him worse.”
“He and his brother are like plum trees that
grow crooked over standing pools: they are
rich and o’erladen with fruit, but none but
crows, pies and caterpillars feed on them”
B places in the court are but like beds in the
hospital”
(the crowding of early modern hospitals,
where beds were jammed closely together,
suggest the sycophancy of court politics,
where each courtier bowed his head at the
feet of his immediate superior)
A ABOUT B - “This foul melancholy will
poison all his goodness … want of action
breeds all black malcontents”
(the adjective ‘black’ is related to belief in
humorism, where black bile was associated
with a melancholy nature. Depression was
attributed to excess or unnatural black bile
secreted by the spleen.)
1.2 Continues from the previous scene with entrance of four courtiers to Duke Ferdinand A ABOUT C - “observe his inward
character: he is a melancholy churchman.
Antonio receives a jewel from Ferdinand for his horsemanship The spring in his face is nothing but the
engendering of toads”
Once the Cardinal and the Duchess enter, Antonio steps aside and starts telling Delio about the character of the royal
family - says that the Cardinal seems brave and courtly but is really jealous and conniving, and Antonio is just as bad “He should have been pope, but, instead of
because although he seems humorous and kind, he uses entrapment and spies and judges people based on gossip. coming to it by the primitive decency of the
Antonio has a starkly different judgement of the Duchess’s character - describes her as noble and the complete church, he did bestow bribes so largely and
opposite of her brothers so impudently as if he would have carried it
away without heaven's knowledge.”
, As Antonio finishes his praise, Cariola, the Duchess’s hand-maiden, then tells Antonio that he needs to attend to the
Duchess in a half an hour, and Antonio and Delio leave A ABOUT F - “ What appears in him mirth
is merely outside; If he laught heartily, it is to
After Antonio departs, Ferdinand tells the Duchess that he wants her to hire Bosola as the supervisor of her horses. laugh all honesty out of fashion.”
She agrees to do it
“the law to him is like a foul, black cobweb
Everyone exits except the Cardinal and Ferdinand. Once alone, the Cardinal tells Ferdinand to hire Bosola as a spy to to a spider,— he makes it his dwelling and a
observe the Duchess. The Cardinal explains why he was ignoring Bosola in the play’s opening scene; The Cardinal prison to entangle those shall feed him.”
says that he doesn’t want to be seen involved with Bosola, since he doesn’t want to be implicated in the murder that
Bosola committed while in his service or in the spying that Bosola will be hired to do. Ferdinand believes Antonio A ABOUT D - “Whilst she speaks, she
would be better to spy on the Duchess than Bosola, but the Cardinal assures him that Antonio is much too honest for throws upon a man so sweet a look that ti
the position. were able to raise one to a galliard that lay in
a dead palsy”
The Cardinal exits and Ferdinand asks Bosola to simply observe the Duchess and report back to him. Explains that
she is a young widow and they do not want her to remarry “Her days are practis’d in such noble virtue,
that sure her nights, nay, more, her very
Bosola initially objects because he feels it will make him go to hell because it is traitorous, but when Ferdinand tells sleeps, are more in heaven than other ladies’
him about the position as master of the Horses, Bosola duress that this kindness will make him a villain - wishes he shrifts”
could refuse but knows it would be ungrateful to do so
“All her particular worth grows to this sum:
Ferdinand instructs Bosola to be himself and to keep up his melancholy demeanour since it will make him seem she stains the time past, lights the time to
envious but not ambitious, thereby granting him access to everyone’s private lodgings. Bosola exits come.”
The Cardinal, the Duchess, and the Duchess’s hand-maiden Cariola enter and join Ferdinand F - “Do not you ask the reason [that he
‘would not have her marry again’], but be
The Cardinal and Ferdinand then begin convincing and instructing the Duchess not to remarry. They say that she satisfied I say I would not.”
already knows “what man is”, and that she should not let anything sway or taint her high blood
B - “It seems you would create me one of
The Duchess concedes that she’ll never remarry, but her brothers continue telling her not to, specifically warning her your familiars”
against getting married privately, as this will only end badly
“I would have you curse yourself now, that
The Cardinal leaves and Ferdinand begins a lewd, suggestive and almost incestuous speech towards the Duchess. your bounty, which makes men truly noble,
When she responds in shock (suggesting that she believed her brother to be using phallic imagery), he uses this e’er should make me a villain … thus the
assumption as evidence of her lustfulness and claims that he was simply talking about his tongue devil candies all sins o’er, and what heaven
terms vile, that he names complemental”
Once they are alone, the Duchess tells Cariola that she is about to marry secretly, and that by telling her she is trusting
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