key quotes

• 'the witchcraft lies in her rank blood'

  Ferdinand

  accusing the duchess of being a witch due to her choice of having a child out of wedlock

  shows how harsh jacobean society was on women

  'blood' - link to ferdinand's obsession with preserving his bloodline or his weird perversion with his sister's body
• 'whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, like diamonds we are cut with our own dust'


  ferdinand's final lines

  ironic considering he one mocked the duchess for referring to herself as a diamond + now he is calling himself one

  highlighting consequences for actions

  like to self-realisation?
• 'a false key to her bedchamber'

  shows the extent to which Ferdinand is willing to go to violate the duchess's privacy
• 'he and his brother are like plum trees which grow crooked over standing pools' 


  highlights the wealth of brothers through fruit metaphor but also the corrupt means of them growing crooked and maintaining it

  webster presenting a view against autocracy by making the two authorities the facilitators of tragedy
• 'farwell lusty widow' 


  again focus on duchess's sexuality - damning of any suggestion of female autonomy or sexual expression link to context of the 'ordinary widow'
• 'i am duchess of malfi still' 


  emphasises the tragedy + heroism of the duchess's situation - acceptance of situation and potential sacrafice yet her pride and autonomy still remains.
• 'i am your creature'


  bosola states this to ferdinand, suggests a lack of morality and also an ineliminable bond - placing duty and ambition above morality?
• 'some fellows, they say, are possessed with the devil, but this great fellow were able to possess the greatest devil and make him worse' 


  bosola about the cardinal. Webster can be shown to highlight his anti-catholicism her comparing a religious figurehead to the devil.
• 'cover her face: mine eyes dazzle: she died young'


  shows Ferdinand's guilt in killing the duchess
• 'the misery of us that are born great, we are forced to woo because none dare woo us' 


  duchess to antonio - focus on the restrictive nature of class system
• 'you have made me stark blind'


  antonio to duchess - foreshadow how his love for her clouds his judgment
• 'I would have their bodies burnt in a coal pit with the ventage stopped'

  ferdinand - his desire to control the duchess has resulted in an incredibly extreme reaction
• 'a princes court is like a common fountain'

  emphasis on the damage of corruption - suggestion that if the top is corrupt there will be a trickle down effect. Foreshadows corruptive nature of Italy
• 'unjust actions should wear these masks and curtains'


  duchess - thinks false actions are unworthy - links to themes of secrecy and corruption.