THE DUCHESS OF MALFI
Synopsis
1504,
Amalfi, Italy. Before a backdrop of religious and moral corruption, the widowed
Duchess defies her brothers’ orders not to remarry. The subsequent atrocities
inflicted on her and on those she holds dear are too much to bear but as the
horrors repeat on themselves, integrity and virtue prevail.
The play is set
in the court of Malfi (Amalfi), Italy in approximately 1504-1510.
The recently
widowed Duchess of Malfi is forbidden by her brothers, the Cardinal and
Ferdinand, to remarry. Defying them, she seeks a clandestine alliance with her
steward, Antonio. He accepts her advances and they are secretly married.
Meanwhile, the Duchess’ brothers enlist Bosola, a recently released convict, to
monitor their sister’s actions.
Nine months
later and the Duchess is pregnant with Antonio’s child. They disguise her
pregnancy but Bosola discovers the ruse and informs Ferdinand, who is outraged.
However, the brothers choose to refrain from revenge until they know who
fathered the child.
The Duchess and
Antonio have two more children before Ferdinand visits his sister. Ferdinand
contrives a late visit to the Duchess’ bedchamber where he confronts her with
her indiscretions. She reveals her marriage, but not who her husband is, and
Ferdinand declares it unacceptable. The Duchess, to save her husband Antonio,
publicly condemns and exiles him, claiming that he failed to pay certain bills,
thereby removing him from harm. She plans on joining him shortly in exile.
The Duchess
mistakenly takes Bosola into her confidence and, acting on his advice, she goes
to the shrine of Loretto, before joining Antonio. At the same time, Bosola
travels to Naples, informing Ferdinand of the Duchess’ plans and Antonio’s
role. Ferdinand pursues them.
After reuniting
with Antonio and revealing their marriage to her household, the Duchess’ staff
desert her. Bosola, clearly in the service of Ferdinand, brings a letter subtly
demanding Antonio’s death. After Bosola leaves carrying her refusal to her
brother, the Duchess urges Antonio to take their eldest son and escape to Milan.
Bosola returns
to take the Duchess prisoner. Once captured, Ferdinand’s revenge on the Duchess
is a series of horrible indignities as he attempts to drive her mad and
presents her with the hand of Antonio, declaring he and her son are dead. Finally,
on her brothers’ orders, Bosola strangles the Duchess and her two youngest
children. In the last moments of her life, Bosola repents his involvement,
revealing that Antonio still lives. Bosola then overhears the Cardinal plotting
to kill him and so visits the darkened chapel in order to kill the Cardinal at
his prayers. Instead, he mistakenly kills Antonio who has just returned to
Malfi to attempt a reconciliation with the Cardinal. Bosola finally manages to
kill the Cardinal. In the brawl that follows, Ferdinand and Bosola stab each
other to death.
Antonio’s friend
Delio brings in the Duchess and Antonio’s eldest son. He is proclaimed ruler of
the lands held by his mother and uncles.
Act Breakdown
Act I
The
play opens in the Duchess’ audience chamber in Amalfi with Bosola returning
from his sentence for murder in the galleys. He converses with the Cardinal but
then speaks briefly with Antonio and seems not to trust the Cardinal. Antonio Bologna,
the steward of the Duchess’ household, who has recently come from France, talks
with his friend Delio about the French court and his admiration for the French
king who has rewarded those who have been honest and true. Antonio and Delio
berate the Duchess’ brothers, the Cardinal and Ferdinand, finding them both of
an ill and devious nature. Antonio praises the Duchess for her noble virtue.
Ferdinand
employs Bosola to spy upon the Duchess as he is set against her marrying again
and wishes to know her private intentions. Ferdinand recommends Bosola to the
Duchess as the Provisor of her horse and, unaware of her brother’s plan, she
accepts Bosola into her employ. Ferdinand and the Cardinal make clear to their
sister that they do not wish her to remarry.
Despite her
brothers’ warnings, the Duchess summons Antonio under the pretence that she is
going to dictate her will to him. She conceals her lady in waiting, Cariola, as
a witness. It soon becomes apparent that the Duchess is proposing to Antonio
and she bestows on him her wedding ring. Antonio is well aware that her brothers
will not accept their sister’s marriage to a man born of lower status but the
Duchess assures him that all will be fine. Cariola casts a shadow of doubt on the
marriage by pitying the Duchess for her potential madness.
Act II
The
Duchess’ palace in A malfi, nine months later. Bosola, alone, muses that the
Duchess may well be pregnant. He is almost convinced of the fact but endeavours
to gain proof by sparking her pregnant appetite with a gift of apricots believed,
at the time, to induce labour. The Duchess does indeed go into labour and
Antonio, realising he has little time to conceal this, invents a ruse that the
Duchess’ jewels are missing and the palace must be shut up presently and each
officer confined to his chamber. Cariola tells Antonio that he is the father of
a son. Bosola thinks he has heard the Duchess in labour but is discovered
lurking about the palace by Antonio who confronts him and asks why he creeps
about during the curfew. Antonio drops a note on his way out which confirms
that the Duchess has had a son. Bosola vows to reveal this to Ferdinand and the
Cardinal.
The action then
crosses to the Cardinal’s palace in Rome where it is made clear that the
Cardinal and Julia are having an affair. Ferdinand bursts in with the news
Bosola has sent him. Both brothers are appalled by the fact that the Duchess
has given birth and Ferdinand vows to discover with whom she has had this
child.
Act III
Antonio
speaks with Delio who is newly returned from Rome with Ferdinand. Antonio
explains that the Duchess has had two more children in his absence. The Duchess
enters with Ferdinand, who suggests he has found a husband for her, Count Malateste.
The Duchess spurns this idea and insists she is still not married. Bosola tells
Ferdinand she now has three children and that he has acquired a skeleton key to
her bedchambers so that Ferdinand may spy on her and get the truth.
The Duchess and
Antonio speak within her bedchambers whilst Ferdinand enters and conceals
himself. Antonio leaves the Duchess and Ferdinand reveals himself, forcing the
hand of the Duchess to admit to whom she is married. The Duchess defends
Antonio and her choice in marriage but Ferdinand vows never to set eyes on her
again. Bosola enters with news that Ferdinand has fled to Rome. The Duchess,
for the sake of Antonio’s safety concocts a story for Bosola indicating Antonio
has been false with her accounts and he must be exiled to Ancona. Bosola does
not believe this and speaks of Antonio as a good and honest man, thus prompting
the Duchess to confide in him of their secret marriage. Bosola knows he must
pass this information on to Ferdinand and is left on stage to contemplate his
role as a spy.
Bosola then
interrupts a meeting at the Cardinal’s palace in Rome with news of the Duchess.
The Cardinal banishes the Duchess, Antonio and their family from Ancona. Later,
in a palace in Loreto, the Duchess and Antonio receive word of their banishment
and Bosola brings forth a letter from Ferdinand indirectly stating he wants
Antonio dead. The Duchess tells Antonio to take their eldest son and flee to
Milan for safety as she fears her brothers. Bosola and guards then take the Duchess
and her two remaining children captive under the order of her brothers.
Act IV
The
Duchess’ palace in Amalfi now serves as her prison. Ferdinand enters with
Bosola and is told how bravely the Duchess is dealing with her imprisonment.
This is not to Ferdinand’s satisfaction and he asks Bosola to tell the Duchess
he wishes to speak with her but in the dark. Ferdinand enters the Duchess’ room
which has been darkened and presents her with a dead man’s hand, making her
believe it is Antonio’s. He then leaves Bosola to present her with images of a fake
Antonio and her children as if they were dead. She believes them and her
despair is so deep that she resolves to die. Her situation affects Bosola
greatly and we begin to see signs of his guilt and remorse. The Duchess and
Cariola speak of the dreadful noises they hear echoing throughout the palace.
It is that of madmen which Ferdinand has placed within in order to sink the
Duchess into greater despair. The Duchess insists that hearing greater grief
can only serve to lessen hers. Bosola reenters disguised as a tomb-maker and
tells the Duchess she is to die. Her resolve is strong and she tells Bosola and
the executioners to strangle her well, which they do. Cariola re-enters and is
strangled too. Ferdinand enters and, seeing the body of the Duchess and her
dead children, is in despair. Bosola fears Ferdinand will turn on him and
demands payment for his atrocities. Ferdinand questions why Bosola followed his
orders to kill the Duchess when he was so obviously upset and says the only
payment Bosola will receive will be to not be put to death for the murder.
After Ferdinand leaves, the Duchess wakes briefly. Bosola, in a final act of
remorse, tells the Duchess that Antonio is not really dead and that he shall
pass her body on to the care of good women of the town. The Duchess dies.
Act V
Outside
the Cardinal’s palace in Milan. Antonio speaks with Delio about his hopes for a
reconciliation with the Cardinal, unaware that the Duchess is dead. Delio warns
him against this. Later, inside the palace, a doctor has been summoned to investigate
Ferdinand’s supposed lycanthropia - he now believes himself to be a wolf and
digs up dead bodies at night. The Cardinal and the doctor confront Ferdinand
who is seemingly mad and attacks his own shadow. The Cardinal, whilst keeping quiet
about his part in the Duchess’ death, assigns Bosola with the task of finding
Antonio and slaying him. When Bosola leaves, he is accosted by Julia who
accuses him of having given her a love potion to make her fall in love with the
Cardinal and threatens to kill Bosola to end her love. Bosola disarms Julia and
asks her to gather evidence on the Cardinal for him. Julia conceals Bosola as
the Cardinal enters. Julia forces information out of the Cardinal regarding his
part in the Duchess’ death but makes her swear never to tell. He hands her a
poisoned bible to kiss and she dies. Bosola reveals himself and confronts the
Cardinal but maintains he will still kill Antonio and will also help dispose of
Julia’s body. The Cardinal gives Bosola a master key to the palace but once
Bosola is alone again, he swears to protect Antonio.
Later, outside
the same palace, Delio and Antonio speak near the Duchess’ tomb. They are
interrupted with supposed echoes of the Duchess. Delio leaves to find Antonio’s
eldest son in the hope that the Cardinal may find mercy and compassion when he
sees his nephew and thus pardon Antonio.
Inside the
palace again, the Cardinal dissuades the courtiers from keeping watch over
Ferdinand. He tells them not to come to Ferdinand’s aid if they should hear
anything, as he knows that they may hear Antonio struggling with Bosola. They
leave reluctantly. Bosola then enters to hear the Cardinal plotting his death.
Antonio enters in the dark, unaware of Bosola’s presence, to try again with the
Cardinal. Bosola stabs Antonio, believing him to be the Cardinal and is
horrified by his mistake but manages to tell Antonio of the death of the
Duchess and her children. Antonio is happy to die in misery since there is nothing
left for him. Bosola resolves to kill the Cardinal and tells him this as he
enters. Since the Cardinal has given orders for the guards not to approach if
they hear screams, the Cardinal realises he is at the mercy of Bosola. Bosola
stabs the Cardinal, then Ferdinand bursts in and also attacks the Cardinal,
wounding Bosola accidentally. Bosola stabs Ferdinand. The guards re-enter amid
the commotion. The Cardinal dies, then Bosola. Delio enters too late with
Antonio’s eldest son and laments what has passed, vowing to establish the young
man in his mother’s right and making him ruler of his mother and uncles’ lands.
Character
Breakdown
The Duchess
Sister
to Ferdinand and the Cardinal and recent widow. She is described as having a
sweet countenance, noble virtue and a tenderness and warmth that her brothers
lack. She is witty, clever and never outsmarted in dialogue by her brothers.
She marries beneath her and has three children with Antonio. Her dignified death
shows the contrast with her brothers and the corruption of the court that
surrounds her.
The Cardinal
The
brother to Ferdinand and the Duchess. He is a corrupt official of the Roman
Catholic Church, whose intents mirror Ferdinand’s in his desire for his sister
not to remarry. His knows about Bosola spying on the Duchess although others
remain ignorant to his plotting.
Ferdinand
The
Duke of Calabria and twin brother of the Duchess. He is an irrational and
tempestuous man, often given to fits of rage disproportionate to the ‘offence’
in question. He is in vehement opposition to his sister remarrying, largely due
to greed as upon her death, he will receive her assets. After seeing his dead
sister, he regrets hiring Bosola to kill her and eventually loses his sanity,
believing himself to be a wolf.
Cariola
The
Duchess’ waiting-woman. She is privy to the Duchess’ secrets as she witnesses
her marriage and helps deliver her children. She is strangled by Bosola.
Julia
Wife
of Castruccio and mistress of the Cardinal. She dies at the hands of the
Cardinal by kissing a poisoned bible.
Castruccio
An
old lord with a much younger wife, Julia.
Doctor
Sent
to cure Ferdinand of lycanthropia.
Daniel de Bosola
A
former servant of the Cardinal, now returned from a sentence for murder. Bosola
is sent by Ferdinand to spy on the Duchess and is eventually involved in the
murder of the Duchess, her children, Cariola, Antonio, the Cardinal and Ferdinand
himself. As he witnesses the grace and nobility of the Duchess facing her
deaths, he has a change of heart as guilt overwhelms him and he then seeks to
avenge her.
Antonio Bologna
Antonio
is the steward of the Duchess of Malfi’s palace and has recently returned from
France. Honest by nature and a good judge of character, he is full of scorn for
the Italian courtiers whom he sees as more corrupt than the French. In
accepting the Duchess’ marriage proposal, he does because of her character
instead of her beauty. He takes neither her title nor her money and lets their
union remain a secret, as he is aware her brothers will think ill of her
marrying beneath herself. He lacks dynamism and seems unremarkable in
comparison to the Duchess.
Malateste
A
courtier of the Cardinal’s court. His name translates to mean ‘headache’. At
one point Ferdinand refers to him as a potential suitor for the Duchess.
Delio
A
courtier who is the friend and confidante of Antonio. He knows the secrets of
Antonio’s marriage and of his children, and in many ways acts as the narrator
of the play.
Pescara
A
marquis.
Rodergio, Grisolan,
Silvio
Courtiers.
Officers & executioners
