Conclusion: Revenge Tragedy

Kyd would have been surprised to learn that he had founded a sub-genre of tragedy, revenge tragedy, whose conventions and motifs would beof tragedy, revenge tragedy, whose conventions and motifs would be assiduously gathered by nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholars. Ancient criticism knew of no such things as revenge tragedy; nor did sixteenth-century commentators in Italy or England To be suresixteenth-century commentators in Italy or England. To be sure, tragedy often involved revenge — a prior deed of horror provoking the bloody business before the audience. Many a drama by Seneca or his i t th t It li f ll b ith th fsixteenth-century Italian followers began with the appearance of a

miasmic revenant from the underworld who demanded vengeance with horrid speech. But that was tragedy simpliciter, not a sub-genre thereof.

Thomas Kyd. The Spanish Tragedy: Thomas Kyd. The Spanish Tragedy: DRAMATIS PERSONÆDRAMATIS PERSONÆ

DON BAZULTO, an old man

Three Citizens

P t A b d

Ghost of Andrea, a Spanish nobleman, Chorus

Portuguese Ambassador

ALEXANDRO, Portuguese Noblemen

VILLUPPO, Two Portuguese Revenge, KING OF SPAIN

PEDRINGANO, Bellimperia's servant

CHRISTOPHIL, Bellimperia's custodian

Lorenzo's PageCYPRIAN DUKE OF CASTILE, his brotherLORENZO, the Duke's son BELLIMPERIA, Lorenzo's sister

Lorenzo's Page

CERBERINE, Balthazar's servant

Isabella's Maid

VICEROY OF PORTUGAL BALTHAZAR, his son

Messenger

Hangman

Three Kings and three Knights in the first DumbDON PEDRO, the Viceroy's brother

HIERONIMO, Marshal of Spain ISABELLA hi if

Three Kings and three Knights in the first Dumb-show

Hymen and two torch-bearers in the second

BAZARDO P iISABELLA, his wife HORATIO, their son Spanish General

BAZARDO, a Painter

PEDRO and JACQUES, Hieronimo's servants

Army. Banquet. Royal suites. Noblemen. Deputy Halberdiers.

Officers. Three Watchmen. Trumpets. Servants, etc.

The Spanish Tragedy – The plot

Andrea (Spanish nobleman killed by Balthazar)Bel-Imperia, Andrea‘s bride lovesHoratio (Andrea‘s friend) both want to take revengeHoratio (Andrea s friend), both want to take revengeBalthazar (Portuguese Prince and prisoner of the victorious Spaniards) is jealous and woos

Bel-ImperiaBel-Imperia‘s brother Lorenzo and the Spanish court support BalthazarBel Imperia s brother Lorenzo and the Spanish court support BalthazarBalthazar and Lorenzo kill HoratioHoratio‘s father, Hieronimo and his wife Isabella are informed by a letter from Bel-Imperia

about the murderers and seek revengeabout the murderers and seek revengeLorenzo prevents Hieronimo from gaining royal justice. Diplomatic marriage between Balthazar and Bel-Imperia. Hieronimo is responsible for the

ceremony and devises a tragedy Lorenzo and Balthazar act in itceremony and devises a tragedy. Lorenzo and Balthazar act in it. The plot of the tragedy mirrors the plot of the play as a whole: Hieronimo‘s character kills

Lorenzo‘s character; Bel-Imperia stabs Balthazar‘s character and eventually her self – all killings are done with real wespons as is reveiled by the suviving Hieronimo. He is g p y gstopped killing himself and in order to keep the storty for himself Hieronimo bites out his own his tongue.

Finally, he stabs the Duke and then himself. Revenge and Adrea sends Hieronimo, Bel-Imperia, Horation and Isabelle to the eternities, all

the others to hell.

The GhostACT ISCENE I: INDUCTIONEnter the Ghost of Andrea, and with him Revenge.Ghost. When this eternal substance of my soul Did live imprison'd in my wanton flesh,

Revenge. Then know Andrea that thou art arriv'dp y ,

Each in their function serving other's need, I was a courtier in the Spanish court: My name was Don Andrea; my descent,

Then know, Andrea, that thou art arriv d Where thou shalt see the author of thy death, Don Balthazar, the prince of Portingal, Depriv'd of life by Bellimperia. y ; y ,

Though not ignoble, yet inferior far To gracious fortunes of my tender youth. For there in prime and pride of all my years,

Here sit we down to see the mystery, 90And serve for Chorus in this tragedy.

For there in prime and pride of all my years, By duteous service and deserving love, In secret I possess'd a worthy dame, 10Which hight sweet Bellimperia by nameWhich hight sweet Bellimperia by name. But, in the harvest of my summer joys, Death's winter nipp'd the blossoms of my blisForcing divorce betwixt my love and meForcing divorce betwixt my love and me.

Bel-Imperia. Let dangers go, thy war shall be with me: But such a war, as breaks no bond of peace. Speak thou fair words, I'll cross them with fair words; Send thou sweet looks, I'll meet them with sweet looks; Write loving lines, I'll answer loving lines; Give me a kiss, I'll countercheck thy kiss: Be this our warring peace, or peaceful war. (II, ii, 32-8)g p , p ( , , )

Parallelisms and oxymorons/ paradox keep emotions of revenge and love

Hieronimo finds his killed son:O eyes! no eyes, but fountains fraught with tears; O life! no life, but lively form of death; O world! no world, but mass of public wrongs, Confus'd and fill'd with murder and misdeeds! O d h ' ! if thi h ll 'd d dO sacred heav'ns! if this unhallow'd deed, If this inhuman and barbarous attempt, If this incomparable murder thus Of mine but now no more my sonOf mine, but now no more my son, Shall unreveal'd and unrevengèd pass, How should we term your dealings to be just, If you unjustly deal with those that in your justice trust? (III, ii, 1-11)If you unjustly deal with those that in your justice trust? (III, ii, 1 11)

Speech of grief and despair using rhetorical devices like anaphora, parallelism, alliteration

Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord (Romans xii.19)

After he was denied royal justice Hieronimo decides to revenge his son‘s death. Hieronimo regards himself an agent of divine vengeance/justicehimself an agent of divine vengeance/justice creating a feeling of ambivalence in the spectator [cf. Hamlet]. (III, xiii, 1-20)

Enter Hieronimo, with a book in his hand. Vindicta mihi! Ay, heav'n will be reveng'd of every ill;

To quiet life, his life shall easily end.–

'Fata si miseros juvant habes salutem;Nor will they suffer murder unrepaid. Then stay, Hieronimo, attend their will: For mortal men may not appoint their time!--

Fata si miseros juvant, habes salutem;

Fata si vilam negant, habes sepulchrum':

If destiny thy miseries do ease, 'Per scelus semper tutum est scelefibus iter.' Strike, and strike home, where wrong is offer'd thee; For evils unto ills conductors be, A d d th' th t f l ti

Then hast thou health, and happy shalt thou be;

If destiny deny thee life, Hieronimo,

Yet shalt thou be assurèd of a tomb--:And death's the worst of resolution. For he that thinks with patience to contend

Yet shalt thou be assurèd of a tomb :

If neither, yet let this thy comfort be:

Heavn' cov'reth him that hath no burial.

And to conclude, I will revenge his death! 20

Hieronimo‘s plot: a play-in-the-play

Hieronimo (IV.i.75-85)Marry, my good lord, thusAnd yet, methinks, you are too quick with us When in Toledo there I studied, It was my chance to write a tragedyIt was my chance to write a tragedy –See here my lords –He shows them a book Which long forgot, I found this other day. Now would your lordships favour me so much As but to grace me with your acting it –As but to grace me with your acting it I mean each one of you to play a part –Assure you it will prove most passing strange A d d l ibl h bl "And wondrous plausible to that assembly."

Hieronimo speaks to Bel-Imperia, Lorenzo and Balthazar about a tragedy (the tragedy of Soliman and Perseda). Its narrative parallels the narrative of The Spanish Tragedy. The murders which belong to the Soliman's plot will occur on-stage. Becoming part of the plot of the larger play they will be killed by Hieronimo.

The not so happy ending?The not so happy ending?

Act V VAct V, VEnter Ghost and Revenge. Ghost. Ay, now my hopes have end in their effects,

When blood and sorrow finish my desires: yHoratio murder'd in his father's bower; Vild Serberine by Pedringano slain; False Pedringano hang'd by quaint device; Fair Isabella by herself misdone; Prince Balthazar by Bellimperia stabb'd; The Duke of Castile and his wicked son

h d d h b ld i iBoth done to death by old Hieronimo; My Bellimperia fall'n, as Dido fell, 10And good Hieronimo slain by himself: Ay these were spectacles to please my soul!Ay, these were spectacles to please my soul!–

[...]Ghost. Then, sweet Revenge, do this at my request:

Let me be judge and doom them to unrest 30Let me be judge, and doom them to unrest. 30

Three Schools of Critical Thought to explain the nature of Hieronimo's act of vengeance against his son Horatio'sHieronimo s act of vengeance against his son Horatio s

murderers

The first school (Fredson Bowers, Eleanor Prosser, Charles and Elaine Hallet)

Hieronimo must have been condemned by Elizabethans as a homicidal revengerHieronimo must have been condemned by Elizabethans as a homicidal revenger because he violated the Christian injunction to leave vengeance to God (Rom. 12:1719).

Objection: By judging Hieronimo's action solely according to the New Testament, the paradox of his being rewarded and his enemies punished is not explained.

The second school (Frank Ardolino Sacvan BercovitchThe second school (Frank Ardolino, Sacvan Bercovitch, Ernest de Chickera, Herbert Coursen, G. K. Hunter, Ejner

Jensen, David Laird, Michael Levin, and John Ratliff):)

Hieronimo's revenge as the fulfillment of either a classical code of justiceHieronimo s revenge as the fulfillment of either a classical code of justice or an apocalyptic nationalism. Kyd evaluates Hieronimo's action according to the classical code of justice, which is set in motion when P i d A d b k t th ith R h i thProserpine sends Andrea back to earth with Revenge, who gives the doom prophecy at the outset:

… thou shalt see the author of thy death,Don Balthazar. . . ,Depriv'd of life by Bel-imperia:Here sit we down to see the mystery,And serve for Chorus in this tragedy.

The passage of power from Spain to England (ArdolinoThe passage of power from Spain to England (Ardolino, Ronald Broude, Eugene Hill, S.F. Johnson, and Steven

Justice))Hieronimo's revenge is justified from the historical perspective of English

nationalism. The Spanish Tragedy is not a sensationalist revenge tragedy without any

historical context:the late-sixteenth-century struggle between England and Spain which along… the late sixteenth century struggle between England and Spain, which along with Rome, was identified by Protestant apologists as the Whore of Babylon. Spain is doomed to be overthrown by the true followers of Christ.

Hieronimo declares, before the enactment of his revenge playlet, "Now shall I see the fall of Babylon / Wrought by the heavens in this confusion" (IV. i.195-96). y g y ( )He becomes the instrument of apocalyptic revenge against Babylon/ Spain.

The nationalistic themes are represented symbolically in the plays-within-the-play devised by Hieronimo in the first and last actsdevised by Hieronimo in the first and last acts.

Kyd depicted a corrupt Spain (see contemporary anti-Spanish tracts).

Th thi d h l f iti i (G ff A l PhiliThe third school of criticism (Geoffrey Aggeler, Philip Edwards, and James R. Siemon)

• Hieronimo's act of revenge cannot be justified according either to a Christian or a non-Christian ethos. Justice, either human or divine, is absent from the play, which presents only an illusion of justice.

• There is no providential order in the moral and philosophical sense, but only a cruel and senseless fulfillment of the will of dark gods. g

• Edwards says:• “The Spanish Tragedy . . . sets up a rather horrifying un-Christian cosmic

machinery in which metaphysical control is absolute and 'justice' anmachinery in which metaphysical control is absolute and justice an irrelevance. . . . [T]he cosmic machinery of the play is a decisive repudiation of the idea of Christian providence.”

• Siemon argues that Kyd is interested in creating a macabre joke rather than a• Siemon argues that Kyd is interested in creating a macabre joke rather than a providential universe: "Kyd's invocation of an invisible . . . religious backdrop raises [the] irony . . . [that] all this might be but a play, its 'reason' no more than madness its suffering protagonists driven by infernal powers betterthan madness, its suffering protagonists driven by infernal powers better resisted than embraced, and its elaborate choric frame . . . an 'odde jest'"

FRANK ARDOLINO APOCALYPSE & ARMADA INFRANK ARDOLINO. APOCALYPSE & ARMADA IN KYD'S SPANISH TRAGEDY (1995)

Kyd symbolically recreates the struggle with Spain in 1588. English commentators treated the defeat of the Armada as a revenge tragedyEnglish commentators treated the defeat of the Armada as a revenge tragedy

in which God exacted vengeance on Babylon/ Spain through England. Similarly, Kyd creates a nationalistic revenge tragedy in which Hieronimo

serves as the divinely appointed revenger whose marriage playlet destroys Babylon/ Spain. With the Armada subtext in the revenge playlet, Kyd completes the delineation of his play as an apocalyptic revenge tragedy celebrating the victory of England over Antichrist Spain in 1588.

In sum, The Spanish Tragedy is a Reformation play of Daniel, a Protestant Book of Revelation and a Tudor historical play couched in the mysteryBook of Revelation, and a Tudor historical play couched in the mystery rubric, which when interpreted correctly reveals the process of Destiny leading to England's apotheosis as God's favoured country under the Virgin Queen Elizabeth the returned AstraeaVirgin Queen Elizabeth, the returned Astraea.

Ardolinos methods for interpreting The Spanish Tragedy

… analogy and adaptation, repetition and reversal of scenes, conflated and plurisignificant imagery, and composite and duplicate characters, many of

h h ll i l d hi i lwhom have allegorical and historical names. The major result of Kyd's multiple parallels and hidden meanings is that some

scenes can be analyzed on many levels of meaning. The revenge playlet provides the most significant example of a multicontextual scene Theprovides the most significant example of a multicontextual scene. The "Soliman and Perseda" playlet can be viewed as the parallel and fulfillment of the historical masque at the end of act 1 and as the culmination of the apocalyptic context in which Hieronimo predicts the fall of Babylon and then p yp p yenacts it at the wedding celebration of Prince Balthazar, the counterpart to the doomed King Belshazzar of Babylon. Moreover, the revenge playlet also is related to the three historical plots involving Nero, Lorenzo de' Medici, and Catherine de' Medici Most significantly the revenge playlet also contains theCatherine de' Medici. Most significantly, the revenge playlet also contains the historical subtext of the English victory over the Armada in 1588 (Ardolino, p. xvi).

Horror and Retribution/ Revenege through the Ages

In the case of Beckett's drama, the trajectory goes at least as far back as the fifth century B.C. and the seven surviving plays by Aeschylus, among which is the Oresteia trilogy recounting the series of bloody retributive murders affecting the house of Atreus, as well as the plays by Sophocles and Euripides, the latter of whose drama greatly influenced a first-century A.D. Stoic, Seneca, who wrote his nine surviving tragedies of blood to be recited rather than acted It is Seneca whose worksurviving tragedies of blood to be recited rather than acted. It is Seneca whose work was translated and imitated in Renaissance Italy, France, and England, whose playwrights mistakenly thought his plays were intended for the stage. In defiance of Horace's dictum that good taste demands leaving the horrific for offstage actions, Senecan tragedy-- Kyd Spanish Tragedy, Shakespeare Titus Andronicus, and Ford 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, for instance--often placed murders and other terrors on stage, employing along the way much use of dark introspection and soliloquy as well as sensational themes such as adultery incest and infanticide The contemporary echo ofsensational themes such as adultery, incest, and infanticide. The contemporary echo of this tradition sounds in what has come to be called the Theater of Cruelty--defined in the 1930s by Antonin Artaud and carried on by Jean Genet, Peter Weiss, and others--and in modern horror films such as Alfred Hitchcock Psycho, Tobe Hooper The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Ridley Scott Alien.

Staging the Impossible: The Fantastic Mode in Modern Drama by Patrick D. Murphy, Marshall B. Tymn; Greenwood Press, 1992, 118.

Major Elizabethan PlaywrightsGeorge ChapmanThomas DekkerBen JonsonBen JonsonThomas KydJohn LylyChristopher MarlowePhilip MassingerTh MiddlThomas MiddletonGeorge PeeleWilliam ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareJames ShirleyJohn Webster

John Webster (c. 1579 – c. 1634)http://www.johnwebster.galeon.com/index.htm

John Webster (c. 1578- c. 1630s)(b. c. 1580, London, Eng.—d. c. 1632), English dramatist whose The White Devil (c. 1609-c. 1612)

and The Duchess of Malfi (c. 1612/13, published 1623) are generally regarded as the paramount 17th t E li h t di t f th f Sh k17th-century English tragedies apart from those of Shakespeare.

Little is known of Webster's life. His preface to Monuments of Honor, his Lord Mayor's Show for 1624, says he was born a freeman of the Merchant Taylors' Company. He was probably a coachmaker, and possibly he was an actor. Apart from his two major plays and The Devils Law-Case (c. 1620; published 1623), his dramatic work consists of collaborations (not all extant)

ith l di it With Th D kk hi i ll b t h t W t d Hwith leading writers. With Thomas Dekker, his main collaborator, he wrote Westward Ho(1604) and Northward Ho (1605), both of which were published in 1607. He is also believed to have worked to varying degrees with William Rowley, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher, John Ford, and perhaps Philip Massinger. Eight extant plays and some nondramatic verse and prose are wholly or partly his; the most standard edition is The Complete Works of John Webster, ed. by F.L. Lucas, 4 vol. (1927).

Th Whit D il lik M b th i t d f ti d Th D h f M lfi lik Ki L iThe White Devil, like Macbeth, is a tragedy of action; and The Duchess of Malfi, like King Lear, is a tragedy of suffering.

[From Encyclopaedia Britannica]

The White Devil has a horrifically corrupt court, and a 'heroine' (Vittoria Corombona) who is 'the y p , ( )white devil' of the title — a character as evil as those she destroys. The themes of revenge and justice dominate the play, and it has a dark, brooding, and claustrophobic atmosphere, with incidents of appalling violence and cruelty. Goodness is rather more of a weakness than a virtue in the play, and natural human relationships outside and inside the family are shown as twisted, perverted and corrupt. A courageous attitude to death is seen as almost the only virtue open to a human being.

The Duchess of Malfi differs from The White Devil and many other Jacobean plays in that its central couple, the Duchess and her husband, are not evil, but become the victims of evil by marrying against the wishes of the insane Duke, the Duchess's brother. Cruelty, corruption, grotesque violence, madnes, and all the hallmarks of Jacobean tragedy are there, but the characterisation in the play is remarkably subtle, the boundaries between good and evil more clearly marked, and many of the characters genuinely fascinating psychological studies.

THE ACTORS’ NAMES [As given in the first edition]

Ch t d A t 'Silvio

Characters and Actors' Names

Bosola

T. Pollard

The several madmen

N Towley J UnderwoodBosolaJ. LowinFerdinand1. R. Burbidge

N. Towley, J. Underwood, etc.

The Duchess

R Shg

2. J. TaylorCardinal1. H. Cundaile

R. Sharpe

The Cardinal's Mistress

J. Tomson Actor' Names] The Duchess is the earliest English play to be published2. R. Robinson

Antonio1. W. Ostler2 R B fi ld

The Doctor

Cariola

R P ll t

earliest English play to be published with a list of actors assigned to individual rôles; this innovation was not copied until 1629, in plays by the courtier Carlell and Massinger2. R. Benfield

DelioJ. UnderwoodForobosco

R. Pallant

Court Officers

Three young children

the courtier Carlell, and Massinger and Shirley.

(From John Russell Brown, The Duchess of Malfi, Manchester Forobosco

N. TowleyMalatesteThe Marquis of Pescara

Two PilgrimsDuchess of Malfi, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1976, p.6)

The Marquis of PescaraJ. Rice

John Webster. The Duchess of Malfi (1612; perf. 1614, Blackfriars Theatre; print: 1623)p p )

Place: Italy in the early 16th century

Duchess of Malfi, a young widow, sister to the Cardinal and twin sister to Ferdinand, is wood by Antonio Bologna, steward of the Duchess's household, and marries him clandestinly. They have three children together.

Her gentleman of the horse, Daniel de Bosa, the most complex character in the play, betrays herThe Duchess and her three children flee her two brothers‘ revenge (Duke Ferdinand ofThe Duchess and her three children flee her two brothers‘ revenge (Duke Ferdinand of Calabria and the Cardinal)

She is captured with her two younger children by Bosola and put under terrible mentalShe is captured with her two younger children by Bosola and put under terrible mental tortures when she is brought into the custody of her brother Ferdinand. She is shown the (hacked off) hand of her husband and later the wax imitations of the corpses of Antonio and her childrenher children.

When her two children are killed she commits suicide. Antonio and their eldest son find protection in Mailand unaware of what happened. On his return, Antonio is mistaken for the p pp ,Cardinal and killed by Bosola. Eventually Bosola, Ferdinand and the Cardinal kill each other. The surviving son inherits the Duchess.

B l ‘ bi l h h Bosola‘s ambivalent character as shown when he jedges the Cardinal correctly

[Exit CARDINAL]Are you gone?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.,

ANTONIO: He hath denied thee some suit?BOSOLA: He and his brother are like plum-trees that grow crooked

Over standing-pools; they are rich and o'erladen withOver standing-pools; they are rich, and o erladen withFruit, but none but crows, pies, and caterpillars feedOn them. Could I be one of their flattering panders, IWould hang on their ears like a horseleech, till I were full, andWould hang on their ears like a horseleech, till I were full, andThen drop off. I pray leave me.Who would rely upon these miserable dependencies; in expectation toBe advanced to-morrow? (59)( )

Ferdinand and the Cardinal – Twins in EvilANTONIO: But observe his inward character: he is a melancholy

Churchman; the spring in his face is nothing but theEngendering of toads; where he is jealous of any man,He lays worse plots for him than ever was imposed onHe lays worse plots for him than ever was imposed onHercules, for he strews in his way flatterers, panders, Intelligencers, atheists, and a thousand such politicalMonsters. He should have been Pope, …

DELIO: You have given too much of him: what's his brother?ANTONIO: The duke there? a most perverse and turbulent nature:

What appears in him mirth is merely outside;If he laugh heartily, it is to laughg y, gAll honesty out of fashion.

DELIO: Twins?ANTONIO: In quality.

H k ith th ' t d h ' itHe speaks with others' tongues, and hears men's suitsWith others' ears; will seem to sleep o' th' benchOnly to entrap offenders in their answers;Dooms men to death by information,R d b hRewards by hearsay.

DELIO: Then the law to himIs like a foul black cobweb to a spider,He makes it his dwelling and a prisong pTo entangle those shall feed him.

ANTONIO: Most true

Bosola is bribed by Ferdinand to monitor the Duchess

FERDINAND: I give you that

FERDINAND: Sir, I'll take nothing from you, that I have given:There is a place that I procur'd for youg y

To live i'th' court here, and observe the duchess;To note all the particulars of her 'haviour,What suitors do solicit her for marriage,And whom she best affects. She's a young widow:

There is a place that I procur'd for youThis morning, the provisorship o'th'horse;Have you heard on't?And whom she best affects. She s a young widow:

I would not have her marry again.BOSOLA: No, sir?FERDINAND: Do not you ask the reason; but be satisfied

I I ld

y

I say I would not.BOSOLA: It seems you would create me

One of your familiars.FERDINAND: Familiar! what's that?FERDINAND: Familiar! what s that?BOSOLA: Why, a very quaint invisible devil in flesh;

As intelligencer.FERDINAND: Such a kind of thriving thing

I would wish thee; and ere long, thou may'st arriveAt a higher place by't.

BOSOLA: Take your devils,Which hell calls angels: these curs'd gifts would makeg gYou a corrupter, me an impudent traitor;And should I take these, they'd take me to hell.

Bawdy Language as a means of characterization

CARDINAL: Fare you well.Wisdom begins at the end: remember itWisdom begins at the end: remember it.

[Exit CARDINAL]DUCHESS: I think this speech between you both was studied,

It came so roundly offIt came so roundly off.FERDINAND: You are my sister;

This was my father's poniard, do you see?I'd be loath to see't look rusty, 'cause 'twas his.d be oat to see t oo usty, cause twas s.I would have you to give o'er these chargeable revels,A visor and a mask are whispering roomsThat were never built for goodness: fare ye well,A d lik th t t hi h lik th lAnd women like that part, which like the lamprey,Hath never a bone in't.

DUCHESS: Fie, sir!FERDINAND NFERDINAND: Nay,

I mean the tongue; variety of courtship;What cannot a neat knave with a smooth taleMake a woman believe: Farewell, lusty widow.Make a woman believe: Farewell, lusty widow.

[Exit FERDINAND] (79)

Lamprey = Neunauge

Clandestine Marriage between Antonio and the Duchess

DUCHESS: Be not amaz'd, this woman's of my counsel:I have heard lawyers say, a contract in a chamberPer verba de presenti is absolute marriagePer verba de presenti, is absolute marriage.Bless, heaven, this sacred gordian, which let violenceNever untwine!

ANTONIO A d t ff ti lik th hANTONIO: And may our sweet affections, like the spheres,Be still in motion.

DUCHESS: Quickening, and makeTh lik ft iThe like soft music.

ANTONIO: That we may imitate the loving palms,Best emblem of a peaceful marriage

h b f i di id dThat never bore fruit divided.DUCHESS: What can the church force more? (89)

Bosola betrays the two lovers

Ferdinand‘s reaction when he learns about the marriageFerdinand s reaction when he learns about the marriageFERDINAND: I would have their bodies

Burnt in a coal-pit with the ventage stopp'd,That their curs'd smoke might not ascend to heaven;Or dip the sheets they lie in in pitch or sulphur,Wrap them in't, and then light them like a match;Or else to boil their bastard to a cullisAnd give't his lecherous father, to renewThe sin of his back.

CARDINAL: I'll leave you.FERDINAND: Nay I have done (129)FERDINAND: Nay, I have done. (129)[…]FERDINAND: Dost thou know what reputation is?

I'll tell thee, to small purpose, since th' instruction, p p ,Comes now too late.….. And so, for you;You have shook hands with Reputation,And made him invisible. So fare you well:And made him invisible. So fare you well:I will never see you more.

DUCHESS: Why should only I,/ Of all the other princes of the world Be cas'd up, like a holy relic? I have youth,/ And a little beauty.

FERDINAND S h i iFERDINAND: So you have some virgins That are witches. I will never see thee more. [He exits] (147)

The Duchess‘s Death and Bosola‘s RemorseDUCHESS: Antonio!BOSOLA: Yes, madam, he is living;

The dead bodies you saw were but feign'd

In my mother's milk. My estate is sunkBelow the degree of fear: where wereThese penitent fountains while she wasThe dead bodies you saw, were but feign d

statues;He's reconcil'd to your brothers; the Pope hath wrought

These penitent fountains, while she was living?O, they were frozen up! Here is a sightAs direful to my soul, as is the sword

The atonement.DUCHESS: Mercy![She dies].

y ,Unto a wretch hath slain his father. Come,I'll bear thee hence,And execute thy last will; that's deliverBOSOLA: O, she's gone again! there the cords of

life broke.O, sacred innocence, that sweetly sleepsOn turtles' feathers whilst a guilty conscience

And execute thy last will; that's deliverThy body to the reverend disposeOf some good women: that, the cruel tyrantOn turtles feathers, whilst a guilty conscience

Is a black register, wherein is writAll our good deeds and bad, a perspectiveThat shows us hell! That we cannot be suffer'd

yShall not deny me. Then I'll post to Milan,Where somewhat I will speedily enactW th d j tiTo do good when we have a mind to it!

This is manly sorrow;These tears, I am very certain, never grew

Worth my dejection.

[Exit carrying the body]. (215f.)

Concluding Lines Spoken by Antonio‘s friend

PESCARA: The noble Delio, as I came to th' palace,Told me of Antonio's being here, and show'd meA pretty gentleman his son and heirA pretty gentleman, his son and heir.

[Enter DELIO – Antonio‘s friend and courtier -- , and Antonio's son]MALATESTE: O sir, you come too late!DELIO: I heard so, andDELIO: I heard so, and

Was arm'd for't ere I came. Let us make noble useOf this great ruin; and join all our forceTo establish this young hopeful gentlemanIn's mother's right These wretched eminent thingsIn s mother s right. These wretched eminent thingsLeave no more fame behind 'em, than should oneFall 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 thoughtBoth form and matter. I have ever thoughtNature 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 endWhich nobly, beyond death, shall crown the end.

[Exit]

Tragedy of an immoral Re-Marriage of a WidowVs. a tragedy of erotic devotion and self-realization

Although it is undoubtedly true that some patrons of the Blackfriars might theoreticallyAlthough it is undoubtedly true that some patrons of the Blackfriars might theoreticallyoppose the remarriage of a widow, particularly if such a marriage involved theclandestine union of a head of state with her social inferior, it is absurdly narrow to judgeWebster's tragic heroine by such inflexibly pragmatic or pietistic standardsWebster s tragic heroine by such inflexibly pragmatic or pietistic standards.

[...]Rather, it is a tragedy of erotic devotion in which the lovers, not unlike Romeo and Juliet, i k th i li f l th t h t b h lthi i h d h thrisk their lives for values that are shown to be healthier, richer, and more humane than

those that they dare to flout. Aware of the fierce antagonisms that the forces of outragedconventionality, rigid class distinction, political expediency, or family hostility wouldinevitably unleash against such an irregular marriage Webster incorporates theseinevitably unleash against such an irregular marriage, Webster incorporates theseattitudes into the play, setting them in unflattering contrast to the life-affirming andcourageous decision of the Duchess to be true to her own deepest need for completenessand self-realizationand self-realization.

(Charles R. Forker. Skull beneath the Skin: The Achievement of John Webster. Southern Illi i U i it P 1986 297)Illinois University Press, 1986, p. 297)