Duchess of Malfi Act 1 scene 1 l.395 - 494

Honesty and transparency (and its opposite flattery and sycophancy)
1. a complete man (I speak it without flattery)
2. 'a tyrant doubles with his words, And fearfully equivocates,'
Role-reversal/challenging gender roles
1. Is it fit? [She puts the ring upon his finger]:
  1. Her putting the ring on his finger signifies her dominance; her taking the initiative
2. 'These words should be mine, And all the parts you have spoke'
3. 'You do tremble'
4. here upon your lips I sign your Quietus est. (she kisses him)
  1. She takes the lead sexually, she is also the one that talks about going to bed.
Status and hierarchy
1. The misery of us that are born great! We are forced to woo , because none dare woo us;
Ambition (and its opposite – humility)
1. 'Ambition, madam, is a great man's madness'
2. You were ill to sell yourself: This dark'ning of your worth
3. 'my unworthiness!'
Motifs
1. Blood
  1. 'One of your eyes is blood-shot'
2. Madness
  1. 'With the wild noise of prattling visitants, Which makes it lunatic beyond all cure.'
  2. '...it shows/A fearful madness. I owe her much of pity'
3. Death
  1. 'In a winding-sheet?'
  2. 'I am making my will'
  3. 'Tis not the figure cut in alabaster. Kneels at my husband's tomb'
  4. 'Make not your heart so dead a piece of flesh'
4. Meta theatre
  1. These words should be mine, And all the parts you have spoke,
5. Imprisonment
  1. ''kept in chains and close-pent rooms'
Challenging the Church’s power
1. ''tis the church That must but echo this '

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Duchess of Malfi Act 1 scene 1 l.395 - 494

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	Created by Adrian Gray about 7 years ago