Table of Contents
What happens in Act 3 Scene 2 Duchess of Malfi?
Ferdinand accuses the Duchess of disrespecting her dead first husband. The Duchess responds that Ferdinand is being too strict, since as a married woman her reputation is safe. He responds with an anecdote about reputation that implies that, once reputation is gone, it can never be regained.
What happens in Act 3 Duchess of Malfi?
After dismissing Bosola’s beliefs about potions, Ferdinand asks for a key to the Duchess’s bedchamber. Bosola asks Ferdinand what he intends to do with the key and then attempts to guess, but unsuccessfully. Ferdinand tells Bosola not even to try to figure it out, and he declares himself impossible to understand.
What happens when the Duchess eats apricots?
Having voraciously eaten the apricots, the Duchess immediately gets sick, and is whisked away to her bedchamber. Bosola’s got his confirmation, and Antonio is now freaking out a little. Nobody except Delio even knows that he and the Duchess are married, much less that she’s having his kid.
Why did Bosola offer apricot to the Duchess?
The Duchess has secretly married her steward, but her pregnancy is revealed by her irresistible appetite for apricots. These are offered to her as a test by the Machiavellian Bosola, who knows that pregnant women cannot resist them.
Where does the Duchess sent Antonio?
The Duchess and her children meet Antonio in Ancona. The Cardinal finds them, takes their wedding rings and banishes them. The Duchess forces Antonio to flee to Milan with their eldest son.
What story does the Duchess of Malfi tell?
The Duchess of Malfi tells the story of the spirited duchess and her love for her trustworthy steward Antonio. They marry secretly, despite the opposition of her two brothers, Ferdinand (the Duke of Calabria) and the Cardinal. Although she bears three children, she refuses to name the father.
What is the climax scene in Duchess of Malfi?
In the play’s final scene Bosola delivers death blows to the Cardinal and Ferdinand and is himself wounded mortally. In his dying speech he exclaims that mankind exists in a “deep pit of darkness.” 1 Her brothers forbid the widowed Duchess to remarry.
What does Bosola give the Duchess to eat to check if she was pregnant?
Bosola has the Duchess eat the apricots to confirm his suspicions that she is pregnant. Her pregnancy is confirmed when she throws up and goes into labor. It’s suggested that they should say the apricots are poisoned so no one will suspect that the Duchess is giving birth.
What does Bosola do to find out whether the Duchess is pregnant or not?
He is suspicious, and has a trick to discover what is going on: he has brought apricots, which were believed to be labor inducing. Here Bosola reminds himself (and the audience) that he is a spy and it is his job to know if the Duchess is pregnant.
Does Antonio love the Duchess?
The point is not that Antonio feels no love for the Duchess, but that his motives for marrying are mixed. He is also frightened of the Duchess’s brothers, and Webster encourages us to share his fear.
How does Duchess Malfi end?
Ferdinand orders Bosola to strangle the duchess, her two younger children, and her maid and then goes mad with guilt. In typical fashion for revenge tragedy, the final act is one of carnage. All are killed except for the eldest son of the duchess and Antonio, who is named ruler of Malfi.
Who killed The Duchess of Malfi?
Who kills Antonio Bologna?
During this effort, he is accidentally killed by Bosola, who mistakes Antonio for someone else.
Why does Ferdinand not want the Duchess to remarry?
Duke Ferdinand is the brother of the Cardinal and the twin brother of the Duchess. He doesn’t want his widowed sister to remarry, in part because of his pride and his greed for her wealth, but also because he harbors his own incestuous desires for her.