Blood / Violence

Violent metaphor for sycophancy- Bosola- A1, S1

"I Would hang on their ears like a horseleech, till I were full, and Then drop off."

Almost comedic self-awareness from Bosola of what he needs to do to climb in the world- A1, S1

"Whose throat must I cut?"

Duchess is dominant via proxemics; violent imagery connotes death intertwined with love

"Make not your heart so dead a piece of flesh, To fear, more than to love me."

Violent / incestual imagery used by Ferdinand; links to context on patriarchy

"Wh0re's milk" "Wh0re's blood" (2.5)

Links to context on witchcraft in the Jacobean era- Ferdinand- A3, S1

"The witchcraft lies in her rank blood."

Incestual desire intertwined with ambition / obsession with keeping the bloodline pure

"Damn her! That body of hers, While that my blood ran pure in't, was more worth Than that which thou wouldst comfort, called a soul." (4.1)

Self-awareness from Bosola

"My trade is to flatter the dead, not the living. I am a tomb-maker." (4.2)

Death of children dehumanised; shocking imagery; links to Ferdinand's lycanthropia

"The death Of young wolves is never to be pitied." (4.2)

Self-aware of the sycophancy in the Malfi court intertwined with violent imagery

"you are all of you like beasts for sacrifice: There's nothing left of you, but tongue and belly, Flattery and lechery." (5.2)

Prolepsis to the poisoning of Julia shortly after; metaphor for guilt and morality

"That, like a lingering poison, may chance lie Spread in thy veins, and kill thee seven year hence. " (5.2)

Juxtaposition between the Cardinal's guilt and immediate plans for murder

"O, my conscience! [...] I appointed Bosola To fetch the body: when he hath served my turn, He dies." (5.4)

Personification of guilt

"When I look into the fish-ponds in my garden, Methinks I see a thing arm'd with a rake, That seems to strike at me." (5.5)

Final lines of Ferdinand are still obsessed with purity / incest

"there's the cause on't. Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, Like diamonds, we are cut with our own dust." (5.5)

what does ferdinand say he is going to do to the duchess (ecofemninism)

• I might toss her palace 'bout her ears, Root up her goodly forests, blast her meads, And lay her general territory as waste As she hath done her honours.