duchess of malfi x paradise lost

Let us divide our labours

Eve about splitting up the work, assonance stresses eve belief of the importance of splitting ho their work

Whose higher intellectual more I shun

Satan hating on Adam being clever

Thy Celestial Beautie adore with ravishment

Satan complimenting Eve

All the faded Roses shed

Eve losing her innocence

They swim in mirth, and fansie that they feel divinitie within them breeding wings

Narrator about Adam and Eve feeling happy after eating

Should God create another Eve, and I another rib afford, yet loss of thee would never from my heart

Adam loving Eve (rib)

Why didst not thou the Head command me absolutely not to go

Eve asking why Adam didn't tell her not to go

To thy Husbands will thin shall submit, hee over thee shall rule

God's punishment for women

Nothing lovelier can be found In Woman, then to studie household good, And good workes in her Husband to promote

Adam about the best things in a woman

For inferior who is free?

Eve on inferiority

Against his better knowledge, not deceav'd, But fondly overcome with Femal charm

Narrator on why Adam ate the fruit

This was my father's poniard. Do you see? I'd be loath to see't look rusty

Ferdinand threatening Duchess (poniard)

A saucy and ambitious devil is dancing in this circle

Antonio about the ring he's been given

Let old wives report I winked and chose a husband

Duchess not caring about other's opinions

Shall our blood, the royal blood of Aragon and Castile, be thus attainted?

Cardinal on tainted blood

Excellent hyena

Ferdinand comparing the Duchess to an animal

Till I know who leaps my sister, I'll not stir

Ferdinand wanting to know who is sleeping with the Duchess

Lay her general territory as waste

Ferdinand threatening the Duchess (waste)

I might toss her palace 'bout her ears, / Root up her goodly forests

Ferdinand threatening Duchess (innuendo)

'Purge infected blood, such blood as hers'

Ferdinand about getting rid of infected blood

I am duchess of Malfi still'

Duchess saying who she is

Diamonds are of most value, they say, that have pass'd through most jewellers' hands."

Duchess saying women who have married more than once are valuable

Whores by that rule are precious

Ferdinand's response to Duchess saying women who have married more than once are valuable

Farewell, lusty widow.

Ferdinand saying bye to the Duchess

The misery of us that are born great! We are forc'd to woo, because none dare woo us

Duchess having to flirt with people

nor much expect a foe so proud will first the weaker seek

Eve on who Satan will tempt

Domestic Adam in his care and matrimonial love

Narrator saying Adam is domestic and loves Eve

Adam, from whose deare side I boast me sprung

Eve saying she came from Adam's rib

They are most luxorious that will wed twice

Ferdinand saying who will get married twice

What cannot a neat knave with a smooth tale make a woman believe?

Ferdinand about making women believe things

"He and his brother are like plum-trees that grow crooked over standing-pools; they are rich and o'erladen with fruit, but none but crows, pies, and caterpillars feed on them".

Bosola on the Aragonian brothers

and most vulturous eating of the apricocks are apparent signs of breeding, now?"

Bosola thinking that the Duchess might be pregnant

"Alas, what pleasure can two lovers find in sleep?"

Duchess being flirty

carnal desire enflaming, hee on Eve began to cast lascivious Eyes, she him

Adam and Eve getting frisky

She gave him of that fair enticing Fruit With enticing liberal hand:

Eve giving Adam the fruit

I would have you lead your fortune by the hand Unto your marriage-bed

Duchess being flirty with Angelo (fortune)

Lay a naked sword between us, keep us chaste, O, let me shrowd my blushes in your bosom, Since 'tis the treasury of all my secrets

Duchess being flirty with Angelo (sword)

Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, like diamonds we are cut with our own dust

Ferdinand's dying words

You know already what man is

Ferdinand saying the Duchess has been with men before

And what are Gods that Man may not become as they, participating God-like food? The gods are first, and that advantage use on our belief, that all from them proceed

Satan about how men can become Gods

his dark suggestions hide From sharpest sight

Satan hiding his intentions

But what will not Ambition and Revenge Descent to? Who aspires must down as low As high he soard, obnoxious first or last To basest things. Revenge, at first though sweet, Bitter ere long back on it self recoiles

Narrator on ambition and revenge

This Tree is not as we are told, a Tree Of danger tasted, nor to evil unknown Op'ning the way, but of Divine effect To open Eyes, and make them Gods who taste'

Eve talking about what the tree really is

Ambition is a great man's madness, madam

Antonio to the Duchess about ambition

Fraile is our happiness, if this be so, And Eden were no Eden thus exposed

Eve saying that if Eden could have a bad thing in it it isn't really Eden

was shee thy god that her thou didst obey before his voice

God asking Adam why he obeyed Eve

Th' heaven o'er my head seems made of molten brass, the earth of flaming sulphur, yet I am not mad

Duchess talking about the hellish things around her

What devil art thou that counterfeit'st heaven's thunder

Duchess asking what devil Bosola is

Heaven-gates are not so highly arch'd as princes' palaces; they that enter there must go upon their knees

Duchess talking about heaven

he should have been pope; but instead of coming to it by the primitive decency of the church, he did bestow bribes

Antonio about the Cardinal

I must now change those notes to tragic; foul distrust, and breach disloyal on the part of Man, revolt and disobedience: on the part of Heav'n, now alienated, distance, and distaste

Narrator directly addressing the reader talking about the fall

Yet not so strictly has our Lord impos'd Labour, as to debarr us when we need refreshment

Eve on God being nice

And what are Gods that Man may not became...the gods are first, and that advantage use on our belief, that all from them proceed

Satan on humans becoming Gods

Let good men, for good deeds, covet good fame,
Since place and riches oft are bribes of shame.
Sometimes the devil doth preach.

Bosola on morals

Hell is a mere glass-house, where the devils are continually blowing up woman's soul on hollows irons, and the fire never goes out

Madman on hell

return fair soul from darkness, and lead mine out of this sensible hell

Bosola talking about to Duchess

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make heaven of hell, a hell of heaven

Satan making himself feel better

a prince's court Is like a common fountain, whence should flow Pure silver drops in general, but if 't chance Some curs'd example poison 't near the head Death and diseases through the whole land spread.".

Antonio on corruption spreading

Where Tigris at the foot of Paradise...Rose up a Fountain by the Tree of life...and with it rose Satan involv'd in rising Mist

Narrato on how Satan entered Eden

"Then the law to him Is like a foul, black cobweb to a spider,- He makes it his dwelling and a prison To entangle those shall feed him."

Delio about Ferdinand and the law

Till of her bleeding heart I make a sponge To wipe it out.

What Ferdinand is gonna do with the Duchess' heart

Better to reign in hell than serve in Heaven

Satan's view on roles in heaven and hell

Nor hope to be myself less miserable by what I seek, but others to make such as I

How does Satan make himself feel happy

Till I in man resign through the Race, His thoughts, his looks, his words, actions all infect, and season him thy last and sweetest prey

What is sin gonna do

The marriage night is the entrance into some prison

Cardinal on marriage

a saucy and ambitious devil is dancing in this circle

Antonio on whats in the ring

Nature gave a second groan, Skie lowr'd, and muttering Thunder, som sad drops Wept at compleating that mortal Sin Original'

What does nature do when Adam and Eve eat the fruit

Adam the while Waiting desirous her return, Had wove Of choicest Flours a Garland to adorne Her Tresses

Adam made Eve a flower crown

From his slack hand the Garland wreath'd For Eve down drop'd, and all the faded Roses shed'

Metaphor for Eve's loss of innocence

There is not in nature A thing that makes man so deform'd, so beastly, As doth intemperate anger."

What does the Cardinal think about anger

For only in destroying I find ease

Where does Satan only feel ease

that I might mitigate thir doom On me deriv'd'

What is Jesus gonna do

expecting thir universal shout and high applause To fill his eare, when contrary he hears On all sides, from innumerable tongues A dismal universal hiss, the sound of public scorn

What does Satan expect to hear and what does he actually hear

A monstrous Serpent on his Belly prone... punisht in the shape he sin'd

What is Satan's punishment

What's my place? The provisorship o'th'horse? Say then my corruption/ grew out of horse dung. I am your creature

Bosola questioning his status and says he has ambition to exceed it

Hell could no longer hold us in her bounds

Sin has the constraint of hell, but believes she deserves dominion over earth

Author and prime architect

Sin praises Satan for his actions

Magnificent deeds

Sins calls satans actions

Nay you are much too swelled already

Duchess pregnant

How darkened; innocence, that as a veil/ has shadowed them from knowing ill

Eve and Adams naïvety

She's a young widow, I'll not have her marry again

Ferdinand not allowing duchess to marry

Eve separate he spies, veiled in a cloud of fragrance

Eve is being spied in, panopticism

Why should only I of all the other princes of the world be cased up like a holy relic

Duchess questioning why she can't remarry

I forgive them

Duchess forgives her brothers, suggests she has managed to raise her status to be perceived as their equal

Guilty shame

The consequent feeling that Adam and Eve suffer with

Despoiled of innocence, of faith, of bliss

Their sinful actions have resulted in the newfound emotions of fear and anger, and the loss/death of their innocence and purity

Earth felt the wound

Fall of humanity

Keep the odds of knowledge in my power without co-partner

Eve considers secrecy of her knowledge and power

Defaced, deflowered, and now to death devote

Satan is captivated by eves beauty, which results in his urge to cause death and sin above her as he was being disobedient

Do not think of them

Duchess doesn't want Antonio to think of their disobedience

The death of young wolves is never to be pitied

Cardinal and Ferdinand permit the murders

The office of justice is perverted quite when one thief hangs over another

Displays the hypocrisy of punishing those who commit immoral acts when the punisher themselves have committed immoral acts too

And knew not eating death

Eve eating fruit leads to death

But wished his hap might find/ eve separate

Enjambment reinforces eves vulnerability to Satan who is within his clasp

That as a veil had shadowed

Metaphor of the viel of gods protection as well as a symbol of their marriage which is now broken- eve

The danger lies, yet Iies within his power

Repetition implies a stutter, indicting fear

How tedious is a guilty conscience

Cardinal is tired if feeling bad for killing Julia, knows he is doomed

I am quick with child

Cariola is fearful of death

Who would be afraid on't, knowing to meet such excellent company in th'other world?

Duchess welcomes death

What is faith, love, virtue unassuaged alone, without exterior help sustained?

Eve wants to be capable without Adam