This lecture on ppt slides has focused on the summary and analysis of Act 1 & 2 of the Duchess of Malfi, a play by John Webster. This lecture has been prepared by Faisal Ahmed, Faculty Member, Department of English, World University of Bangladesh.

1. Week 3
The Duchess of Malfi (Act I - II)
ENG 401
Lecture by Faisal Ahmed
Faculty Member, Department of English
World University of Bangladesh

2. The Duchess of Malfi
By John Webster
Act 1 & 2
Summary & Analysis

3. Dedication of John Webster to George Harding
● Webster dedicates The Duchess of Malfi to George Harding, Baron Berkeley
(1601–58), a nobleman who served in the office of Lord Chamberlain. He
thus had a significant connection with the theater as patron of the acting
company known as the King's Men.
● In offering his "poem“ (dialogues in play written in poetic verse) to
Harding, John Webster employs typically flowery language embellished with
several figures of speech. He compliments Harding for his learning and
nobility.
● By contrast, those who ignore or scorn the Muse are like the worms in
libraries that exist only to destroy learning.

4. The Duchess of Malfi
By John Webster
Lesson 1:
Act 1
Summary

5. Lesson 1: Act 1, Scene 1 (Summary)
● Act 1, which consists of a single scene, opens at the court in Malfi.
● The courtier Delio welcomes home Antonio Bologna, a steward who has
recently been visiting France.
● Antonio confides he admires the French court for its foresight and its
effective handling of corruption.
● The arrival of Daniel de Bosola and the Cardinal interrupts their
conversation.
● Bosola is bitterly complaining about the Cardinal's lack of recompense for
Bosola's services, which earned him a sentence as a galley slave.
● Cardinal mocks at Bosola.

6. Lesson 1: Act 1, Scene 1 (Summary)
● Ferdinand, the brother of the Cardinal and the Duchess of Malfi, enters and
engages in some court banter with Silvio, Castruccio, and Roderigo.
● The Cardinal and the Duchess soon join them.
● Delio and Antonio exchange somber remarks about the character traits of
Ferdinand and the Cardinal. Antonio, however, contrasts the Duchess's
character with that of her brothers, calling her "right noble" and praising her
outstanding virtue.
● Ferdinand requests his sister, the Duchess, to employ Bosola as her master
of the horse, or chief groom, and the Duchess assents.

7. Lesson 1: Act 1, Scene 1 (Summary)
(Duchess marries Antonio)
● After the brothers depart, the Duchess exchanges some comment with her
maid Cariola.
● The Duchess sadly predicts she is about to enter a pathless wilderness.
When Antonio reenters, the Duchess makes her love for him plain, openly
professing her wish to marry him.
● She presents Antonio with her wedding ring.
● Despite the difference in their social status, they contract with each other as
husband and wife, with Cariola as a witness.
END OF ACT 1

8. The Duchess of Malfi
By John Webster
Lesson 2:
Act 2
Summary

9. Lesson 2: Act 2, Scene 1 (Summary)
● The scene is set in Malfi at the Duchess of Malfi's palace.
● Nine months have passed. Daniel de Bosola enters with the elderly courtier
Castruccio. After some satirical talk of courtiers and court life, the two are
interrupted by the entrance of an Old Lady.
● Bosola castigates her for her unattractive appearance, which she has
attempted to conceal through an excessive use of cosmetics.
● Still spying for Ferdinand, Bosola has noticed signs of pregnancy in the
Duchess: morning sickness and swelling. To test his theory that she is
indeed pregnant, he has brought some apricots with him, which he will offer
her. (Apricots were thought to induce a craving in pregnant women.)

10. Lesson 2: Act 2, Scene 1 (Summary)
● When Antonio and Delio enter, Bosola replies to their questions and
comments with his customary cynicism and mocking.
● The Duchess then appears, complaining she is growing fat and short of
breath. Bosola, affecting the most elaborate courtesy, offers her the
apricots, which the Duchess readily accepts.
● But the fruit causes an adverse reaction, and she goes into labor.
● Alarmed, Delio advises Antonio to spread the rumor that Bosola has
poisoned the Duchess.

11. Lesson 2: Act 2, Scene 2 (Summary)
● Daniel de Bosola concludes correctly: the Duchess of Malfi is pregnant.
After another dialogue between Bosola and the Old Lady, in which she
accuses him of being abusive, Antonio Bologna bursts in, accompanied by
Delio and other courtiers.
● A state of emergency has broken out, with an armed stranger (from
Switzerland) breaking into the Duchess's bedroom and various thefts of
valuables from the palace. Antonio issues orders for security. Fearful of his
safety, Antonio dispatches Delio to Rome, telling him his [Antonio's] "life lies
in your service." Bidding him farewell, Delio affirms his friendship for and
loyalty to Antonio, saying, "Old friends, like old swords, still are trusted best."
Cariola enters to announce to Antonio he is now the father of a son.

12. Lesson 2: Act 2, Scene 3 (Summary)
Bosola reveals the secret marriage
● In semi-darkness, Daniel de Bosola voices his suspicion.
● Bosola vows to get to the bottom of Antonio Bologna's plan. Otherwise, he
confesses, his career as a spy may be over.
● Antonio openly declares he thinks it possible Bosola poisoned the apricots,
a suggestion Bosola abruptly dismisses.
● After Antonio's exit, Bosola catches sight of a paper Antonio has dropped
accidentally. It is the horoscope Antonio cast for his newborn child.
Gleefully, Bosola plots how he will use his new proof that Antonio is "the
Duchess' bawd." He will send a letter to the Duchess of Malfi's brothers via
Castruccio, who leaves the next day for Rome.

13. Lesson 2: Act 2, Scene 4 (Summary)
● The scene is set in Rome. The Cardinal banters with Julia, Castruccio's wife,
who has become the Cardinal's mistress. He stresses heavily that Julia is in
his debt. He also comments sarcastically about women's lack of constancy
and fidelity, even as he congratulates Julia on her "witty false" stratagem to
deceive her husband and travel to Rome.
● Castruccio arrives at Rome with the secret letter of Bosola. Cardinal exits.
● Delio, who courted Julia in the past, enters, commenting on Castruccio and
offering Julia some money. After Julia exits, Delio says he fears Antonio has
been betrayed to the Duchess's brothers.

14. Lesson 2: Act 2, Scene 5 (Summary)
● Accompanied by Ferdinand, the Cardinal enters his residence in Rome. They
have read Bosola's letter revealing the birth of Antonio and the Duchess's
child.
● Whereas the Cardinal maintains an icy composure, Ferdinand yields to
passionate rage, vowing violent and cruel revenge on their sister.
● The Cardinal declares his dismay that the bloodlines of their noble family
have been disgraced.
● Ferdinand repeatedly envisions the Duchess's sexual laxity and vividly
describes the ways in which he would punish her and her lover.
● The Cardinal urges Ferdinand to steer clear of "intemperate anger," but
Ferdinand ignores his advice.

15. The Duchess of Malfi
By John Webster
Lesson 3:
Act 1
Analysis

16. Lesson 3: Act 1 (Analysis)
● "Webster was much possessed by death," wrote T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) in his
poem "Whispers of Immortality" (1918, 1919). The playwright, Eliot
continued, "saw the skull beneath the skin." Even in his flowery dedication to
George Harding, Baron Berkeley, Webster mentions the grave—thus
foreshadowing a major set of themes in the play that revolve around death
and bodily corruption.
● As the first scene opens with the conversation between Delio and Antonio, Webster
touches on another of the play's major themes: moral and political corruption.
Antonio compares the operations of a court to the flow of water in a fountain, which
easily may be poisoned to produce widespread, disastrous consequences. The
implication of Antonio's account of the French court is that corruption is foreseen and
restrained more effectively in France than at home in Italy.

17. Lesson 3: Act 1 (Analysis)
● The sudden shifts of tone are one of the play's most prominent
characteristics.
● Despite the Cardinal's reluctance, Ferdinand engages the former galley-slave
as a spy on the Duchess's marital status. Both brothers are determined that
their recently widowed sister not marry again. The brothers' motives are
commonly inferred to be greed and—on Ferdinand's part—repressed
incestuous desire.
● The final part of Act 1 displays a marked shift in tone from the stressful
exchanges between the Duchess and her two menacing brothers, the
Cardinal and Ferdinand. In her wooing of Antonio, the Duchess is both
lighthearted and lyrical.

18. The Duchess of Malfi
By John Webster
Lesson 4:
Act 2
Analysis

19. Lesson 4: Act 2 (Analysis)
● The curious scene that opens this act focuses on Bosola's temperament
and preoccupations.
● Bosola's sardonic view of court life is then followed by a misogynistic rant in
which he berates an old lady for her excessive use of cosmetics.
● Bosola's cynicism is also on display in his brief dialogue with Antonio.
● In Scene 2, the pace of the action accelerates almost to the point of frenzy.
Bosola's renewed byplay, or interaction happening on the side, with the Old
Lady creates suspense, while Antonio's emergency call for security
measures at the palace further increases the tension.
● In the final scenes of Act 2, the atmosphere, or mood, of the play turns
almost uniformly dark. In Scene 3, for example, Bosola enters with a "dark
lantern"—

20. Lesson 4: Act 2 (Analysis)
● In all of Act 2, the Duchess appears only briefly in Scene 1, when Bosola
tempts her with the apricots. The accumulation of misogynistic tirades in
this act—from Bosola, the Cardinal, and Ferdinand—cannot help but show
the audience the immense obstacles the Duchess must confront in
historical and cultural contexts.
The End of Analysis

21. Week 3
End of the Lesson
Lecture by Faisal Ahmed
Faculty Member, Department of English
World University of Bangladesh