the white devil and the duchess of malfi

He further banishes her forever from his sight.

Ferdinand surprises the Duchess in her bedroom, and when she tells him that she is married, he tells her she should never reveal to him the name of her lover lest terrible violence then be unleashed on all of them. Ferdinand has recently arrived, and both Antonio and Delio suspect that he knows about the Duchess’s children.

Antonio and the Duchess have had two more children in the meantime. Ferdinand says he won’t take any action until he knows who the baby’s father is.Īct Three begins about two years later, with Delio’s return to the Duchess’s palace. Neither of them realizes that she is married, and hence assume the baby is a bastard. The brothers are both incensed, but the Cardinal maintains a cool calm, whereas Ferdinand grows erratically angry. With the information confirmed, Bosola he writes a letter to the Duchess’s brothers to tell them the news. Antonio and Delio discuss how to keep her labor secret.īosola now assumes his belief is correct, but finds further definitive proof through a horoscope Antonio wrote for the infant. She accepts them, and immediately becomes ill, rushing off to her bedroom. The Duchess is pregnant and Bosola, suspecting her condition, hatches a plan to prove it to himself by giving her apricots, thought to induce labor. Antonio and the Duchess marry, and the Duchess reassures Antonio that they will find a way to appease her brothers.Īct Two is set about nine months later. However, as soon as they leave, she sets in motion a plan to propose to Antonio with the help of her maid, Cariola. She insists that she has no plans for remarriage, and shows some irritation at their attempts to control her. Bosola is reluctant, but eventually agrees.īefore they return to Rome, Ferdinand and the Cardinal lecture the Duchess about the impropriety of remarriage. Before leaving the Duchess, Ferdinand engages Bosola, previously used by the Cardinal as a hit man, to ostensibly manage the Duchess’s horses, but in reality to spy on her for the brothers so they can be sure she remains chaste and does not remarry.

Antonio, the manager of her household, has just returned from France. The Duchess is a young widow whose two brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal, are visiting her from Rome at the play’s start. The Duchess of Malfi takes place in Italy, mostly at the Duchess’s palace in Malfi, in the sixteenth century.

The white devil and the duchess of malfi