Malfi

The Duchess of Malfi Summary

The Duchess of Malfi takes place in Italy, mostly at the Duchess’s palace in Malfi. The Duchess is a young widow, whose two brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal, are visiting her at her palace at the play’s start. Antonio, the manager of her household, has just returned from France. Before leaving the Duchess, Ferdinand engages Bosola, previously used by theCardinal 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. Bosola is reluctant, but eventually agrees.

On their way out, Ferdinand and the Cardinal lecture the Duchess about the impropriety of remarriage. She insists that she has no plans to, and shows some irritation at their attempts to control her.However, as soon as they leave, she sets in motion a plan to propose to Antonio with the help of her maid, Cariola. Antonio and the Duchess marry, and the Duchess reassures Antonio that they will find a way to appease her brothers.

Act Two is set about nine months later. The Duchess is pregnant and Bosola, suspecting this, hatches a plan to prove it to himself by giving her apricots, thought to inducelabor. She accepts them, and immediately becomes ill, rushing off to her bedroom. Antonio and Delio discuss how to keep her labor secret.

Bosola assumes that this means she is indeed pregnant, but finally has proof when he finds a horoscope Antonio wrote for the infant, so he writes a letter to the Duchess’s brothers with the news. The brothers are both incensed, but the Cardinal reacts coldlywhile Ferdinand loses his temper completely. Neither of them realizes that she is married, and they assume the baby is a bastard. Ferdinand says he won’t take any action until he knows who the baby’s father is.

Act Three begins about two years later, with Delio’s return to the Duchess’s palace. Antonio and the Duchess have had two more children in the meantime. Ferdinand has recently arrived,and both Antonio and Delio suspect that he knows about the Duchess’s children. Ferdinand surprises the Duchess in her bedroom, and when she tells him that she is married, he tells her to never tell him who the father is or terrible violence will be unleashed on all of them, and he says he never wants to see her again.

The Duchess, wanting to get Antonio out of harm’s way, makes up a story abouthim dealing falsely with her accounts and says he must be banished to Ancona. Once he has left, Bosola defends him to the Duchess so emphatically that she admits that she is married to him. Bosola pretends to support her, and she sends him after Antonio with money for him, saying she will follow shortly. In Ancona a few days later, the Cardinal banishes the Duchess and her family.

On their wayout of town, Bosola comes with an ostensibly forgiving but actually threatening letter from Ferdinand, so the Duchess, fearing an ambush, tells Antonio to separate from her with their oldest son. They part, and immediately after Bosola and a group of soldiers take the Duchess and her two remaining children captive and bring them back to her palace.

In Act Four, Bosola tells Ferdinand that theDuchess is bearing her imprisonment nobly, which angers him. In an effort to make her insane with despair, he presents her with faked corpses of her family and tells her that they are all dead. Though Bosola pleas with Ferdinand to stop torturing her, he won’t listen, next bringing a group of madmen to torment her. Bosola returns, disguised as a tomb-maker, and prepares the Duchess for herimpending death. The executioners come with a cord to strangle her, but the Duchess is steadfastly calm and courageous and does not plead for her life, at peace with the idea of meeting her family, who she still believes are dead, in the afterlife. They strangle her.

Bosola next orders her children and Cariola killed. Cariola pleads, but Bosola doesn’t waiver and they kill her. Ferdinand enters and...