Cornelia

Question 1

Cornelia when she interrupts Vittoria and Bracciano’s consummation

Garden is metaphor for society (corresponds with Vittoria’s dream), and witchcraft is less sinful and evil than their actions
Thessaly - special home of witches and poisonous herbs - presents witchcraft as more natural than their actions
Critique of JI’s court as promiscuous and appealing to J’s belief in damnable nature of wc - sexuality is even worse

Answer 1

‘O that this fair garden had with all the poisonous herbs of Thessaly at first been planted, made a nursery for witchcraft; rather than a burial plot for both your honours’

Question 2

Cornelia when she has gone mad, mourning over Marcello’s corpse

Irony - rosemary is symbolic of remembrance of the dead but that it is ‘withered’ suggests bc of Cornelia’s grief and subsequent madness she will not remember Marcello

Answer 2

‘this rosemary is withered, pray get fresh’

Question 3

Cornelia when she has gone mad, mourning over Marcello’s corpse

Antithesis of white and red - Flam’s hand is white literally, but metaphorically he has blood on his hands - parallels dualism between appearance and reality

Answer 3

‘here’s a white hand: can blood so soon be washed out?’

Question 4

Cornelia when she has gone mad, mourning over Marcello’s corpse

Yellow is symbolic of corruption and madness - perhaps also a refenrece to STDs and poison - Cornelia’s living children have passed disease of madness onto her - this reverses natural sequence of nature - just like her children seek to better themselves - goes against God’s natural order

Answer 4

‘when yellow spots do on your hands appear’

Question 5

Cornelia when she has gone mad, mourning over Marcello’s corpse

Humans mainly compared to wolves so the wolf here represents humans metaphorically digging up the bodies of dead humans - presents how living corrupt society so much that when ppl die they cannot reach heaven - sacrilege to dig up bodies - cannot RIP - humans as worse than animals

Answer 5

‘the ant, the field mouse and the mole’

‘but keep the wolf far thence that’s foe to men, for with his nails, he’ll dig them up again’

Question 6

Cornelia when she has gone mad, mourning over Marcello’s corpse

Rhyming couplet presents a morally didactic function to Cornelia’s speech - abc she’s mad she can talk freely of corruption of church - ppl only get to heaven if they pay indulgences - doesn’t matter if they are immoral as long as they pay -reinforces Protestant idea of predestination

Answer 6

‘let holy church receive him duly since he paid the church tithes truly’