Antonio quotes Flashcards
(28 cards)
About Cardinal: “He is a melancholy churchman. The spring…
“He is a melancholy churchman. The spring in his face is nothing but the engend’ring of toads.”
“There is a saucy…
“There is a saucy and ambitious devil / Is dancing in this circle.”
D: “This goodly roof…
D: “This goodly roof of yours is too low built / I cannot stand upright in’t”
To D: “Truth speak for me, I will remain…
To D: “Truth speak for me, I will remain the constant sanctuary of your good name.”
Antonio has a nosebleed at the time of his first child being born: “Two letters…
“Two letters that are wrought here for my name are drowned in blood”
- Antonio becoming more corrupt in lying for Duchess
“I mean to venture…
“I mean to venture all my fortune which is no more than a poor lingering life / To the Cardinal’s worst of malice.”
“I will not henceforth save…
“I will not henceforth save myself by halves, lose all, or nothing.”
corruption
“A princes court Is like a common fountain….if’t chance Some cursed example poison’s near the head, Death and diseases throughout the whole land spread.”
Oppression
“You have made me stark blind.”
Troubled Eyes: Reading Madness in “The Duchess of Malfi” Laura Strout: The link between madness and sight is established early on in the play. After the Duchess offers Antonio, her steward and future husband, a ring to help his eyesight, he responds, “You have made me stark blind” (1.1.402). “Stark” blindness suggests that the couple is so consumed by their love that they cannot see the pain and the horror that will come as a result of their marriage. The pairing of words here is especially interesting as “stark” is more often associated with madness than blindness. The phrase “Stark mad” appears twice in the play. By linking it here with “blind” instead, Webster sets up a parallel between madness and blindness that permeates the entirety of this work. Writing of madness in the Age of Reason, Foucault asserts that blindness is “One of the words which comes closest to the essence of classical [seventeenth-century] madness” (105). Webster creates a distinction, however, between a blindness that is seeing incorrectly and apart from what is “true,” and a blindness that sees nothing at all. In this play we see that while delusion sees something, dazzlement sees nothing, and it is in this distinction that Webster explores the competing early modern and seventeenth-century models of madness.
Ambition
“Ambition, madam, is a great mans madness.”
Consequence
“Oh my trusty Delio, we are lost! I fear she’s fallen in labour and there’s left No time for her to remove.”
Consequence
“She’s exposed Unto the worst of torture, pain and fear.”
consequence:
Antonio worries about everything, unlike the Duchess, he has realised the consequences of them being together
“How do I play the fool with mine own danger!”
Secrecy
“This mole does undermine me.”
treachery
“Pray heaven they were not poisoned.”
treachery
“Traitors are ever confident till they are discovered.”
consequence
“My nose bleeds! One that were superstitious would count This ominous when it merely come by chance. Two letters that are wrought here for my name Are drowned in blood. Mere accident!”
Equality
‘The great are like the base when they seek shameful ways to avoid shame.’
love
“That we may imitate the loving palms, Best emblem of a peaceful marriage, That ne’er bore fruit divided.”
love
“Some men have wished to die At the hearing of sad tidings. I am glad That i shall do’t in sadness. I would not now Wish my wounds balmed nor healed, for I have no use To put my life to.”
Social status
“Indeed, my rule is only in the night.”
Gender
“Enter Antonio with a Pistol.”
Gender
“This hath a handle to’t As well as a point. Turn it towards him And so fasten the keen edge in his rank gall.”
Fate
“Since we must part, Heaven hath a hand in’t, but no otherwise Than as some curious artist takes in sunder A clock or watch when it is out of frame To bring’t in better order.”
