DOM - ALL KEY QUOTES Flashcards
(37 cards)
‘a prince’s court is like a common fountain…pure silver drops should flow’
untainted water = purity, prized, valuable, godly?
indication that a ruler’s morality influences the prosperity of their court. - more moral the ruler the more prosperous his country is
‘poison near the head, death & diseases spread’
AO1/2: Simile - positional language = destructive impact of a corrupt leader on a country
Foreshadows the destruction that is rife in italy under the jurisdiction of the cardinal and Ferdinand.
‘plum trees that grow crooked over standing pools…rich, o’erladen…none but crows, pies and caterpillars feed upon them’
ao1/2: Nature metaphor,
‘grow crooked’ = skewed moral compasses of the brothers, misshapen & deformed = this court is in an unnatural state.
‘standing pools’ - stagnation, lack of prosperity - immorality has defiled Italy
A03: veiled criticism of the sycophantic court of James I.
‘[Widows] Livers are more spotted than Laban’s sheep’
AO1/2: religious allusion juxtaposes goodness and morality with the misogynistic stereotype of the ‘lusty widow’ who becomes corrupted by a desire for sex.
Imagery of decay - biological corruption = women biologically predisposed to have strong sexual appetites
AO3: position of women in the GCB
AO5: argument over the duchess remarrying ‘dynastic arg. concerned with dom’s body politic’ - JANKOWSKI
In reference to widows remarrying: ‘such weddings…to be executed than celebrated’
AO1/2: Polysemic qualities of ‘executed’ - could mean like a secret plot to be completed , could be the harsh quelling (through execution) of the subversive female’s attempt to remarry for love.
this execution could be a ref. to social death that a widow may face for remarrying
‘Why should only I be cased up like a holy relic’
imagery of confinement = social restraints for the female gender.
Casual misogyny of the era = objectification through ‘holy relic’ - trad. ideas abt the pure virginal female, through repressions her sexuality will become an ancient forgotten desire, much like a relic. WOMEN SHOULD CONTAIN DESIRE
‘only I’ - questioning female, she draws attention to the hypocrisy of this court ran by two obsessively lustful men, reinforces how she feels truly isolated in her misery
‘women like that part which like the lamprey hath no bone in’t’
AO1/2: perverse sexual jibe at the DOM, Ferdinand essentially reduces the female body to a mere vessel for the penis - female dissection at the hands of the male
- The casual misogyny of this sexual simile indicates that women serve no other purpose than sexual gratification and reproduction.
- Ferd. metaphorically dismembers the Duchess as a punishment for her sexuality
A03: This is a reminder of her dynastic position - DOM’s only reason to remarry should be to produce an heir to the throne.
I am Duchess of Malfi still.
AO1/2: expression of her utter defiance in the face of death. She is a rigid, stoic figure, accepting and embracing death but also reasserting her status
AO5: the Duchess ‘remains unquestionably feminist’
‘This was my father’s poniard…I’d loath to see it rusty’
A01/2: generational passage of masculine authority.
- phallic imagery of ‘poniard’ reinforces male domination of the Duchess and her body politic & private + Violent potential of the dagger = male & the patriarchy’s propensity for violence to quell the subversive woman.
- Ferd’s intrusion into female spaces evolves into a desire to ‘physically intrude’ on the female body by plunging his literal and metaphorical ‘dagger’ into his own sister to prohibit her sexual relations.
AO5: unveiling his ‘dangerous mixture of desire and revulsion’ towards the female body as Ferdinand wishes to own his sister’s sexuality by any means necessary.
-The sexualisation of extreme, graphic violence towards the DOM is, from a feminist perspective, a manifestation of the patriarchal desire to supress female sexuality when it is not for a man’s own gratification.
AO3: To a Renaissance audience, exploration of female sexuality = foreign concept as sex was merely a means to procure heirs.
AO3: Authority in renaissance families passed down through MALE generations, male family members had ultimate authority over females.
‘saucy & ambitious devil is dancing in that circle’
AO1/2: immorality inextricably linked to the DOM’s decision to remarry
This is ANTs recognition that this marriage could potentially result in danger & is highly subversive for the EMP. => saucy suggests cunning nature & ambitious perhaps indicates TDOM’s underlying, unconcious desire to shift social perceptions of cross-class marriage.
AO3: Within the Renaissance era marriage was utilised as a vehicle for social mobility, especially within dynastic circles.
‘Lay a naked sword between us..to keep us chaste’
ao1/2:
potential metaphor for the overwhelming potential of desire which can lead to ultimate destruction.
‘naked sword’ - highly threatening image, perhaps foreshadowing the future dangers that await ant. & the DOM
Ferd: ‘toss her…root up her goodly forests…blast her…lay her general territory as waste’
- Use of violent and sexually explicit, intrusive verbs suggest a male entitlement to the possession and desecration of the female body.
- Reveals Ferd’s true perverse desire to physically & politically dominate his sister through sex = demonstrates hypocrisy as he demonises her for remarrying but is arg. more immoral due to incestuous desires
AO5: from an eco-crit. perspective = Ferdinand’s desire to ultimately destroy the DOMs ecological territory is a metaphor for his desire to encroach onto her physical, human body.
Burke ‘dangerous mix of desire & revulsion inherent in a patriarchal society’s understanding of the female body’
‘Whether I am doomed to live, or die, I can do both like a prince.’
AO1/2: simile equates the Duchess to the powerful masculine figure of a prince, displaying how she - as a subversive feminist figure - believes that she is of equal status and power as a male.
Utter stoicism in the face of death - she does not display the expected tendencies of a woman i.e. crying.
AO3: At the time there were no labels for the political female figure = political discourse of the renaissance era
AO5: ‘Duchess remains unquestionably feminist’
[Ferdinand gives her a poniard]
AO1/AO2: Gifting quality of ‘gives’ - subversion of a healthy, caring sibling relationship as Ferdinand’s perverse desire for revenge has tainted this relationship.
- Phallic image of the poniard, given to the DOM to signal suicide = metaphor for how the DOM’s pursuit of desire & female sexuality will ultimately culminate in a gruesome death.
- Sinful nature of suicide - potentially Ferd. believes that suicide will bring less shame to the family than her ‘bastard’ children = highlights the demonisation of female sexuality within renaissance society.
AO3: Suicide in highly religious renaissance era was seen as a grave sin.
‘Daphne…became a fruitless bay tree…pale empty reed….frozen into marble’
vs.
‘those which married…became flowers, precious stones or eminent stars’
AO1/2: Motif of lifelessness & loss juxtaposes the motif of bounty and reverence.
- ‘fruitless…pale empty…frozen’ = illustrates single life without passion or marriage to be unfulfilling and a death-like state
- ‘precious stones…eminent stars’ = married women lead lives of value = mouthpiece for Jacobean attitudes towards marriage
AO3: Jacobeans placed high value on marriage as believed that marriage & procreation = main purpose of humanity.
‘Enter Ferdinand, behind, unseen’
& Bosola’s ‘false key into her bedchamber’
AO1/2: The positional language employed is incredibly threatening, DOM left in a position of extreme vulnerability, perhaps implying the potential for sexual violation here, the lack of visibility increasing the sinister tone as it is symbolic of the invisible, ever-present threat of the patriarchy to female liberation.
This unsettling notion is furthered by the masculine conspiracy to gain entrance to the Duchess’ bedchamber, procuring the key to such from Bosola, a man of a lower class, thereby demonstrating the utter entitlement of the Renaissance patriarchy to the female body and sexuality.
- The phallic image of a ‘false key’ adds to the perverse tone of male conspiracy to dominate the female as these two men wish to access the Duchess’ bedchamber, a highly intimate location in which the only male that should enter should be her husband, potentially aiming to subdue her own sexuality with their sexual brutality.
‘The spring bathes the tree’s root…the grateful tree rewards it with its shadow’
AO1/2: Natural imagery illustrates the natural quality of this union/relationship.
‘bathes’ & ‘rewards’ - sense of protection + care established, illustrates the true symbiosis of the DOM & Antonio’s relationship as they provide each other w/ sustenance + protection.
AO3: unusual considering that within Renaissance society a marriage between people of different classes was highly frowned upon
AO5: Jankowski - ‘challenges basic concept of the early modern marriage’.
‘most unvalued jewel’…‘trophy of a man’ + ‘can this ambitious age…prefer a man merely for worth, without these shadows of wealth…’
AO1/2: Bosola voices the ignorance of Ren. society which overlooks peoples true character due to factors of class etc.
Ant. is depicted as a highly valuable man, someone to be prized.
- polysemic quality of ‘worth’ - Antonio despite being poor is wealthy in his morality and nobility of character.
‘shadows of wealth’ - intangibility of wealth shows how it is an unstable guarantee of someone’s true worth.
AO3/5: Bosola’s description of Ant. matches Aristotle’s view that a noble character is not guaranteed by a nobility of status.
‘A politician is the devil’s quilted anvil’
AO1/2: Machiavellian Metaphor - juxtaposing ideas of cushioning & soft with the labour and arduous craft that takes place on an anvil = Bosola’s desire to conceal immorality?
- juxtaposition perhaps reveals the contradictory nature & hypocrisy of the courtly members as the Cardinal is meant to be a pious, hughly moral figure yet he uses religion as a guise for his true immorality.
Perhaps another commentary on the corruption at the very core of this court.
‘they are like foxes: when their heads are divided they carry fire in their tails…the country…goes to wrack for’t.’
AO1/2: Nature simile demonstrates that tempestuous, uncontrolled anger within a court can wreak destruction on a country.
‘heads are divided’ - potentially demonstrates the mental instability of both the Cardinal & Ferdinand as both are overly obsessed with revenge for the DOM’s tainting of their Aragonian blood. -The fragmentation of the mind perhaps foreshadows Ferdinand’s mental decline as a result of his obsessive desires & jealousy.
AO5: Miller: tragic flaw…‘inherent unwillingness to remain passive in the face of a challenge to his dignity’
’ taken you off your melancholy perch…showed you game & let you fly at it…like a tame elephant’
AO1/AO2: Objectification and sexualisation of the female.
- motif of female entrapment: ‘perch,’ ‘let you fly’, ‘watched…like a tame elephant’ demonstrates how women are seen as tools for male sexual gratification rather than their own sexual liberation.
Cardinals assertion that he had ‘taken [her] off [her] melancholy perch’ and ‘let [her] fly’ = male as the key to female sexual liberation.
Grotesque animalisation of the woman through a falconry metaphor = women as tameable sexual beast & a trophy for men to ogle.
AO3/5: Burke - ‘dangerous mixture of desire and revulsion…inherent in a patriarchal society’s understanding of the female body’
‘Our value can never be truly known till in the fishers basket we be shown…in the market my price may be the higher even when I am nearest to the cook, and fire’
AO1/2: fish parable/metaphor is a commentary on class and the value of nobility.
Criticism of society’s warped perception of what constitutes as ‘nobility’ as often those of a lower status who are sneered at are those with the most value in terms of nobility of character.
- ‘in the fishers basket’ - analogy for death - this is the Duchess’s recognition that her transgressive nature will not truly be appreciated by society until her untimely death - this is ultimately confirmed by Ferdinand’s breakdown upon witnessing her death.
‘this world a tedious theatre,…I play a part in’t against my will’
AO1/2: Metatheatrical lang. ‘against my will’ - lack of personal autonomy esp. as a woman
AO5: Through a feminist lens, the Duchess has no real control over her fate.
AO3: Women were teh responsibility of their male family memebers, they were not even granted the ability to choose their own husband, another decision allocated to the male - MASC OWNERSHIP
Jankowski - ref. to the body politic and body private
‘my curse has a great way to go, plagues, that make lanes through largest families, consume them’
AO1/2: ‘my curse’ - plays into her labelling as a witch: ‘the witchcraft lies rank in her blood’. Perhaps this is a metaphor for the belief that femininity, within a renaissance society, is akin to a curse because it greatly restricts you.
Metaphorical ‘curse’ - lust plagues the entire aragonian triad & leads to their respective downfalls
‘Plagues…consume them’ - foreshadows the violent end that the brothers will face esp. Ferdinand who’s immorality and perverse desires will act like a plague, consuming him entirely which will lead to the eventual breakdown of the family unit.
