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Bosola- Duchess of Malfi initial impressions - Coggle Diagram
Bosola- Duchess of Malfi initial impressions
Key Quotations
'He and his brother are like plum trees that grow crooked over standing pools' Bosola 1.1.50
An apt judgement of the english court that the audience sypathises with. The 'blunt moralist', typical of the malcontent.
'would be as lecherous, covetous or proud, bloody or envious as any man if he had means to be so' 1.1.27 Antonio
"The only court gall' Antonio 1.1.14
Relation to the humours and unbalance.
'I do haunt you still.... I have done you better service than to be slighted thus' Bosola 1.1.40
Bosola knows his place as the melancholy malcontent. The audience however is made to lean towards a sympathetic feeling for Bosola, who is disregarded and foreshadowed by his misplaced reputation.
Feudal vs cash economy, where we see Bosola's service represented through the moral obligation of the feudal system.
'This great fellow were able to possess the greatest devil and make him worse'- Bosola talking about the cardinal
Satirical and humorous, uncaring for his company- almost hopeless in his etiquette towards those who have disregarded him and his services.
'With all your divinity, do but direct me the way to it' - anapestic pentameter, Bosola begins with a metrically regular line, then lurches into prose.
Ambiguity between his class- doesn't really fit in.
Relationships with other characters
Life of servitude
Relationship with Cardinal is extremely tenuous due to the mistreatment in the 'galleys' and the fact that the Cardinal 'suborned' the murder that sent him there.
Delio sees him under his preceded reputation
Antonio sees the valour of Bosola as a romantic optimist.
Relevant contextual links
Feudal vs Cash economy
Bosola himself is betrayed by both the feudal and cash economy within the play. It is this which motivates his revenge.
Webster demonstrates the danger of switching between the two systems, which require two fundamentally different attitudes towards employment.
Cash economy= jobs, and a different identity for each job.
Feudal system= role in society, giving them identity.
Bosola is forced to play both, and Webster shows how dangerous this can be through Bosola.
Antonio explores the danger of a man without identity on the line 'Like moths in cloth, do hurt for want of wearing'
How is he presented?
The revenger
Alienated intellectual
'The Malcontent'
A criticist of the english court, whilst still serving under it. He unpicks the corruption of individuals for the audience, who, whilst seeing him as a revenger and a traiter, also have sympathy and compassion for him, as he holds contemporary views of the court in England and acts on moral rather than legal justice.
Intelligencer
Tool-villain
murderer
Blunt moralist