Hi Nick!

I think that your point that Bosola is ultimately just a tool for Ferdinand’s reach was really key for me in understanding Bosola’s tragedy and his shift in character in the last act of the play. It seems to me that Bosola speaks much less in the final act than in the other three. In Act 5 scene two, he’s on stage for nearly a page of dialogue before speaking, and even then he only gets to speak in snippets. While he is still the featured character in this section he, ironically, takes on more of a spy position, hiding in the shadows while Julia tricks the Cardinal and genuinely rebelling against the authority of Ferdinand and the Cardinal. While Bosola seems to mourn the Duchess’s death and genuinely wishes for the safety of Antonio, he also seems to turn inward in this section, and I wonder how much of his change of heart is due to his dejection and/or vengeance (motivations that are, at the core, self-centered) rather than morality or sympathy.