In Act 1, Scene 3 when Cardinal, Ferdinand, and the Duchess are discussing the possibility of her remarrying, the two brothers use several arguments to try to talk the Duchess out of remarrying, though she sees right through them. At one moment, Ferdinand says to her: “Your darkest actions, nay your privatest thoughts, / Will come to light” (1.3.23-24). This reminded me of the scientia sexualis discussed by Foucault, which centers around the ritual of confessing ones sexual transgressions and desires, which first requires some level of secrecy. Ferdinand suggests a forced revealing of her choosing a new husband/sexual partner, not allowing her any chance at privacy in the court life. Not just her actions but her “privatest thoughts” will be revealed implying a sort of forced confession. I was interested in how this notion will develop throughout the rest of the play, for though the Duchess is married in secret, it certainly cannot remain private for long.

I found Scene 2 of Act 1 particularly interesting, if only to think about how this scene would play out on stage. Essentially there are two plays going on simultaneously: the play that we are watching, and the play that Delio and Antonio are watching. We look on and watch as Antonio and Delio look on and watch. We see not only characters entering and leaving the stage, but Antonio and Delio watching such characters enter and leave. In a sense, we are watching the action unfold through Antonio and Delio’s eyes – having spent the first Scene in their company, we are now party not only to their dialog, but also to their secrecy. This scene is in many ways similar to the garden scene in Twelfth Night, in which we (the audience) are able to voyeuristically peer in on private interactions taking place on the stage. The juxtapositions of various scenes within the scene are made clear only to us – in a sense the ultimate pleasure of the theater.

Hi Raisa!

I was also struck by some moments that struck me as particularly Donnean. I noticed specifically the scene in which the Duchess proposes to Antonio. She claims that he has “left me heartless; mine is in your bosom; / I hope twill multiply love there” (1.3.152-3). I thought that this moment felt like Donne, and to some extent Philips, in placing two “hearts,” or souls, together in order to make something new and more grand, along with taking a common refrain (you have my heart) making it extreme  (I no longer have a heart). Further, the Duchess makes comments that their love can ignore a gross world: “Do not think of them. / All discord without this circumference / Is only to be pitied, and not feared” (1.3.170-2). Their love, like Donne’s, elevates them above the world outside of their domesticity. We know that this is a tragic play, I wonder how to take this language coming from a seemingly empowered woman, or if the play’s tragedy is a larger critique of Donnean themes?

When reading the first act of The Duchess of Malfi, I couldn’t help but notice on page 1434, when Bosola states that “He and his brother are like plum trees that grow crooked over standing pools….” how this seems super similar to how Donne uses metaphor, in the sense that it is essentially a long extended metaphor.

Also, I was curious how the “geometry” of the body (“man’s head lies at that man’s foot”) which Webster speaks of could connect to the “symmetry” of the body Donne explores in his “Sappho” poem.