I was particularly struck by the repetition of the use of “poison” and “devil” throughout the first act. There seems to be an inherent fear of sin and how sin transports. The characters treat sin as a disease to be caught. More specifically I am interested in the many forms that sin and evil, that the text presumes, can occupy. They cite it as both a force, a spirit, a figure, and a physical embodiment. I assume that the  malleability of evil and sin was reinforced in order to impose fear, constrain freedoms and maintain  social order. In addition, the first act spends a lot of time focusing on the subject of the Duchess’ widowship. Ferdinand explicitly conveys this concern, while Antonio spend over three pages discussing it as well. I know that once a woman’s husband dies she is granted the freedom to remarry and own property (unsure about that one). I am interested in the lines that the male characters draw, to constrain the duchess’s  new found social and sexual flexibility.