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Summary A level English Literature - The Duchess of Malfi motifs table - eduquas
A level English Literature - The Duchess of Malfi motifs table - eduquas - includes quotes, analysis, context, summaries, nuanced arguments
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Motif Examples What does Webster use it to say? Any links to Streetcar?Animals Act 1: Act 1:
1. ´Blackbirds fatten best in hard weather´ Animal links with Stanley:
2. ´He and his brother are like plum trees 1. Bosola is establishing his strength and ‘Animal joy’ is often compared to an
that grow crooked over standing pools. perhaps greed? An unpleasant way of animal to describe him as wild but also
Pies and caterpillars feed on them´ saying he thrives on negativity. He to depict him as a predator hunting
3. ´I would hang on their ears like a horse comments that he will survive these Blanche. He takes pleasure in
leech till I were full and then drop off´ - times. masculinity
Bosola 2. Ideas of corruption as Bosola comments
4. Like moths in cloth do hurt for want of on the sycophants of court who feed on ‘They come together with low, animal
wearing - Antonio dirt and dishonourable corruption. Ideas moans’ Desire is linked to wild,
5. Bosola - say then my corruption grew out of parasitic behaviour which Bosola is animalistic instincts to show the
of horse dung - I am your creature critical of and a part of. compelling nature of sex
6. Their livers are more spotted than 3. Bosola knows that he is using the men
Laban's sheep - Ferdinand and will separate himself from it when he Stanley is described as an alpha male
is content. to present ideas about the male
Act 2: 4. Antonio uses a rhyming couplet to patriarchal society
‘... Must ride on winged horses; a lawyer's mule succinctly round off the first scene. This
shows the damage which Antonio Blanche described Stanley as
of a slow pace’ Bosola uses horse imagery to
recognises. Unseen and underlying slick something ‘subhuman- something not
show that he is aware of his limitations and that corruption, insects. The moths feed off quite the stage of humanity yet’ to
he is realistic- he doesn’t believe in magic and the finery of the court leaving nothing. describe him as primitive and brute- ish
knows what he is 5. Bosola feeds on filth. This was a common
metaphor for upstart courtiers. Bosola ´he acts like an animal - has an animal's
‘This mole does undermine me’- Bosola is accepts the role of Ferdinand´s spy, habits´
referred to as a mole which is a metaphor for his noting that his moral decay should be
associated with his new position as Ideas of meat- compares him to a
suspicions of him as he searches for information
master of the Duchess´s horse. caveman and a breadwinner. Stella’s
6. This is a biblical reference and the liver infatuation with him.
‘You are an impudent snake sir’. Antonio was thought to be an organ of love with
describes Bosola as a snake to show how he is love and lust leaving stains upon it.
sneaky and malicious
, The Cardinal says that Ferdinand’s anger and
hysteria makes “man so deformed, so beastly”,
stating it is unnatural and inhumane. He also
exclaims to Ferdinand’s violent imagery that he
has become a “cursed creature”, alluding to his
brother’s immoral incestuous desires.
‘Excellent hyena!’- Ferdinand insults the
Duchess by referring to her as an animal and
dehumanising her. Hyena’s were renowned for
their human- like laughter and were believed to
entice men to their dooms. He thinks that she is
mocking the way she has tainted his honour,
painting the Duchess out to be malicious.
Act 3:
1. “Your shears do come untimely now to
clip the bird’s wings that’s already flown.” Act 3:
2. Ferdinand: “Eyes with a basilisk”
3. “The howling of a wolf is music to thee, 1. Ferdinand is too late; she is already
screech owl” married. The bird has settled after its
flight.
4. Ferdinand about Antonio: “Let not the sun
2. A basilisk is a mythical snake-like dragon
shine on him till he’s dead, let dogs and so venomous that even its gaze was
monkeys only converse with him, and deathly. Ferdinand says the Duchess has
such dumb things to whom nature denies such a gaze, alluding to how she has the
use to sound his name.” appearance of being virtuous but is
5. The people of the court were described actually deadly.
as “lice”.
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