The Duchess of Malfi E-Book

John Webster

• Herausgeber: JH
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

The evils of greed and ambition overwhelm love, innocence, and the bonds of kinship in this dark tragedy, first presented circa 1613. John Webster's great Jacobean drama focuses on a secret marriage that strikes the disastrous spark to an inferno of violence. When the Duchess of Malfi marries Antonio, a household steward, her two fiendishly jealous brothers ? hoping to inherit her title and estates ? plant a household spy whose treachery leads to a bloody and horrifying climax. Often compared to Shakespeare in terms of his dynamic plots and poetic lyricism, Webster created radical, profoundly original works that feature shifting perspectives and thought-provoking challenges to conventional moral judgments. 

Leseprobe

.

SCENE I[1]

[Enter] ANTONIO and DELIO

DELIO. You are welcome to your country, dear Antonio;

You have been long in France, and you return

A very formal Frenchman in your habit:

How do you like the French court?

ANTONIO. I admire it:

In seeking to reduce both state and people

To a fix'd order, their judicious king

Begins at home; quits first his royal palace

Of flattering sycophants, of dissolute

And infamous persons,—which he sweetly terms

His master's master-piece, the work of heaven;

Considering duly that a prince's court

Is like a common fountain, whence should flow

Pure silver drops in general, but if 't chance

Some curs'd example poison 't near the head,

Death and diseases through the whole land spread.

And what is 't makes this blessed government

But a most provident council, who dare freely

Inform him the corruption of the times?

Though some o' the court hold it presumption

To instruct princes what they ought to do,

It is a noble duty to inform them

What they ought to foresee.[2]—Here comes Bosola,

The only court-gall; yet I observe his railing

Is not for simple love of piety:

Indeed, he rails at those things which he wants;

Would be as lecherous, covetous, or proud,

Bloody, or envious, as any man,

If he had means to be so.—Here's the cardinal.

[Enter CARDINAL and BOSOLA]

BOSOLA. I do haunt you still.

CARDINAL. So.

BOSOLA. I have done you better service than to be slighted thus.

Miserable age, where only the reward of doing well is the doing

of it!

CARDINAL. You enforce your merit too much.

BOSOLA. I fell into the galleys in your service: where, for two

years together, I wore two towels instead of a shirt, with a knot

on the shoulder, after the fashion of a Roman mantle. Slighted thus!

I will thrive some way. Black-birds fatten best in hard weather;

why not I in these dog-days?

CARDINAL. Would you could become honest!

BOSOLA. With all your divinity do but direct me the way to it.

I have known many travel far for it, and yet return as arrant knaves

as they went forth, because they carried themselves always along with

them. [Exit CARDINAL.] Are you gone? Some fellows, they say,

are possessed with the devil, but this great fellow were able

to possess the greatest devil, and make him worse.

ANTONIO. He hath denied thee some suit?

BOSOLA. He and his brother are like plum-trees that grow crooked

over standing-pools; they are rich and o'erladen with fruit, but none

but crows, pies, and caterpillars feed on them. Could I be one

of their flattering panders, I would hang on their ears like a

horseleech, till I were full, and then drop off. I pray, leave me.

Who would rely upon these miserable dependencies, in expectation

to be advanc'd to-morrow? What creature ever fed worse than hoping

Tantalus? Nor ever died any man more fearfully than he that hoped

for a pardon. There are rewards for hawks and dogs when they have

done us service; but for a soldier that hazards his limbs in a

battle, nothing but a kind of geometry is his last supportation.

DELIO. Geometry?

BOSOLA. Ay, to hang in a fair pair of slings, take his latter swing

in the world upon an honourable pair of crutches, from hospital

to hospital. Fare ye well, sir: and yet do not you scorn us;

for places in the court are but like beds in the hospital, where

this man's head lies at that man's foot, and so lower and lower.

[Exit.]

DELIO. I knew this fellow seven years in the galleys

For a notorious murder; and 'twas thought

The cardinal suborn'd it: he was releas'd

By the French general, Gaston de Foix,

When he recover'd Naples.

ANTONIO. 'Tis great pity

He should be thus neglected: I have heard

He 's very valiant. This foul melancholy

Will poison all his goodness; for, I 'll tell you,

If too immoderate sleep be truly said

To be an inward rust unto the soul,

If then doth follow want of action

Breeds all black malcontents; and their close rearing,

Like moths in cloth, do hurt for want of wearing.

SCENE II[3]

ANTONIO, DELIO, [Enter SILVIO, CASTRUCCIO, JULIA, RODERIGO

and GRISOLAN]

DELIO. The presence 'gins to fill: you promis'd me

To make me the partaker of the natures

Of some of your great courtiers.

ANTONIO. The lord cardinal's

And other strangers' that are now in court?

I shall.—Here comes the great Calabrian duke.

[Enter FERDINAND and Attendants]

FERDINAND. Who took the ring oftenest?[4]

SILVIO. Antonio Bologna, my lord.

FERDINAND. Our sister duchess' great-master of her household?

Give him the jewel.—When shall we leave this sportive action,

and fall to action indeed?

CASTRUCCIO. Methinks, my lord, you should not desire to go to war

in person.

FERDINAND. Now for some gravity.—Why, my lord?

CASTRUCCIO. It is fitting a soldier arise to be a prince, but not

necessary a prince descend to be a captain.

FERDINAND. No?

CASTRUCCIO. No, my lord; he were far better do it by a deputy.

FERDINAND. Why should he not as well sleep or eat by a deputy?

This might take idle, offensive, and base office from him, whereas

the other deprives him of honour.

CASTRUCCIO. Believe my experience, that realm is never long in quiet

where the ruler is a soldier.

FERDINAND. Thou toldest me thy wife could not endure fighting.

CASTRUCCIO. True, my lord.

FERDINAND. And of a jest she broke of[5] a captain she met full of

wounds: I have forgot it.

CASTRUCCIO. She told him, my lord, he was a pitiful fellow, to lie,

like the children of Ismael, all in tents.[6]

FERDINAND. Why, there's a wit were able to undo all the

chirurgeons[7] o' the city; for although gallants should quarrel,

and had drawn their weapons, and were ready to go to it, yet her

persuasions would make them put up.

CASTRUCCIO. That she would, my lord.—How do you like my Spanish

gennet?[8]

RODERIGO. He is all fire.

FERDINAND. I am of Pliny's opinion, I think he was begot

by the wind; he runs as if he were ballass'd[9] with quicksilver.

SILVIO. True, my lord, he reels from the tilt often.

RODERIGO, GRISOLAN. Ha, ha, ha!

FERDINAND. Why do you laugh? Methinks you that are courtiers

should be my touch-wood, take fire when I give fire; that is,

laugh when I laugh, were the subject never so witty.

CASTRUCCIO. True, my lord: I myself have heard a very good jest,

and have scorn'd to seem to have so silly a wit as to understand it.

FERDINAND. But I can laugh at your fool, my lord.

CASTRUCCIO. He cannot speak, you know, but he makes faces; my lady

cannot abide him.

FERDINAND. No?

CASTRUCCIO. Nor endure to be in merry company; for she says too much

laughing, and too much company, fills her too full of the wrinkle.

FERDINAND. I would, then, have a mathematical instrument made

for her face, that she might not laugh out of compass.—I shall

shortly visit you at Milan, Lord Silvio.

SILVIO. Your grace shall arrive most welcome.

FERDINAND. You are a good horseman, Antonio; you have excellent

riders in France: what do you think of good horsemanship?

ANTONIO. Nobly, my lord: as out of the Grecian horse issued many

famous princes, so out of brave horsemanship arise the first sparks

of growing resolution, that raise the mind to noble action.

FERDINAND. You have bespoke it worthily.

SILVIO. Your brother, the lord cardinal, and sister duchess.

[Enter CARDINAL, with DUCHESS, and CARIOLA]

CARDINAL. Are the galleys come about?

GRISOLAN. They are, my lord.

FERDINAND. Here 's the Lord Silvio is come to take his leave.

DELIO. Now, sir, your promise: what 's that cardinal?

I mean his temper? They say he 's a brave fellow,

Will play his five thousand crowns at tennis, dance,

Court ladies, and one that hath fought single combats.

ANTONIO. Some such flashes superficially hang on him for form;

but observe his inward character: he is a melancholy churchman.

The spring in his face is nothing but the engend'ring of toads;

where he is jealous of any man, he lays worse plots for them than

ever was impos'd on Hercules, for he strews in his way flatterers,

panders, intelligencers, atheists, and a thousand such political

monsters. He should have been Pope; but instead of coming to it

by the primitive decency of the church, he did bestow bribes

so largely and so impudently as if he would have carried it away

without heaven's knowledge. Some good he hath done——

DELIO. You have given too much of him. What 's his brother?

ANTONIO. The duke there? A most perverse and turbulent nature.

What appears in him mirth is merely outside;

If he laught heartily, it is to laugh

All honesty out of fashion.

DELIO. Twins?

ANTONIO. In quality.

He speaks with others' tongues, and hears men's suits

With others' ears; will seem to sleep o' the bench

Only to entrap offenders in their answers;

Dooms men to death by information;

Rewards by hearsay.

DELIO. Then the law to him

Is like a foul, black cobweb to a spider,—

He makes it his dwelling and a prison

To entangle those shall feed him.

ANTONIO. Most true:

He never pays debts unless they be shrewd turns,

And those he will confess that he doth owe.

Last, for this brother there, the cardinal,

They that do flatter him most say oracles

Hang at his lips; and verily I believe them,

For the devil speaks in them.

But for their sister, the right noble duchess,

You never fix'd your eye on three fair medals

Cast in one figure, of so different temper.

For her discourse, it is so full of rapture,

You only will begin then to be sorry

When she doth end her speech, and wish, in wonder,

She held it less vain-glory to talk much,

Than your penance to hear her. Whilst she speaks,

She throws upon a man so sweet a look

That it were able to raise one to a galliard.[10]

That lay in a dead palsy, and to dote

On that sweet countenance; but in that look

There speaketh so divine a continence

As cuts off all lascivious and vain hope.

Her days are practis'd in such noble virtue,

That sure her nights, nay, more, her very sleeps,

Are more in heaven than other ladies' shrifts.

Let all sweet ladies break their flatt'ring glasses,

And dress themselves in her.

DELIO. Fie, Antonio,

You play the wire-drawer with her commendations.

ANTONIO. I 'll case the picture up: only thus much;

All her particular worth grows to this sum,—

She stains[11] the time past, lights the time to come.

CARIOLA. You must attend my lady in the gallery,

Some half and hour hence.

ANTONIO. I shall.

[Exeunt ANTONIO and DELIO.]

FERDINAND. Sister, I have a suit to you.

DUCHESS. To me, sir?

FERDINAND. A gentleman here, Daniel de Bosola,

One that was in the galleys——

DUCHESS. Yes, I know him.

FERDINAND. A worthy fellow he is: pray, let me entreat for

The provisorship of your horse.

DUCHESS. Your knowledge of him

Commends him and prefers him.

FERDINAND. Call him hither.

[Exit Attendant.]

We [are] now upon[12] parting. Good Lord Silvio,

Do us commend to all our noble friends

At the leaguer.

SILVIO. Sir, I shall.

[DUCHESS.] You are for Milan?

SILVIO. I am.

DUCHESS. Bring the caroches.[13]—We 'll bring you down

To the haven.

[Exeunt DUCHESS, SILVIO, CASTRUCCIO, RODERIGO, GRISOLAN,

CARIOLA, JULIA, and Attendants.]

CARDINAL. Be sure you entertain that Bosola

For your intelligence.[14] I would not be seen in 't;

And therefore many times I have slighted him

When he did court our furtherance, as this morning.

FERDINAND. Antonio, the great-master of her household,

Had been far fitter.

CARDINAL. You are deceiv'd in him.

His nature is too honest for such business.—

He comes: I 'll leave you.

[Exit.]

[Re-enter BOSOLA]

BOSOLA. I was lur'd to you.

FERDINAND. My brother, here, the cardinal, could never

Abide you.

BOSOLA. Never since he was in my debt.

FERDINAND. May be some oblique character in your face

Made him suspect you.

BOSOLA. Doth he study physiognomy?

There 's no more credit to be given to the face

Than to a sick man's urine, which some call

The physician's whore, because she cozens[15] him.

He did suspect me wrongfully.

FERDINAND. For that

You must give great men leave to take their times.

Distrust doth cause us seldom be deceiv'd.

You see the oft shaking of the cedar-tree

Fastens it more at root.

BOSOLA. Yet take heed;

For to suspect a friend unworthily

Instructs him the next way to suspect you,

And prompts him to deceive you.

FERDINAND. There 's gold.

BOSOLA. So:

What follows? [Aside.] Never rain'd such showers as these

Without thunderbolts i' the tail of them.—Whose throat must I cut?

FERDINAND. Your inclination to shed blood rides post

Before my occasion to use you. I give you that

To live i' the court here, and observe the duchess;

To note all the particulars of her haviour,

What suitors do solicit her for marriage,

And whom she best affects. She 's a young widow:

I would not have her marry again.

BOSOLA. No, sir?

FERDINAND. Do not you ask the reason; but be satisfied.

I say I would not.

BOSOLA. It seems you would create me

One of your familiars.

FERDINAND. Familiar! What 's that?

BOSOLA. Why, a very quaint invisible devil in flesh,—

An intelligencer.[16]

FERDINAND. Such a kind of thriving thing

I would wish thee; and ere long thou mayst arrive

At a higher place by 't.

BOSOLA. Take your devils,

Which hell calls angels! These curs'd gifts would make

You a corrupter, me an impudent traitor;

And should I take these, they'd take me [to] hell.

FERDINAND. Sir, I 'll take nothing from you that I have given.

There is a place that I procur'd for you

This morning, the provisorship o' the horse;

Have you heard on 't?

BOSOLA. No.

FERDINAND. 'Tis yours: is 't not worth thanks?

BOSOLA. I would have you curse yourself now, that your bounty

(Which makes men truly noble) e'er should make me

A villain. O, that to avoid ingratitude

For the good deed you have done me, I must do

All the ill man can invent! Thus the devil

Candies all sins o'er; and what heaven terms vile,

That names he complimental.

FERDINAND. Be yourself;

Keep your old garb of melancholy; 'twill express

You envy those that stand above your reach,

Yet strive not to come near 'em. This will gain

Access to private lodgings, where yourself

May, like a politic dormouse——

BOSOLA. As I have seen some

Feed in a lord's dish, half asleep, not seeming

To listen to any talk; and yet these rogues

Have cut his throat in a dream. What 's my place?

The provisorship o' the horse? Say, then, my corruption

Grew out of horse-dung: I am your creature.

FERDINAND. Away!

[Exit.]