Summary Of The Duchess Of Malfi

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The play is set in the court of Malfi (Italy 1504-1510). The recently widowed Duchess falls in love with Antonio, a lowly steward, but her brothers, not wishing her to share their inheritance, forbid her from remarrying. She marries Antonio in secret and bears him several children. The Duchess' lunatic brother Ferdinand threatens and disowns her. In an attempt to escape, she and Antonio concoct a story that he has to flee into exile. She takes Bosola into her confidence (not knowing that he is Ferdinand's spy) and arranges that he will deliver her jewelry to Antonio at his hiding-place in Ancona. The Cardinal hears of the plan, instructs Bosola to banish the two lovers, and sends soldiers to capture them. Antonio escapes with their eldest son, but the Duchess, her maid and her two younger children are returned to Malfi and die at the hands of Bosola's executioners. This experience, combined with a sense of injustice and his own feeling of a lack of identity, turns Bosola against the Cardinal and his brother, deciding to take up the cause of revenge for the Duchess of Malfi. The Cardinal confesses to his mistress Julia his part in the killing of the Duchess and then murders her to silence her, using a poisoned Bible. Next, Bosola hears the Cardinal plotting to kill him and so visits the chapel to kill the Cardinal at his prayers. Instead, he mistakenly kills Antonio, who has just returned to Malfi to attempt a reconciliation with the Cardinal. Bosola stabs the Cardinal, who dies. Ferdinand and Bosola stab each other to death. Antonio's elder son by the Duchess appears in the final scene and takes his place as the heir to the Malfi fortune, despite his father's explicit wish that he "fly the court of princes", a corrupt and increasingly deadly environment. Act 1 Scene 1—The Duchess’s palace in Malfi: Antonio and Delio are discussing the former's return
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