Malfi Act II Scene iv Here is the mendacious and lusty Cardinal with his mistress. The celibacy rules of the Roman Catholic Church should have made this scene unlikely but even before England became Protestant the College of Cardinals were notorious for sexual licence. The Borgias as a notable example….. Webster seems to be demonstrating that power corrupts whether religious or temporal. Whatever we might feel about the Duchess’ freedom to organise her own love life from a 21st century point of view, she is being paralleled here by her own brother and his mistress, Julia.

What effect does the imperative have on the audience? What might it imply? An anchorite was a hermit that lived by the side of a church, praying and fasting to as part of their religious devotions. Ironically, the Cardinal is a religious officer of the church but would employ his chaplains to do his praying for him… Julia suggests that she thinks of nothing but her lover yet fears his faithlessness… With good reason? The Cardinal puts her fears back on to her – her faithlessness means she fears his. Julia also seems to embody Bosola’s words in the last scene.

The Cardinal insults women generally – glass is easier to make “malleable” (it needs to be heated to a very high temperature) than it is to fix women’s constancy. Webster then gives us the wonderful reference to Galileo’s telescope which could be used to view the Moon and he used to prove the existence of the moons of Jupiter. Probably cue laughter from the knowledgeable audience - “fantastic” has connotations of fantasy and curious/odd. In the photo the Cardinal is clothed and Julia naked – why has the director done this?

This scene relies heavily on the knowledge that Castruchio is arriving with the news of the Duchess’s son and vow breaking imminently. What would the audience’s reaction be here, particularly to Julia’s tears? Discomfort? Impatience with somebody who should be at home with her husband? The lexis of pets that the Cardinal uses suggests that she is a plaything like a lapdog or caged bird such as any courtier might keep. This together with the sexual innuendo of the reference to the lute (same shape as a woman’s body) makes for both a scene filled with melodrama but also bathos.

Is Julia the antithesis of the Duchess? What is our attitude to her? When Delio enters it is clear he has found her in the Cardinal’s rooms. What does this imply? He bears news of Castruchio (whose name has connotations of a eunuch) but is not with him, which suggests he is more aware of Julia’s movements than her husband. Is Delio bribing her/ wooing her/making her a gift? Again the pet lexis is used as is the lute image. The echoes almost literally resonate round the theatre as if every lover and mistress use the same stock and clichéd images.

Whilst Delio is trying to convey some sort of message to his erstwhile lover, further news arrives that Ferdinand has had a “letter” that “hath put him out of his wits”…. Anger? Madness? Jealousy? Shock? Horror? Strong passions, regardless: “that way madness lies”…. Suddenly Delio is de trop – in the wrong place at the wrong time – but he persists nonetheless with the euphemism “non-resident with your husband”. Sharing her with the Cardinal? How corrupt is this court/city/land? After she leaves Delio empathises with Antonio’s fate – however, he also adds the rider that it is his “ambition” that has brought him to this pass – not love – his fate/Fortune is now unfortunate where once it smiled on him….. Again the rhyming couplet suggests an epigram summing up what one should do – think of the consequences of each action.