1. Do we live our lives aware of state surveillance or just ignore it?
Malfi – lines
Do we live our lives aware of state surveillance or just ignore it?
Do we believe that it is better to be safe and watched than not?
Lord Robert Cecil,
James I’s spymaster,
Earl of Salisbury
Son of William Cecil,
Elizabeth I’s
Secretary of State

2. Malfi – lines
The Cardinal, having insulted Bosola, now insists that Ferdinand employ him: “Be sure…” The imperative implies power over his brother whilst the abstract noun “intelligence” carries (even to this day) connotations of spying.
Why does he do this?
Is this capable of two interpretations? – State security in ‘Malfi as well as spying on and controlling the behaviour of their sister.
How do we as a 21st century audience view this – negatively or positively?
Was the Jacobean audience aware that they were spied on, their letters read, signs of dissent/forbidden worship looked for?
Do we live our lives aware of state surveillance or just ignore it?
Do we believe that it is better to be safe and watched than not?
Lord Robert Cecil,
James I’s spymaster,
Earl of Salisbury
Son of William Cecil,
Elizabeth I’s
Secretary of State

3. Literary/Historical Context:
Both brothers can be seen as “Machiavellian”.
They are presented as ruthless politicians who exploit their
position, use power mercilessly and have no qualms about the
use of murder as a tool to keep their power.
Niccolo Machiavelli, a native of Florence,
wrote The Prince/Il Principe in 1513.
Viewed as immoral by most of intellectual Europe as it appears to condone
villainy in rulers, i.e. the use of violence to achieve their ends,
his surname became an adjective to describe “evil”, manipulative
and serpentine (at times two faced/speaking with forked tongue) behaviour in rulers.
The Italian nobility and rulers became notorious and synonymous with this behaviour – Catherine de Medici, Queen of France
, was notorious for her use of poison, plots and intrigue to keep her hands on the reins of power.
A noblewoman of the all–powerful Medicis, rulers of Florence, she would have been aware of his writings.

4. Why is Antonio’s name mentioned in this scene?
What impression do we get from the Cardinal here of him which then links with his relationship with the Duchess?
“Nature” would have two connotations here – character and mode of behaving.
When Bosola returns to the stage the blank verse comes to the fore – to the Cardinal previously he spoke in prose. What does this suggest about his relationship with Ferdinand?
What connotations does “lure” have? How does Webster convey Bosola’s malcontent through his language?
Ferdinand implies that the Cardinal dislikes Bosola’s expression as he cannot read him very easily and therefore loathes him. Bosola is contemptuous and compares the reading of faces to making a diagnosis through looking at a patient’s urine in other words the Cardinal is a bad “physician”.
Ironically, and Webster uses dramatic irony here, the Cardinal is using Bosola through Ferdinand.

5. Bosola is instructed to spy on the Duchess and her household rather than shed blood as he seems to wish to do.
Ferdinand states “I would not have her marry again”. Bosola seems to greet this sarcastically and gets a reprimand for his words.
He then uses to Ferdinand the notorious word “familiar” which carries huge weight as witches were supposed to have animal “familiars”, the incarnations of their helper demons such as cats, (black or grey), toads, dogs, foxes, weasels or stoats.
The implication being that they are both engaged in nefarious activities.
Webster then puns on the word “devils” since the gold given by Ferdinand would be in the currency of “angels” or nobles.
Bosola does not want to be bribed – so what does he want?
Do he and Ferdinand get on or is he so cynical that he “speaks truth to power” and gets away with it?
“Dormice” we associate with Alice in Wonderland – sleepy and in the teapot! For the Jacobeans this is a classical allusion from the Roman author, Pliny - also to do with sleep but Bosola uses it to suggest that spying goes on whilst sleeping…

6. Bosola at the end of this scene calls himself the “devil” suggesting he has a sense of humour
and can see himself with irony and with deprecation.
Note how he adds in an extra line which jars with the rhyming couplet – why does Webster do this?