Duchess of Malfi

Act four, Scene one is an extremely dark scene within the play, where torture and death play a prominent role. It is an important scene in the play as the tempo increases immensely and the audience are given a glimpse of the main characters fate. Therefore it is a pivotal point in the play as the relative calmness of the previous scenes is replaced by chaos and death. The scene consists of the three main characters of the play and through their reactions to the gruesome acts in the scene the audience can begin define each of their fates in this tragedy. It is the first scene where Bosola’s conscience struggles with the morality of his actions and leads to his repentance. His once clever wordplay is replaced with much more sincere tone. It is the first scene where it is evident that Ferdinand is slipping into madness while still believing that he holds the moral high-ground and shows the Duchess as almost the polar opposite of her twin brother, maintaining dignity and calmness in the most extreme of circumstances. Webster allows all the interaction to be between the three main characters to allow the audience to closely analyse each one of them and make their own conclusions about them. Webster also uses the scene to raise the tension as the characters head towards to their inevitable fates within the tragic drama. Bosola is arguably the most important character within the play. He features in nearly every scene and has many soliloquys throughout the play. Within this scene the audience are given the opportunity to compare his interaction between both the Duchess and Ferdinand and see his inner turmoil between his ambition and his conscience. Webster highlights this inner turmoil and the moral change which is happening to Bosola by the language that he uses in the scene. In previous scenes, Bosola’s language has been littered with clever wordplay which is often scathing when speaking of those of a higher social status than himself ‘He and his brother are