The Duchess of Malfi

by Frank Kermode

For I place wealth after the heels of pleasure;

  And were not I resolved in my belief

  That thy virginity were perfect in thee,

  I should but take my recompense with grudging,

  As if I had but half my hopes I agreed for.

  BEAT. Why, ’tis impossible thou canst be so wicked,

  Or shelter such a cunning cruelty,

  To make his death the murderer of my honor!

  Thy language is so bold and vicious,

  I cannot see which way I can forgive it

  With any modesty.

  DE F. Pish! you forget yourself;

  A woman dipped in blood, and talk of modesty!

  BEAT. O misery of sin! would I’d been bound

  Perpetually unto my living hate

  In that Piracquo, than to hear these words!

  Think but upon the distance that creation

  Set ’twixt thy blood and mine, and keep thee there.

  DE F. Look but into your conscience, read me there;

  ’Tis a true book, you’ll find me there your equal:

  Pish! fly not to your birth, but settle you

  In what the act has made you; you’re no more now.

  You must forget your parentage to me;76

  You are the deed’s creature; by that name

  You lost your first condition, and I challenge77 you,

  As peace and innocency has turned you out,

  And made you one with me.

  BEAT. With thee, foul villain!

  DE F. Yes, my fair murderess; do you urge me,

  Though thou writ’st maid, thou whore in thy affection?

  ’Twas changed from thy first love, and that’s a kind

  Of whoredom in the heart; and he’s changed now

  To bring thy second on, thy Alsemero,

  Whom by all sweets that ever darkness tasted,

  If I enjoy thee not, thou ne’er enjoyest!

  I’ll blast the hopes and joys of marriage,

  I’ll confess all; my life I rate at nothing.

  BEAT. De Flores!

  DE F. I shall rest from all plagues then;

  I live in pain now; that shooting eye

  Will burn my heart to cinders.

  BEAT. O sir, hear me!

  DE F. She that in life and love refuses me,

  In death and shame my partner she shall be.

  BEAT. [Kneeling] Stay, hear me once for all; I make thee master

  Of all the wealth I have in gold and jewels;

  Let me go poor unto my bed with honor,

  And I am rich in all things!

  DE F. Let this silence thee:

  The wealth of all Valencia shall not buy

  My pleasure from me;

  Can you weep Fate from its determined purpose?

  So soon may you weep me.

  BEAT. Vengeance begins;

  Murder, I see, is followed by more sins:

  Was my creation in the womb so curst,

  It must engender with a viper first?

  DE F. [Raising her] Come, rise and shroud your blushes in my bosom;

  Silence is one of pleasure’s best receipts:78

  Thy peace is wrought for ever in this yielding.

  ’Las! how the turtle pants! thou’lt love anon

  What thou so fear’st and faint’st to venture on.

  Exeunt

  ACT IV

  Dumb Show

  Enter Gentlemen, Vermandero meeting them with action of wonderment at the flight of Piracquo. Enter Alsemero with Jasperino and gallants: Vermandero points to him, the gentlemen seeming to applaud the choice. Exeunt in procession Alsemero, Jasperino, and Gentlemen, Beatrice as a bride following in great state, accompanied by Diaphanta, Isabella, and other gentlewomen; De Flores after all, smiling at the accident:79 Alonzo’s ghost appears to him in the midst of his smile, and startles him, showing the hand whose finger he had cut off. They pass over in great solemnity

  SCENE I

  Enter Beatrice

  BEAT. This fellow has undone me endlessly;

  Never was bride so fearfully distressed:

  The more I think upon th’ ensuing night,

  And whom I am to cope with in embraces,

  One who’s ennobled both in blood and mind,

  So clear in understanding,—that’s my plague now—

  Before whose judgment will my fault appear

  Like malefactors’ crimes before tribunals

  There is no hiding on’t, the more I dive

  Into my own distress: how a wise man

  Stands for a great calamity! there’s no venturing

  Into his bed, what course soe’er I light upon,

  Without my shame, which may grow up to danger;

  He cannot but in justice strangle me

  As I lie by him, as a cheater use me;

  ’Tis a precious craft to play with a false die

  Before a cunning gamester. Here’s his closet;

  The key left in’t, and he abroad i’ th’ park!

  Sure ’twas forgot; I’ll be so bold as look in’t.

  [Opens closet]

  Bless me! a right physician’s closet ’tis,

  Set round with vials; every one her mark too:

  Sure he does practice physic for his own use,

  Which may be safely called your great man’s wisdom.

  What manuscript lies here?

  [Reads] “The Book of Experiment, called Secrets in Nature:”

  So ’tis so:

  [Reads] “How to know whether a woman be with child or no:”

  I hope I am not yet; if he should try though!

  Let me see [reads] “folio forty-five,” here ’tis,

  The leaf tucked down upon’t, the place suspicious:

  [Reads] “If you would know whether a woman be with child or not,

  give her two spoonfuls of the white water in glass C—”

  Where’s that glass C? O yonder, I see ’t now—

  [reads] “and if she be with child, she sleeps full twelve hours after;

  if not, not:”

  None of that water comes into my belly;

  I’ll know you from a hundred; I could break you now,

  Or turn you into milk, and so beguile

  The master of the mystery; but I’ll look to you.

  Ha! that which is next is ten times worse:

  [Reads] “How to know whether a woman be a maid or not:”

  If that should be applied, what would become of me?

  Belike he has a strong faith of my purity,

  That never yet made proof; but this he calls

  [reads] “A merry sleight,80 but true experiment; the author Antonius Mizaldus. Give the party you suspect the quantity of a spoonful of the water in the glass M, which, upon her that is a maid, makes three several effects; ’twill make her incontinently81 gape, then fall into a sudden sneezing, last into a violent laughing; else, dull, heavy, and lumpish.”

  Where had I been?

  I fear it, yet ’tis seven hours to bed-time.

  Enter Diaphanta

  DIA. Cuds, madam, are you here?

  BEAT. [Aside] Seeing that wench now,

  A trick comes in my mind; ’tis a nice piece82

  Gold cannot purchase.—I come hither, wench,

  To look83 my lord.

  DIA. [Aside] Would I had such a cause

  Too look him to!—Why, he’s i’ th’ park, madam.

  BEAT. There let him be.

  DIA. Ay, madam, let him compass

  Whole parks and forests, as great rangers do,

  At roosting-time a little lodge can hold ’em:

  Earth-conquering Alexander, that thought the world

  To narrow for him, in th’ end had but his pit-hole.

  BEAT. I fear thou art not modest, Diaphanta.

  DIA. Your thoughts are so unwilling to be known, madam.

  ’Tis ever the bride’s fashion, towards bed-time,

  To set light by her joys, as if she ow
ned ’em not.

  BEAT. Her joys? her fears thou wouldst say.

  DIA. Fear of what?

  BEAT. Art thou a maid, and talk’st so to a maid?

  You leave a blushing business beind;

  Beshrew your heart for’t!

  DIA. Do you mean good sooth,84 madam?

  BEAT. Well, if I’d thought upon the fear at first,

  Man should have been unknown.

  DIA. Is’t possible?

  BEAT. I’d give a thousand ducats to that woman

  Would try what my fear were, and tell me true

  To-morrow, when she gets from’t; as she likes,

  I might perhaps be drawn to’t.

  DIA. Are you in earnest?

  BEAT. Do you get the woman, then challenge me,

  And see if I’ll fly from’t; but I must tell you

  This by the way, she must be a true maid,

  Else there’s no trial, my fears are not hers else.

  DIA. Nay, she that I would put into your hands, madam.

  Shall be a maid.

  BEAT. You know I should be shamed else,

  Because she lies for me.

  DIA. ’Tis a strange humor!

  But are you serious still? would you resign

  Your first night’s pleasure, and give money too?

  BEAT. As willingly as live. [Aside]—Alas, the gold

  Is but a by-bet to wedge in the honor!

  DIA. I do not know how the world goes abroad

  For faith or honesty; there’s both required in this.

  Madam, what say you to me, and stray no further?

  I’ve a good mind, in troth, to earn your money.

  BEAT. You are too quick,85 I fear, to be a maid.

  DIA. How? not a maid? nay, then you urge86 me, madam;

  Your honorable self is not a truer,

  With all your fears upon you—

  BEAT. [Aside] Bad enough then.

  DIA. Than I with all my lightsome joys about me.

  BEAT. I’m glad to hear’t: then you dare put your honesty

  Upon an easy trial.

  DIA. Easy? anything.

  BEAT. I’ll come to you straight.

  [Goes to the closet]

  DIA. She will not search me, will she,

  Like the forewoman of a female jury?87

  BEAT. Glass M: ay, this is it. [Brings vial]—Look, Diaphanta,

  You take no worse than I do.

  [Drinks]

  DIA. And in so doing,

  I will not question what it is, but take it.

  [Drinks]

  BEAT. [Aside] Now if th’ experiment be true, ’twill praise itself,88

  And give me noble ease: begins already;

  [Diaphanta gapes]

  There’s the first symptom; and what haste it makes

  To fall into the second, there by this time!

  [Diaphanta sneezes]

  Most admirable secret! on the contrary,

  It stirs not me a whit, which most concerns it.

  DIA. Ha, ha, ha!

  BEAT. [Aside] Just in all things, and in order

  As if ’twere circumscribed; one accident

  Gives way unto another.

  DIA. Ha, ha, ha!

  BEAT. How now, wench?

  DIA. Ha, ha, ha! I’m so, so light

  At heart—ha, ha, ha!—so pleasurable!

  But one swig more, sweet madam.

  BEAT. Ay, to-morrow,

  We shall have time to sit by’t.89

  DIA. Now I’m sad again.

  BEAT. [Aside] It lays itself90 so gently too!—Come, wench.

  Most honest Diaphanta I dare call thee now.

  DIA. Pray, tell me, madam, what trick call you this?

  BEAT. I’ll tell thee all hereafter; we must study

  The carriage of this business.

  DIA. I shall carry’t well,

  Because I love the burthen.

  BEAT. About midnight

  You must not fail to steal forth gently,

  That I may use the place.91

  DIA. O, fear not, madam,

  I shall be cool by that time: the bride’s place,

  And with a thousand ducats! I’m for a justice92 now,

  I bring a portion with me; I scorn small fools.

  Exeunt

  SCENE II

  Enter Vermandero and Servant

  VER. I tell thee, knave, mine honor is in question,

  A thing till now free from suspicion,

  Nor ever was there cause. Who of my gentlemen

  Are absent?

  Tell me, and truly, how many, and who?

  SER. Antonio, sir, and Franciscus.

  VER. When did they leave the castle?

  SER. Some ten days since, sir; the one intending to Briamata, th’ other for Valencia.

  VER. The time accuses ’em; a charge of murder

  Is brought within my castle-gate, Piracquo’s murder;

  I dare not answer faithfully their absence:

  A strict command of apprehension

  Shall pursue ’em suddenly, and either wipe

  The stain off clear, or openly discover it.

  Provide me wingèd warrants for the purpose.

  Exit Servant

  See, I am set on93 again.

  Enter Tomaso

  TOM. I claim a brother of you.

  VER. You’re too hot;

  Seek him not here.

  TOM. Yes, ’mongst your dearest bloods,94

  If my peace find no fairer satisfaction:

  This is the place must yield account for him,

  For here I left him; and the hasty tie

  Of this snatched marriage gives strong testimony

  Of his most certain ruin.

  VER. Certain falsehood!

  This is the place indeed; his breach of faith

  Has too much marred both my abusèd love,

  The honorable love I reserved for him,

  And mocked my daughter’s joy; the prepared morning

  Blushed at his infidelity; he left

  Contempt and scorn to throw upon those friends

  Whose belief hurt ’em: O, twas most ignoble

  To take his flight so unexpectedly,

  And throw such public wrongs on those that loved him!

  TOM. Then this is all your answer?

  VER. ’Tis too fair

  For one of his alliance; and I warn you

  That this place no more see you.

  Exit

  Enter De Flores

  TOM. The best is,

  There is more ground to meet a man’s revenge on.

  —Honest De Flores?

  DE F. That’s my name indeed.

  Saw you the bride? good sweet sir, which way took she?

  TOM. I’ve blessed mine eyes from seeing such a false one.

  DE F. [Aside] I’d fain get off, this man’s not for my company;

  I smell his brother’s blood when I come near him.

  TOM. Come hither, kind and true one; I remember

  My brother loved thee well.

  DE F. O, purely, dear sir!—

  [Aside] Methinks I’m now again a-killing on him,

  He brings it so fresh to me.

  TOM. Thou canst guess, sirrah—

  An honest friend has an instinct of jealousy95—

  At some foul guilty person.

  DE F. Alas! sir,

  I am so charitable, I think none

  Worse than myself! you did not see the bride then?

  TOM. I prithee, name her not: is she not wicked?

  DE F. No, no; a pretty, easy, round-packed sinner,

  As your most ladies are, else you might think

  I flattered her; but, sir, at no hand96 wicked,

  Till they’re so old their chins and noses meet,

  And they salute witches. I’m called, I think, sir.—

  [Aside] His company even overlays my conscience.

  Exit

  TOM. That De Flores has a wo
ndrous honest heart;

  He’ll bring it97 out in time, I’m assured on’t.

  O, here’s the glorious master of the day’s joy!

  ’Twill not be long till he and I do reckon.

  Enter Alsemero

  Sir.

  ALS. You’re most welcome.

  TOM. You may call that word back;

  I do not think I am, nor wish to be.

  ALS. ’Tis strange you found the way to this house, then.

  TOM. Would I’d ne’er known the cause! I’m none of those, sir,

  That come to give you joy, and swill your wine;

  ’Tis a more precious liquor that must lay

  The fiery thirst I bring.

  ALS. Your words and you

  Appear to me great strangers.

  TOM. Time and our swords

  May make us more acquainted; this the business:

  I should have had a brother in your place;

  How treachery and malice have disposed of him,

  I’m bound to inquire of him which holds his right,98

  Which never could come fairly.

  ALS. You must look

  To answer for that word, sir.

  TOM. Fear you not,

  I’ll have it ready drawn at our next meeting.

  Keep your day solemn; farewell, I disturb it not;

  I’ll bear the smart with patience for a time.

  Exit

  ALS. ’Tis somewhat ominous this; a quarrel entered

  Upon this day; my innocence relieves me,

  Enter Jasperino

  I should be wondrous sad else.—Jasperino,

  I’ve news to tell thee, strange news.

  JAS. I ha’ some too,

  I think as strange as yours: would I might keep

  Mine, so my faith and friendship might be kept in’t!

  Faith, sir, dispense a little with my zeal,

  And let it cool in this.

  ALS. This puts me on,

  And blames me for thy slowness.

  JAS. All may prove nothing,

  Only a friendly fear that leapt from me, sir.

  ALS. No question, ’t may prove nothing; let’s partake it though.

  JAS. ’Twas Diaphanta’s chance—for to that wench

  I pretend99 honest love, and she deserves it—

  To leave me in a back part of the house,

  A place we chose for private conference;

  She was no sooner gone, but instantly

  I heard your bride’s voice in the next room to me;

  And lending more attention, found De Flores

  Louder than she.

  ALS. De Flores! thou art out now.

  JAS. You’ll tell me more anon.

  ALS. Still I’ll prevent100 thee,

  The very sight of him is poison to her.

  JAS. That made me stagger too; but Diaphanta