The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster

Study Questions
1. Who does the Duchess compare herself to?

2. What is Bosola’s trade?

3. What is the Duchess’s attitude toward her imminent death?

4. Who does Ferdinand blame for the Duchess’s death?

5. Who does Bosola plan to give the Duchess’s body to?

Answers
1. The Duchess compares herself to the “robin red-breast and the nightingale.”

2. Bosola's trade is to “flatter the dead, not the living.”

3. The Duchess does not fear her own death, and in fact welcomes it as she seeks to enter heaven by being executed.

4. Ferdinand blames Bosola.

5. Bosola plans to give the Duchess’s body to “some good women.”