The Duchess of Malfi: Act 5, Scene 5 Summary & Analysis

The Cardinal is in his chambers, holding a book and questioning what hell is like from a scholarly perspective. As he laments the pains of a guilty conscience, Bosola and the Servant enter with Antonio’s body. The Cardinal comments that Bosola looks terrible, somehow both determined and fearful. Bosola responds that he has come to kill the Cardinal and draws his sword. The Cardinal begins to howl and yell, and he offers to pay Bosola, but Bosola refuses. Then the Cardinal tries to call the courtiers again; upstairs in the palace, the courtiers hear the Cardinal’s cries. Most of the courtiers decide to follow the Cardinal’s orders and not intervene, but Pescara finally decides that the Cardinal doesn’t sound like he’s joking, and goes to investigate.

Bosola kills the servant to make sure no one will unlock the door to the Cardinal’s room. He then admits to the Cardinal that he slayed Antonio by mistake. Bosola stabs the Cardinal twice, at which point Ferdinand enters after hearing the commotion. The Cardinal asks his brother for help, but Ferdinand mistakes him for the devil, and he stabs both the Cardinal and Bosola. The Cardinal cries out that sorrow is “the eldest child of sin.” Ferdinand says that Caesar had a better fortune then Pompey, since Caesar died in prosperity while Pompey died in disgrace. He says that the Cardinal and Bosola are now splendid men since they’re and dying in the field of battle. He concludes by saying that pain is nothing, and that often one small pain is taken away by the apprehension of a greater one. After Ferdinand states this philosophy on pain, Bosola takes the opportunity for revenge and fatally stabs Ferdinand.

Ferdinand, gravely wounded, says that the world is a no better than a dog kennel, and he says that he’ll ignore his reputation and hope for “high pleasures beyond death” (i.e. that he will go to heaven). He then cries out for the Duchess, and says “whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, / Like diamonds we are cut with our own dust,” and dies. Bosola says that he is himself on the verge of death just as Pescara, Malateste, Roderigo, and Grisolan enter and ask what’s going on. Bosola explains that he has taken revenge for the Duchess of Malfi, who was murdered by the brothers, as well as revenge for Antonio (who was murdered by mistake) and Julia (who was poisoned by the Cardinal). Finally, he says, he has taken revenge for himself, who was an actor involved with everything, but against his better nature. The Cardinal explains that Ferdinand wounded them, then prays that they never think of him (the Cardinal) again, and dies.

Pescara comments on how the Cardinal prevented his own rescue, and Malateste calls Bosola a “wretched thing of blood” and asks how Antonio died. Bosola says Antonio died “in a mist,” as a way of describing the confusion of that moment, then says he has often seen mistakes such as Antonio’s death in plays. Bosola cries out that he is dying, and laments the state of the world he will leave behind. Before dying, he says, “let worthy minds ne’er stagger in distrust / To suffer death or shame for what is just: / Mine is another voyage.”

Delio then enters, too late, with Antonio’s eldest son and heir. Delio says that he was prepared beforehand for what happened, and he hopes to get the young boy his inheritance. He hopes, too, that the famous, powerful brothers and their horrible deeds are forgotten like footprints in melting snow. Delio ends the play by remarking that he has always believed that nature best serves great men only when it makes them “lords of truth.” He then says that integrity is the best friend of reputation, as it has the noble power to outlast even death.