ACT 1 Malfi Key Quotations

"flatt'ring sycophants"

"a prince's court / Is like a common fountain, whence should flow / Pure silver drops"

"If't chance / Some cursed example poison't near the head / Death and diseases through the whole land spread"

"A rank pasture"

"Laugh when I laugh"

"Your darkest actions... will come to light"

"You are my sister"

"This was my father's poniard"

"Women like that part which... Hath ne'er a bone In it"

"Distrust doth cause us seldom be decieved"

"A most perverse and turbulent nature" [by Antonio]

"The marriage night / Is the entrance to some prison"

"His nature is too honest for such goodness" [about Antonio]

"When he is jealous of any man he lays worse plots for them than ever was imposed on Hercules" [by A, about the Cardinal]

Delio: Twins?

Antonio: In quality.

• "She stains the time past, lights the time to come" [said by Antonio]
• "Diamonds are of most value... that have passed through most jewellers hands"
• "To me, Sir?"
• "The misery of us that are born great / We are forced to woo because none dare woo us"
• "Let old wives report / I winked and chose a husband"
• "This godly roof of yours is too low built"
• "Raise yourself"

"As lecherous, covetous, or proud / Bloody, or envious, as any man" [about him]

"I do haunt you still"

"Court-gall" [said by Antonio]

"This foul melancholy / Will poison all his goodness"

"I was lured to you"

"Whose throat must I cut?"

"I am your creature"

"Oh my unworthiness"

"Ambition is a great man's madness... lunatic beyond all cure"

Narrative function of Antonio in act 1: reveals conflicts in characters through conversation with Delio.