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Lussurioso
The Duchess is the Duke’s wife and the mother of Ambitioso, Supervacuo, and Junior Brother (who are not the Duke’s children). When the Duke refuses to show leniency to her son, Junior Brother, who is imprisoned for the rape of Antonio’s wife, the Dutchess decides to seek her own revenge by “cuckolding” her husband—that is, by having an affair. To make it that little bit more illicit she chooses Spurio as her partner, the Duke’s own bastard son. When Lussurioso later ascends the throne, he has the Duchess exiled, angry at her treatment of his father, the Duke.
The Duchess Quotes in The Revenger’s Tragedy
The The Revenger’s Tragedy quotes below are all either spoken by The Duchess or refer to The Duchess. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1, Scene 1
Quotes
Duke—royal lecher! Go, grey-haired adultery;
And thou his son, as impious steeped as he;
And thou his bastard true-begot in evil;
And thou his duchess that will do with devil;
Four ex’lent characters.
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Act 1, Scene 2
Quotes
Duchess, it is your youngest son, we’re sorry,
His violent act has e'en drawn blood of honour
And stained our honours,
Thrown ink upon the forehead of our state
Which envious spirits will dip their pens into
After our death, and blot us in our tombs."
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DUCHESS: Who would not be revenged of such a father,
E'en in the worst way? I would thank that sin
That could most injury him, and be in league with it.
Oh what a grief 'tis that a man should live
But once i'th’ world, and then to live a bastard,
The curse o' the womb, the thief of Nature,
Begot against the seventh commandment
Half damned in the conception by the justice
Of that unbribed everlasting law.
SPURIO: O, I’d a hot-backed devil to my father.
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Act 2, Scene 3
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O, take me not in sleep; I have great sins.
I must have days—
Nay, months, dear son, with penitential heaves,
To lift 'em out and not to die unclear;
O, thou wilt kill me both in heaven and here.
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Act 4, Scene 2
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Has not heaven an ear? Is all the lightning wasted?
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The Duchess Quotes in The Revenger’s Tragedy
The The Revenger’s Tragedy quotes below are all either spoken by The Duchess or refer to The Duchess. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1, Scene 1
Quotes
Duke—royal lecher! Go, grey-haired adultery;
And thou his son, as impious steeped as he;
And thou his bastard true-begot in evil;
And thou his duchess that will do with devil;
Four ex’lent characters.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Act 1, Scene 2
Quotes
Duchess, it is your youngest son, we’re sorry,
His violent act has e'en drawn blood of honour
And stained our honours,
Thrown ink upon the forehead of our state
Which envious spirits will dip their pens into
After our death, and blot us in our tombs."
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Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
DUCHESS: Who would not be revenged of such a father,
E'en in the worst way? I would thank that sin
That could most injury him, and be in league with it.
Oh what a grief 'tis that a man should live
But once i'th’ world, and then to live a bastard,
The curse o' the womb, the thief of Nature,
Begot against the seventh commandment
Half damned in the conception by the justice
Of that unbribed everlasting law.
SPURIO: O, I’d a hot-backed devil to my father.
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Act 2, Scene 3
Quotes
O, take me not in sleep; I have great sins.
I must have days—
Nay, months, dear son, with penitential heaves,
To lift 'em out and not to die unclear;
O, thou wilt kill me both in heaven and here.
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Act 4, Scene 2
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Has not heaven an ear? Is all the lightning wasted?
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