Duchess of Malfi

These lines, spoken by Bosola early in the first act, are the audience’s introduction to the characters of the Cardinal and Ferdinand. They also offer significant insight into Bosola's motivations. Though the metaphor Bosola uses for the brothers is about trees and fruit, it is clear that these are not life-sustaining, sustenance-giving natural objects. Instead, not only are the trees themselves “crooked,” or corrupt, but they are surrounded by “standing pools”--stagnant, putrid water. Because of this, what good they could offer--the fruit that they are “o’erladen with,” essentially money and power--is available only to those comfortable in such foul surroundings.

Though there is condemnation inherent in such a description, Bosola takes it in a surprising direction, ruing that he is not among this privileged group. This regret recalls Antonio’s first description of Bosola, when the former says the latter would be as sinful as any man if he the means to be so. Here it is unclear what holds Bosola back from committing to their worldview, but he is clearly conflicted - if he “could,” he “would hang on their ears like a horse-leech.” He declares himself willing to join their sinful and morally twisted world, if only he can get benefits from it.

However, committing to their world would be solely for the sake of selfish gain - he would only do it until he “were full, and then drop off.” These last words offer a preview of Bosola’s behavior to come, for it shows that his loyalty is not based on devotion or loyalty for its own sake. He simply wants to acquire as much as he can, as much as will satisfy him, before separating himself from the brothers. This ambivilence, in the end, causes nothing but pain and ruin, since though he does “drop off,” he does so too late to save himself or anyone.

“O fie upon this single life. Forgo it.

We read how Daphne, for her peevish flight,

Became a fruitless bay-tree; Syrinx turned

To the pale empty reed; Anaxarete

Was frozen into marble: whereas those

Which married, or proved kind unto their friends,

Were, by a gracious influence, transshaped

Into the olive, pomegranate, mulberry:

Became flowers, precious stones, or eminent stars.”