How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #7
Thou are undone;
And thou hast ta'en that massy sheet of lead
That hid thy husband's bones, and folded it
About my heart. (3.2.111-14)
Oh, who cares about how happy your marriage makes you, what about moi? Ferdinand's confronting the Duchess, telling her that her unchastity is personally hurting him, which is clearly all that matters (not). These lines are particularly interesting when you look at them next to the Duchess's earlier words to Antonio, "This is flesh and blood, sir, / 'Tis not a figure cut in alabaster / Kneels at my husband's tomb" (1.1.445-47)—go check out Duty Quote #3 for more on this line. By insisting on her status as a living, breathing woman, the onus of the Duke of Malfi's tomb is transferred from her to Ferdinand; the Duke's coffin is "folded around" Ferdinand's heart.
Quote #8
Damn her, that body of hers,
While that my blood ran pure in't, was more worth
Than that which thou wouldst comfort, called a soul. (4.1.117-19)
To Ferdinand, the Duchess isn't really a free, thinking human being so much as she is a vessel for his bloodline. We're not given any indication that he or the Cardinal have children, so the Duchess also becomes the only way of perpetuating (or, you know, tainting) that bloodline. The Duchess's blood is his blood, and to Ferdinand that means that, to control himself, he must control her. Twisted, right?
Quote #9
I have so much obedience in my blood
I wish it in their veins to do them good. (4.2.159-60)
"Obedience" is probably not high on your list of words to describe the Duchess. She speaks these lines as Bosola presents her coffin (courtesy of Ferdinand) to her. The "obedience" the Duchess speaks of probably isn't to her brothers—what do you think it refers to? Also, when she says she says she wishes "it" were in her brothers' veins, do you think she's referring to her obedience or to her blood? What are the implications of those substitutions?