- For a change, Vindice is incredibly happy at the beginning of this scene. Hippolito wants to know why, and Vindice explains that the Duke met Vindice in disguise and asked him to find a woman for him to sleep with.
- Vindice is thrilled because this is the opportunity he's been waiting for to get revenge on the Duke. He's waited nine years (3.5.124), and he finally sees a way.
- Vindice's plot is to have the Duke meet him in the same dark building (think: abandoned parking garage or creepy old Victorian house) where the Duchess and Spurio have agreed to meet. Vindice plans to force the Duke to witness the Duchess cheating with the Duke's own son as part of his revenge, and then to finish the revenge by killing the Duke.
- Hippolito asks which lady Vindice will introduce to the Duke, and Vindice says he has it all taken care of and runs off to bring her in. As Hippolito speculates about who it could be, Vindice comes back in, speaking to a woman.
- Well, sort of. Actually, he's speaking to the skull of his girlfriend since he's brought it along as the lady the Duke will meet. Really? Really. We never said revenge tragedy was classy. Or plausible.
- But astonishingly, the Duke buys it. Vindice says he's found a country lady, who's a bit bashful, but that once the Duke kisses her she'll be bolder. Aided by very low light and a cloud of perfume (really—see 3.5.145-148), the Duke assumes the dressed up skull is actually a living woman. And we thought Pirates of the Caribbean was implausible . . .
- The Duke kisses the skull and then recoils in shock. And who can blame him, really? Vindice takes advantage of the moment and reveals that the skull belonged to Gloriana, whom the Duke poisoned.
- Here it gets pretty fast-paced, at least as far as the shocking revelations go. The Duke laments that the skull has poisoned him.
- The Duke asks Hippolito to call out "treason," presumably to get help, and Hippolito does, stamping on the Duke as he calls. Unsurprisingly, the Duke figures out that Hippolito is not on his side after all.
- The effects of the poison start to work on the Duke, and they are Halloween horror movie nasty. His teeth are eaten away by the poison (though Vindice and Hippolito don't think he had many teeth left anyway), and something yucky seems to be happening to his tongue. It's kind of like that scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark where the Nazis melt away or something…
- Vindice reveals that he was Gloriana's fiancé, and the Duke realizes who he actually is (3.5.173-175).
- Hippolito adds that their father died because the Duke mistreated him, so they have even more reason for revenge.
- Having successfully poisoned the Duke, Vindice works on the psychological aspects of revenge. He tells the Duke he is a cuckold, a husband whose wife has cheated on him, and then he points out that it's the Duke's own illegitimate son who is sleeping with the Duchess. Vindice then says that the Duchess and Spurio are coming here for a romantic meet-up, and though the Duke begs not to see it, Vindice insists that he will.
- The Duke keeps crying out as each thing is revealed, but now Vindice wants the Duke to be silent so that he won't frighten away the Duchess and her lover. Vindice tells Hippolito to hold the Duke's tongue down with his dagger while Vindice holds his own dagger to the Duke's heart. If he makes even a gasp, Vindice says to kill him. Yeah, we wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of this family.
- Vindice goes even further: He says if the Duke closes his eyes to avoid watching, he and Hippolito will tear his eyelids up (3.5.209-211). Shmoop's life advice? Don't get mixed up in a revenge tragedy.
- Spurio and the Duchess appear and kiss each other. The Duchess says she'll poison the Duke if the thought of him keeps Spurio from pursuing a relationship with her. Spurio says not to worry about that, though: He hates the Duke anyway and would consider murdering him if the circumstances were right.
- The Duke struggles out a complaint and then dies. Vindice notes that the Dukedom lacks a head or leader, and adds ominously: "As fast as they peep up, let's cut 'em down" (3.5.235).