How we cite our quotes:
Quote #7
CASTIZA
Indeed I did not, for no tongue has force to alter me from honest.
If maidens would, men's words could have no power:
A virgin honour is a crystal tower
Which, being weak, is guarded with good spirits,
Until she basely yields, no ill inherits.(4.4.160-164)
Castiza's pretty spunky, and she's not going to let someone else drag her away from what she believes is right. In a play where women are all too often pawns or victims in a conflict among men, she holds on to her integrity and asserts herself by insisting on her commitment to chastity.
Quote #8
MOTHER
O happy child! Faith and thy birth hath saved me,
'Mongst thousand daughters happiest of all
others,
Be thou a glass for maids, and I for mothers.(4.4.165-167)
This play probably won't be quoted in any Mother's Day cards, but at least we get a happy reconciliation between mother and daughter here. It's also one of the play's few positive comments relating to sex. Castiza's mother sees giving birth to her daughter as one thing that saves her, so sex and childbirth do have some positive function in the play.
Quote #9
LUSSURIOSO
[Aside] That foul incontinent duchess we have banished […](5.3.9)
Lots of irony in this one. Lussurioso doesn't seem to be in a great position to criticize other people for lustfulness, but it's interesting that the Duchess only gets banished, while most of the other wicked characters die. Is this because she doesn't kill anyone, even though she has been lustful? The play may be drawing a distinction between her and the rest of her family, who are lustful and murderous.