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Untitled Article
or the imagination , must tend to stupify and harden , rather than exalt the fancy or ameliorate trie heart . I spealc this under correction ; but I hope the objection is a venial commonplace . " We must immediately agree that , inasmuch as the Duchess of Malfv , like Macbeth and others , contains too many
substantial terrors for any one tragedy , so it should stand alone and become no model for imitation or indirect repetition . To the passage , however , " where the Duchess gives directions about her children in her last struggles , " which this reviewer considers the sublime of the ludicrous . Hazlitt alludes with
very opposite impressions . In fact it seems somewhat necessary that those who write on such subjects should possess strong feelings beyond their own concerns and personalities . As the reader may have been interested in the story of the Duchess of Malfy , the closing scene of which we have partly given , together with the abortive insults of the vain reviewer , we will extract the remainder , as illustrative of deep pathos and unadorned grandeur .
When the prolonged and solemn " dirge of the living person " concludes , Cariola denounces the executioners as villains and murderers !—adding , " what will you do with my lady , " ( imagination shrinking from perception ) and urging her to call for help . The Duchess knows that there is nobody within hearing * but the maniacs , and bids Cariola farewell . Then , by association with that last and long farewell , she thinks of her children ,
and while her words appear trivial , her heart is evidently taking its last long farewell of them also . This done , she concentrates her power to meet and over-stride fate . She has nothing in common with the mean of spirit they can no more under * stand her soul than subdue it .
" jDmc / jca . v—Now , what you please ; What death ? BosuUi—Strangling . Here are your executioner ** . Duchess — I forgive them . The apoplexy , catarrh , or cou gh o the lungs , Would do us much us they do . Bosnia—Doth not death fright you I Duchess—Who would be afraid on ' r , Knowing to meet such excellent company In th' other world ?
Bosola—Yet , mtthinks , The manner of your death should much arUict you ; This cord should terrify you ? Duchess—Not a whit . * What would it pleasure me to have my throat cut With diamonds ? or to be smothered With cassia ? or to be shot to death with pearls ? I kuow death hath ten thousand several doors For men to take their exits ; and ' tis found ,
Untitled Article
The London Review v . The ttritish Drama . 245
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1836, page 245, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2656/page/53/
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