Bosola is the villainous character to some extent in the play of The Duchess of Malfi. He is a villain and a detective character used by Ferdinand to spy on his daughter the Duchess regarding her remarriage to Antonio. Ferdinand and Cardinal have strictly warned the Duchess not to remarry as it will bring shame and lower the reputation of the royal status. Ferdinand hires Bosola inorder to watch over the actions of the Duchess where Ferdinand tells Bosola to manage the horses of the Duchess but he was a spy in disguise used by Ferdinand to give information regarding the actions of the Duchess.
Bosola as a character is Machiavellian and shows the manipulative sensibility. He was able to gain trust and loyalty of the Duchess. He was able to make the Duchess feel comfortable in front of him that he pretends to take care of the Duchess. When he becomes suspicious of the Duchess pregnancy , he immediately gives apricots to her knowing that apricots can cause labor pain. When his suspects become clearer, he sends information to Ferdinand regarding the pregnancy of the Duchess and her betrayal of remaining a widow. He was able to manipulate and trick the Duchess into his side showing his excessive Machiavellian traits and skills.
Bosola’s innermost character is also revealed in the play. Though he sided with the bad actions of the antagonist namely Cardinal and Ferdinand yet his compassion towards another human being is instituted in the play. Bosola sympathizes the Duchess who was kept in the prison and being abused by Ferdinand. Bosola demands to stop the abuse and mistreatment of the Duchess but Ferdinand did not listen to him while ordering the Executioners to execute the Duchess. This development of character led Bosola to become naive and his Machiavellian traits and skills gradually subtracts in the play as he becomes unaware of what Ferdinand and Cardinal plots against him.
Bosola is also an active agent of revenge tragedy in the play. He was a catalyst in the beginning forbthe development of revenge tragedy and the downfall for the Duchess. As he sends out information about the Duchess to both the brothers the Duchess downfall was evident due to him. Bosola also took revenge on both Ferdinand and Cardinal as he was betrayed by Ferdinand and he goes up to Cardinal to know if he is involved with the murder of the Duchess but Cardinal manipulates him for rewards if he kills Antonio. Cardinal completely manipulates Bosola and though Bosola was highly aware of it , his Machiavellian traits substracts and he accidentally wounds Antonio and visits Cardinal’s room stabbing him and Ferdinand who had gone mad while looking at the sister’s dead body. Ferdinand stabs Bosola to death and hence the three characters dies at the end of the play.
Bosola’s inner tragic flaw was of the lack of knowledge. Of he have enough knowledge about Cardinal and Ferdinand s motive then he would have survived and killed them before they killed him. This also reflects the spirit of the age where knowledge was important and considered superior conscious power to understand the position of human beings and the cosmos. Bosola’s lack of judgement and naive in keeping the track of Ferdinand and Cardinal led to his tragic fall and it was too late when he found their inner reality.
