Webster dedicates his work to George Harding, the Baron of Berkley Castle. Webster confesses that though he has never met Harding, he has heard about him from “some of worth” (p. 38, ln. 11): likely other actors in his acting company. Using heightened poetic language, Webster says that Harding’s patronage of the arts will cause laurels to spring up around his gravesite while the graves of others will wither and be forgotten. This bookends Delio’s soliloquy at the end of Act V, in which he says that integrity will crown men after death.

In the Duchess’s palace at Malfi, Antonio and his friend Delio discuss Antonio’s recent trip to France. Antonio praises the French king, who has cleansed his court of flatterers and sycophants. He compares a kingdom to a fountain: if the head is poisoned, rot will spread through its entirety.

Bosola and the Cardinal enter, arguing. Bosola complains about being slighted by the Cardinal after returning from a prison sentence he received for committing murder on the Cardinal’s orders. When the Cardinal leaves, Bosola tells Antonio and Delio that the Cardinal and his brother, Ferdinand, have cultivated a crowd of parasitic courtiers around them.