How we cite our quotes: Act.Scene
Quote #1
Vit. …Take it for words—O woman's poor revenge
Which dwells but in the tongue, I will not weep…(3.2)
Vittoria says that in this society, a woman can only take revenge with words and not with actions. It's a poignant denunciation of a society dominated by men—but it's not clear Vittoria's entirely sincere, since she helped provoke the Duke to murder her husband (an action which went far beyond words).
Quote #2
Lodo. I do thank thee,
And I do wish ingeniously for thy sake,
The dog-days all year long. (3.3)
The dog days (when the star of Sirius rises with the sun in July and August) were considered a time of year when evil things would happen. Since Flamineo was involved in killing Isabella, Lodovico is wishing Flamineo really bad fortune.
Quote #3
Mont. …sleep with the lion,
And let this brood of secure foolish mice
Play with your nostrils, till the time be ripe
For th' bloody audit, and the fatal gripe:
Aim like a cunning fowler, close one eye,
That you the better may your game espy. (4.1)
This is a really unusual version of the old "Revenge is a dish best served cold" adage. It involves the old idea that mice (small, weaker people) would threaten to go up the noses of bigger creatures like lions, or like elephants with their trunks; an analogy to powerful people.
Quote #4
Fran… Like the wild Irish, I 'll ne'er think thee dead
Till I can play at football with thy head… (4.1)
Ireland frequently rebelled against England in John Webster's time. He calls the Irish savage warriors, favoring beheadings and other uncouth activities.
Quote #5
Lodo… Oh, the art,
The modest form of greatness! that do sit,
Like brides at wedding-dinners, with their looks turn'd
From the least wanton jests, their puling stomach
Sick from the modesty, when their thoughts are loose,
Even acting of those hot and lustful sports
Are to ensue about midnight: such his cunning!
He sounds my depth thus with a golden plummet.
I am doubly arm'd now. Now to th' act of blood,
There 's but three furies found in spacious hell,
But in a great man's breast three thousand dwell. (4.3)
Lodovico marvels at how Monticelso pretends to disapprove of him, while simultaneously enabling him with cash and using him as a hired assassin. Whereas Lodovico is openly depraved and wicked, Monticelso does a way better job of seeming to be virtuous.
Quote #6
Lodo. I do glory yet,
That I can call this act mine own. For my part,
The rack, the gallows, and the torturing wheel,
Shall be but sound sleeps to me: here 's my rest;
I limn'd this night-piece, and it was my best. (5.6)
Even though he's about to be tortured and killed, Lodovico celebrates his revenge. But maybe he'll be a little less ecstatic when he really is on "the torturing wheel"? ("Limn," by the way, means to highlight, depict, or make something stand-out.)