_The Duke of Milan_ is carefully written(485) and skilfully constructed; the author has taken great pains to draw the characters of Sforza and Marcelia, though Francisco is perhaps more successful than either.(486) The Duke’s last words are the clue to his character: I come: Death, I obey thee! Yet I will not die raging; for alas! My whole life was a frenzy: good Eugenia, In death forgive me.(487) The chief “frenzy” of his life was his devotion to his wife Marcelia. This peerless beauty combines pride(488) with a kindly simplicity which is no match for Francisco; while she dearly loves her husband and forgives him in her last words, she is not altogether attractive. On the other hand, her anger with Sforza for leaving orders that she should be killed if he did not return safe from his hazardous enterprise is natural, and the scene in which she receives him coldly and provokes his violent anger would be effective when acted.(489) We are inevitably reminded of _Othello_, and the comparison is most instructive as revealing the great gap which separates the pupil from the master. Marcelia is not so gracious as Desdemona, nor Sforza so strong as Othello, nor Francisco so devilish as Iago. As is usually the case with Massinger, the fifth act carries along our interest to the end. We do not weep, but we are certainly moved by the horror of the Duke’s death. The princesses of the Ducal House are responsible for an improbable scene(490) when they flout Marcelia in the absence of her lord. Their behaviour reminds us of the ladies in _The Roman Actor_. In style _The Duke of Milan_ is marked by several passages of fine poetry and a comparative absence of the parenthetic construction.