This chapter opens with a soliloquy by the Duke of Guise. Guise tells his father that the Emperor wants to marry his daughter to one of his concubines. The Duke says that Guise is cruel and terrible, but that he has decided to have his daughter marry the North's commander. The duke tells Guise that his daughter's family is weak, and that they can't do anything to stop the marriage. He says that he heard that the North commander likes both men and women and that he will marry Guise's daughter the next day. He also says that the magistrate has provided Guise with all the help he could need, and Guise thinks that this is a good thing. He thinks that if Guise replaces his daughter with a man, he will be able to save his own daughter. He then imagines that the woman Guise marries will be a slave, and she will be replaced by the man who is her father.