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Department of English Comilla University

The Duchess of Mulfi By John Webster

Presented By: MM Shariful Karim Chairman & Associate ProfessorDepartment of English Dean, Faculty of Arts and Humanities Comilla University Email: karimshariful@gmail.com E

Introduction: The Duchess of Malfi by Webster is one of the most known English revenge tragediesand is also widely taught in most universities of West Bengal in their undergraduate and postgraduate courses. It is also considered as the most frequently revived Jacobeanplays other than those of Shakespeare. Indeed, estimations of The Duchess of Malfi, along with Webster's other great tragedy, The White Devil, have led some critics torank Webster second only to Shakespeare as a writer of tragedy. The source of one of the stage's great female characters, The Duchess of Malfi centers on the character of the Duchess, in whom audiences observe a provocative mixing of sensuality, passion, rage, piety, and virtue. The play as a whole features a complex interweaving of lechery, incest, murder, and torture with nobility, tenderness, and forgiveness. The darkness and horror of The Duchess of Malfi are dramatically compelling, but its unexpected glimpses of light give it a complexity and richness that have maintained the interest of scholars and audiences for centuries.

Biography John WebsterBorn : In 1580, London, EnglandNationality: English Period : 1580-1634Genre : Drama Subject : Revenge, Love, Conspiracy Title : English Jacobean dramatistDied: 1634 London, England

Images of John Webster

John Webster (1580-1634)

His Major Works

Antonio and Duchess

Major Characters of the Play Antonio Bologna: The Duchess’s steward, and later her

husband; just returned from France. Lower social status than the Duchess, making the reason for the secret marriage.

Delio: A courtier who tries to woo Julia. A friend of Antonio.(Based on historical character of the same name.)

Daniel de Bosola: Former servant of the Cardinal, returned from the galleys. Sent by Ferdinand to spy on the Duchess. Later orders her execution and then seeks to avenge her. The malcontent of the play – cynical. (Based on the historical Daniele de Bozolo)

Continued Cardinal: Brother of Duchess. Cool, rational, Machiavellian

churchman who apparently gained power through corruption or bribery. Having an affair with Julia.

Ferdinand: Other brother of the Duchess. The Duke of Calabria. Given to fits of rage and violent outbursts. Has incestuous desire for his sister.

Castruchio: An old lord. Elderly man with young, unfaithful wife – Julia.

The Duchess: A young widow. Three children. The protagonist of the play. The Duchess of Malfi.

Cariola: The Duchess’s waiting-woman. Julia: Castruchio’s wife and the Cardinal’s mistress

A short overview of the Play The Duchess of Malfi is a deadly, tragic play written by the

English dramatist John Webster. The play begins as a love story, with a Duchess who marries

beneath her class, and ends as a dreadful tragedy as her two brothers harsh their revenge, destroying themselves in the course of action.

The play is sometimes scorned by modern critics for the excessive violence and horror in its later scenes. Nevertheless, the complexity of some of its characters, particularly Bosola and the Duchess, and Webster's poetic language, give it a continuing interest, and it is still performed in the 21st century.

The Duchess of Malfi can not be reduced to a dramatic subgenre, but its kinship to revenge tragedies written during the same politically turbulent years of the early seventeenth century is immediately striking.

Historical Background The period in which the play is written is a vital to our

understanding of the play. It is important as topics of the time that were important to the Jacobean audience, were highlighted in the dramas of the time.

Thus, in the Duchess of Malfi, Webster writes about un-orthodox marriage. To marry ‘out of class’ was a social wrong for the Elizabethans and Jacobeans.

Inheritance issues were also a matter of national concern for audiences at this time. The Duchess’ remarriage to Antonio opened for the Aragon brothers a dilemma of inheritance. They would not have any valid entitlement to the wealth and estates that came with the dukedom of Malfi.

Plot Summary The play is set in the Italian city of Malfi that tells the story of the Duchess,

a young widow who falls in love with the lower-class Antonio. The Duchess' evil brothers, Duke Ferdinand and the Cardinal, don't really approve of the Duchess marrying Antonio. However, the Duchess and Antonio marry in secret and have three children before being found out.

The Duchess and Antonio attempt to run away and Antonio and their eldest child manage to escape. However, the Duchess is betrayed by her servant Bosola, who was secretly working for Ferdinand, and the Duchess and her two younger children are executed. The injustice of this turns Bosola against the Cardinal and Ferdinand and he swears to exact revenge for the Duchess.

The play ends in an escalating chain of violence, as first the Cardinal confesses his role in the murders to his mistress and then murders her. Bosola then mistakenly kills a returning Antonio, thinking him to be the Cardinal. Bosola eventually succeeds in killing the Cardinal and then he and Ferdinand kill each other in a brawl. The play ends with Antonio and the Duchess' eldest son taking his place as heir to Malfi.

Critical analysis of the Play

Act one: Scene one “Miserable age, where only the reward of

doing well is the doing of it.” (Spoken by Bosola to

Cardinal)

Here the Machiavellian Villain Bosola complains to the cardinal for being neglected to

get his reward. Bosola seeks his reward of his service from Cardinal . But Cardinal refuse

to give his reward.

Act one: Scene one “He and his brother are like plum tree that grow crooked

over standing pools; they are rich and o’erladen with fruit, but none but crows, pies and caterpillars feed on them.”

(Spoken by Bosola to Antonio)

Act one: Scene one You live in a rank pasture, here the court; There is a kind of honeydew that’s deadly; It will poison your fame; look to it: be not cunning;For they whose faces do belic their heartsAre withes are they arrive at twenty years,Ay, and give the devil suck.

(Spoken by Duke Ferdinand to the Duchess)

Act Four: Scene Two“Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle; she died

young.” (Ferdinand to Bosola)

Act Five: Scene FiveWhether we fall by ambition, blood or lust,Like diamonds, we are cut with our own dust.

(Ferdinand to his sister the Duchess)

Revenge tragedy: According to, The book of literary terms (Lewis Turco: 103), revenge tragedy is an

Elizabethan tragedy that contained elements similar to those of the chronicle play and usually concerned itself with the protagonist’s pursuit of vengeance for the loss of loved one.

Revenge tragedy, a kind of tragedy popular in England from the 1590s to the 1630s, following the success of Thomas Kyd’s sensational plays The Spanish Tragedy (c. 1589). Its action is typically centered upon a leading character's attempt to avenge the murder of a loved one, sometimes at the prompting of the victim's ghost; it involves complex intrigues and disguises, and usually some exploration of the morality of revenge.

Drawing partly on precedents in Senecan tragedy, the English revenge tragedy is far more bloodthirsty in its explicit presentation of premeditated violence, and so the more gruesome examples such as Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus are sometimes called ‘tragedies of blood’.

Notable examples of plays that are fully or partly within the revenge tradition are Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta, Cyril Tourneur's The Revenger's Tragedy, John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, and John Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. A more famous play drawing on the revenge conventions is Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Characteristics of revenge tragedy:

A secret murderA ghostly visitation of the murder Conflicts MadnessAn eruptionA catastropheHorrible incidents Bloodsheding Adultery Rape and Suicide

The Duchess of Malfi as revenge tragedy:The Duchess of Malfi is obviously amusing. Deceptionscan be found interspersed throughout the whole play and ifscrutiny is conducted thoroughly, one will be able to spot various multitudinous facetious comments made by differentcharacters such as Bosola, Cardinal and Ferdinand. Thisbrings out the theme of appearance and reality, which makesthe play laughable, yet morbid at the same time. This can beillustrated at how Ferdinand tries to lure Antonio to return tohis castle by offering him forgiveness through the letter sentby Bosola to the Duchess and Antonio.

Conclusion:

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