Contrasts Shakespeare - She is the female protagonist - Threatening the social Hierachy
1. Not subservient to men - Ignores her Brothers / Woo's Antonio
2. Places personal desires above the welfare of state - Caesar is an example of this culminating in his downfall
3. Places passion above reason - Blinded by passion / Poor judge of character - Perception of women at the time
Act II, Scene II
Bosola: Differs from Hamlet in his perception of human nature
Sees the human form as disgusting / Views the living as walking corpses "Though we bear a rotten and dead body, we hide it in tissue"
Act II, Scene IV
Julia: Adds interest to the play / Adulterous partner of the Cardinal
Has her emotions played with like a pet
Representation of the seamy underbelly of deception within the Court amongst nobles
She is the femenine equal to the Duchess - Independant / Strong willed (Killed by Brothers)
Act II, Scene V
The Brothers - Contrasting psychology of Brothers - Hot and cold passions
Necrophelia - Ferdinands obsession with duchesses body / Digging up and taking corpses
Necrophelia - Represented by Cardinal through his political hatred of love and life
Ferdinand treats Duchess as if she has betrayed him and he is her lover - Incestuous
Doesnt even recognize these incestuous tendancies in himself
Imagery: Storms and fires - Release of passions
Cardinal: Machiavellian dealings - Cool reason
Puritan Concerns - The alliance of Church and State doesnt insure Holy Order - Opens door to Tyranny
Cardinal: Mater of passion / Deficiency of feeling
"A cynical and tedious experiment in physical gratification, devoid of passion and even pleasure"
Theory Of Humous
Explanation of human behaviour - Idea that bodily fluids (blood / phlegm / choler / black bile) determines persons disposition
Imbalance of fluids - Inexplicable behaviour (Reflected by Webster)
1. Duchess - Sanguine (Full Blooded / Robust / Full of life)
2. Bosola - Melancholic (Depressed / Moody / Cynical)
3. Cardinal - Phlegmatic (Impassive / unemotional / stoic)
4. Duke - Choleric (Angry / Hot tempered)
Act III, Scene II
Dramatic and bold contrasts begin to emerge - Love Play becomes a deadly and incestuous play - Ferdinand at the helm.
Lovers - At ease with each other (sexual banter) - Duchess in charge of situation showing her superior strength
Ferdinands arrival - Destroys the idyllic setting
Ferdinand - Desires power over Duchess, sexual and fraternal. (Yet remains reluctant to inflict harm himself)
Incestuous feelings are evident, yet Ferdinand claims his only concern is that of the family name.
Duchess - Her strength of character remains evident through all the darkness. She remains defiant and unrepentant until death.
"Whether i am doom'd to live or die, i shall do so like a prince"
This forshadows her later quote "I am the Duchess of Malfi"
Duchess - Offers confidence in Bosola (Accomplished liar vs Naive female)
Act III, Scene III
Webster - Likes to chain scenes together using verbal links (Making an intricate web of images)
Witches / Witchcraft - Constant references to these are seen throughout the play.
Discussing secret marriage - Bosola suspects witchcraft
Bosola describes the makeup of the old lady and suspects her closet for a shop of witchcraft.
Act III, Scene V
Antonio - Medieval perspective (Moral order designed by God) - Contrast of his optimism and the actions of the play.
Jacobean tragedy - Lack of confidence about moral order of the world
Old structures in society were breaking down
Machiavellian principles - Divorcing politics from christian ethics.
Scientists - Materialistic views of the universe (Natural laws vs Divine command)
Apocalyptic religions - Preaching the end of the world. (Progressive moral decay since the fall of Adam)
Astronomical discoveries - stars were not fixed / dark spots on the sun.
The ideology of a perfect unchanging creation Vs The gradually decaying world.
Webster - Discovers moral order in the dignity of humans as opposed to faith.
Montaigne(French Essayist) - Challenged Rennaisance concept that humans are superior to animals.
"On the wild benifit of nature live / happier than we"
Animals are kind to young / Faithful / Peaceful
Act IV, Scene I
Grotesque - Typical of Jacobean Tragegy, the play uses effects such as the severed hand and wax corpses (Inspired by Roman plays of Seneca)
Webster - More than horror and sensationalism (Ferdinand desires to punish his sister / control his sister / control her body and soul)
Fredinand aims to kill her and in addition break her spirit through sadistic trickery.
We focus on the Duchess' response rather than the horror inflicted.
Peter Murray "She beholds horror and we behold her, our attention is fixed on the Duchess because she is so deeply and pitiably human in her anguish"
Act IV, Scene II
Duchess - Remains elevated from the corrupt world she leaves behind (Maintains her sense of self worth)
Alexander "one expression of that continual declaration of human independance"
Duchess - Her vitality and lust for life cling to existence after she has been strangled (Speaks in the echo)
Manages to convert Bosola
Discovery - Ferdinand and Duchess are twins (Normally portray similar characteristics)
Ferdinand clings to idea of Financial reasoning, covering up his true jealousy of Antonio.
Fedinand - Self Loathing (Attacks his own shadow as if it were a form of his other self)
Act V, Scene III
Echo Scene - Derived from classical literature
Greek Roots (Aristophanes parodies echo scene from Euripides Andromeda) - Love story of Narcissus and Echo (Girl doomed only to speak through others words)
Renaissance examples - Thomas Dekkers "Old Fortunatus"
The Duchess Of Malfi - Commentary On Characters
Antonio and The Duchess
- Some say Antonios inferiority = limited importance as character. Other claim he is a mouthpiece for Websters own opinions and judgements.
- The relationship emphasises inequalities of power. (Gender and social status)
- Antonios dying speech conveys how his life consisted of more promise than performance "we follow after bubbles blown in th'air"
- Antonio and Delio's dialogue portray the possibilities of how a court may be run, in contrast to the corrupt court at Amalfi.
- Antonio is describes by Bosola as "cedar planted by a spring". This shows his virtues. In contrast he describes the Brothers as "plum trees that grow crooked"
- Antonio = Device to make points about society at the time (His inability to reach the Duchesses status in the sense of blood, yet he can in intellect)
- In context - Powerful women were seen as a threat to a male dominated society (Queen Elizabeth Tudor)
- Duchess - Lusty character, in Renaissance terms "The lusty widow" (Dialogue full of sexual innuendo)
- She has all the qualities Antonio lacks. These qualities were seen as undesirable at the time
- She has a dislike for darkness - contrasts from Ferdinands dark disguise.
- The irony in this is that Webster is commenting on womens rights at a time when only men could act on the stage.
- Webster = Law related background (Awareness of issue relating to womens rights)
- Blank verse Renaissance Dramas = unrhymed iambic pentametre (5 stresses / 10 sylabbles per line)
- This is broken to show and emphasise the Duchesses refusal to be restrained and unbalanced nature
- Antonio is like Banquo in the sense he feels his feeling for the Duchess are "Mad Ambition. (Idea that ambition culminates in downfall)
- Corruption - Rife in court (Duchess and Antonio untainted) - Even the Cardian, a religious man is dishonest and corrupt.
