"The interest of the drama expires with the fourth act" How far do you agree with this assumption that the life and death of the Duchess is the predominant focus of interest for the audience?
"The interest of the drama expires with the fourth act" How far do you agree with this assumption that the life and death of the Duchess is the predominant focus of interest for the audience?
The view as expressed in the question can only be answered after defining the importance, and role, of the Duchess and also whether the other characters are not equally as important. It presumes that she is only influential while she is alive. The idea as expressed by Pratchett in Reaper Man "No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away... the span of someone's life they say is only the core of their actually existence" is one that I feel is applicable to the questions and one I shall endeavour to explore.
The interest that is inherent with the Duchess I feel lies within the complexity and controversy of her character: Her feministic view to life seen in her valiant effort to remain in control amidst her brothers, "Whether I am doomed to live, or die, I can do both like a prince". She marries for love, "when I choose a husband I will marry for your honour" and is the aggressor in choosing Antonio about for a mate "we are forced to woo because none dare to woo us".
A strong female role is uncommon outside comedies and so dominant, monarchic role of the Duchess would have attracted attention. The Duchess could have been seen as an allegory for Elizabeth I; however Elizabeth I chose to rule alone and was glorious, the Duchess in contrast was flawed (as a ruler) by choosing family and a husband that neither her brothers nor society approve of, which leads to all their deaths but still somehow maintains some sort of eminence.
However the Duchess does encompass some of the ideas of the perfect monarch: tough yet submissive, manly in her ways but yet having an air of mothering and femininity about her. The Duchess is confident in her beliefs and against her brothers but yet has an endearing venerability that comes through in both scenes containing private intimate moments with Antonio.
The controversy that would have surrounded her would have been another point of interest to the audience. Widows were seen as "ungoverned women", who while having legal rights the both single and married women did not have ...
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However the Duchess does encompass some of the ideas of the perfect monarch: tough yet submissive, manly in her ways but yet having an air of mothering and femininity about her. The Duchess is confident in her beliefs and against her brothers but yet has an endearing venerability that comes through in both scenes containing private intimate moments with Antonio.
The controversy that would have surrounded her would have been another point of interest to the audience. Widows were seen as "ungoverned women", who while having legal rights the both single and married women did not have they were seen a sexually promiscuous (hence "lusty widow") and a danger to society. The Duchess' rebellion against social normalcy is tempered by Webster's skill to make the contemporary audience enthralled by her. In Act 1 Scene 1 lines 333-468, she is the dominant partner and the aggressor but maintains her delicacy, innocence and slight naivety. The personal intimate family interludes help the audience to relate to the Duchess, so the later tragedy would have felt almost personal and so more painful. It makes the audience question themselves that they accept a dominant female monarch on stage but not in their own society.
The Duchess is a key character as she brings balance and some semblance of justice to the court, shown by what happens when she is taken away:
" When thou kill'dst thy sister
Though tooks't from Justice her most equal balance
And left her nought but the sword."
The view of her brothers and of society, that she is a "lusty widow", I feel, is not felt by the audience but it is there none the less. Her marrying some one of lower social status than she would have been unacceptable, as Ferdinand mentions "Though hast ta'en that massy sheet of lead that hid thy husband's bones and folded it about my heart". Also the fact that she is the pursuer and has to convince Antonio might lend itself to the idea of "lusty widow".
The Duchess on several occasions could be seen almost like a Madonna figure. Antonio describes her as "practic[ing] such noble virtue that sure her nights, nay more her very sleeps are more in heaven than other ladies' shrifts". He later uses the religion image of a "sanctuary" to describe his state within her name. During the love scene the stage directions describe Antonio kneeling at her feet and then risen up, could be meaning that Antonio is being made more by the Duchess as "this goodly roof of [Antonio's] is too low built, and she "raise[s] it higher". Ferdinand says she should remain a "holy relic" at her husband's tomb.
The Duchess' purity and worth can be indicated by the quadruple reference of 'diamonds' in the narrative. Diamonds are symbolic of intensifying other's emotions around them, the strengths and weaknesses, and when used with pure intent can liberate and set free: all of which is true of the Duchess. The four quotations link into pairs:
"Me though I wore my coronet of state
And on a sudden all the diamonds
Were changed to pearls" Act 3 Scene 5 l. 13-15
Later, "What would it pleasure me to have my throat cut with diamonds...
Er to be shot to death with pearls." Act 4 Scene 2 l. 206-207
The use of the word "diamonds" and then to "pearls" could possible foreshadowing her fall.
The second pair:
"Diamonds are of most value they say that have passed through most jewellers' hands" Act 1 Scene 1 l. 292-293
"Whether we fall buy ambition, blood or lust, like diamonds we are cut with our own dust" Act 5 Scene 5 l. 71-72
Ferdinand's quotation could be that the purity of the Duchess (diamond) that kills him - the paired reference due to the fact that they are twins. The purity and truth of her cannot be contained and dominated by someone as corrupt as him. It also could be a reference that Ferdinand realises that his evil doing and his attempts to taint her is what leads him to his end.
Another facet of the Duchess is her as a mother and family woman. Her family is with her and held most important right until her death shown by her parting words to Cariola: "...giv'st my little boy some syrup for his cold, and let the girl say her prayers ere she sleep". While she always maintains her composure and dignity, she no longer cares for this world after she thinks her family is dead.
The Duchess' role as central character makes all other's characters corruption and evil become more apparent in comparison to her; to compare the degenerate and depraved nature of the society like a pearl on a beach of black sand.
Act 5 is vital to see how the Duchess truly affected everything. All morals are gone, nothing seems to be held as sacred, except the one life she touched: Bosola's.
The touch of her made him feel "These tears, I am very certain never grew in my mother's milk" signifying that the feelings were previously unknown to him. In a way her death gives him new life (again Madonna figure). Her unpleasant demise somehow enlightened him to the true nature of the grim finish beneath the glossy veneer of the corrupt court and himself and so her death had inherent nobility and a supreme glory.
This links back to my introduction, the ripples cause by the Duchess are still there. This can particularly be seen in Act 5 Scene 3 where the ghost of the Duchess may bee present, shown by the echo changing the words of the original phrase on 3 occasions:
"...my wife's voice" "ay, wife's voice"; "... to fly your fate" "O fly your fate"; "Shall I never see her more?" "never see her more." The subtly changes in phrase makes it seem like a wife's last attempt to save her husband and both acknowledging that they shall never see each other again. The possible staging of this could be that the Duchess is on stage or a voice over, re-enforcing the point that she is dead but is still felt.
The drama does not die with fourth act, in a way it only just begins. We only see the true fragility of people at the end and the true nature of all the characters and what they represent. The play would be lacking if the fifth act was left out and the audience need the 'closure' that it brings.
Although the life and death of the Duchess is the main focus of the play, to say that that is all is to ignore the importance of the other characters and in all truth ignoring the impact one person can have on the course of the future. Yes, the span of someone's life is only the core of their existence, and no, no one is really dead until the ripples they cause in the world go away, and even at the end of the play as the Duchess has not died as her son lives on, a sign of his parents' fragile beliefs and hopes. The Duchess lives through her child and so she will never die.
