Shakespeare and Webster represent the female characters in ‘Hamlet’ and ‘The duchess of Malfi’ by using general themes such as the patriarchy and the social control, the female identity and its independence, this institution of marriage, the expressions of sexuality and finally women shown to be either conformist or transgressive. Men were firmly in control in the Elizabethan and Jacobean era, and the expectations for women were to stay home, cook, clean and raise a family. Women’s status and roles…

Bosola, the life and times. In John Webster’s Duchess of Malfi, much of the play revolves around themes of social status and class, and within this construct, relationships and honor that result from these statuses. However, one character shines through though they are far from royalty. He’s far from front and center- rather, you’re much more likely to see him sneaking around the perimeters and eavesdropping on any conversations he can hear. Bosola seems to have been dealt a rough hand by his…

masculinity roles shifts from men claiming their supremacy by being overbearing, dominant, and selfish to getting tricked and manipulated by women so that power can be seen as being equal within genders or completely taken by women. In the Duchess of Malfi masculinity is constructed as maintaining power by being overbearing and selfish. The brothers Ferdinand and Cardinal was overbearing and selfish when it came down to their sister love life. Ferdinand and Cardinal tried to dictate their sister…

Jacobean drama written by John Webster in 1612-13. The play starts off as a love story with the Duchess secretly marrying the steward of the household Antonio; a man beneath her class who she has fallen in love with. This marriage immediately shows the Duchess’ “princely powers” by defying the wishes of her brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal, to not marry again after being widowed. “The Duchess of Malfi is ostensibly a story of resistance of a wilful widow who actively defies her brothers’ wishes…

The Duchess of Malfi is a revenge tragedy, but Webster has used the form for much more than just its entertainment value; he has used it as a vehicle for the exploration of some themes relevant to the society of his time. Webster based his plot on a true story set in Italy, and kept the Italian setting because like Shakespeare and other playwrights of his day, he had to use politically-acceptable foreign settings in which to explore ideas such as those presented in The Duchess of Malfi, (which…

1612-13. The play starts off as a love story with the Duchess secretly marrying the steward of the household Antonio; a man beneath her class who she has fallen in love with. This marriage immediately shows the Duchess’ “princely powers” by defying the wishes of her brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal, to not marry again after being widowed. Webster portrays her brother Ferdinand’s power as a corrupted duplicate of an ideal. An ideal that the Duchess reaches through the drag of patriarchy. However the…

incest in ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ by understanding the social conception of ‘incest’. Talcott Parsons says-“ it is not so much the prohibition of incest in its negative aspect(maintaining sexual relations) …(Instead) Incest is withdrawal from the obligation to contribute to the formation and maintenance of supra-familial bonds on which major economic, political and religious functions of the society are dependent.” Ferdinand’s incestuous behaviour towards the duchess follows the similar…

Written by John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi is an exquisite play filled with plot-twists, tragic moments, and stupendous actors who have studied under some of the greats. One actress in particular, playing the Duchess of Malfi is Ms. Julie Granata-Hunicutt , studied the works of Ms. Uta Hagen. She successfully demonstrated some of these magnificent techniques in the show tonight; I very much urge others to go and see the well-executed work for themselves. For the purpose of this analysis essay…

In Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, the forces of good and evil seem to be constantly at war. From the beginning of Act I to the end of Act V, the audience witnesses these two elements struggle against one another through each character’s actions or intentions as well as through various points of imagery. Despite the fact that the Duchess is murdered at the end of Act IV, Act V reveals that even in times of immense tragedy and evil-doing, good ultimately conquers all. Evil is easily sighted in the…

Widow in “The Duchess of Malfi” In Webster’s play, “The Duchess of Malfi”, the Duchess of Malfi is not trusted by her two brothers. The Cardinal and Ferdinand are worried that the Duchess will marry someone when they leave to go to Rome, which could jeopardize their ties to the Duchess’s inheritance when she dies. Although the Duchess reassures them both that she will not remarry, Ferdinand and The Cardinal continually to threaten the Duchess. In one instance Ferdinand threatens the Duchess with their…