Duchess of Malfi Essay

Midsummer Night’s Dream and John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi mirror each other. The Duchess and Hermia show courage and determination when standing up to their oppressors. Coriola and Helena, when confronted with authority, submit to it. Regardless of the strength of the women, however, genre determines their fate -- those in the comedy live happily ever after, whereas, those in the tragedy do not live at all. Duchess In The Duchess of Malfi, the Duchess faces scrutiny and instruction on how she should

Critical opinion about the ways Webster presents the Duchess is divided. Some critics blame her for being irresponsible, bold and too passionate. Others praise her for her courage in fighting against tyrannical authority. Consider these two opinions in the light of your study of the play. What do you think of Webster's Duchess? In good pieces of literature such as Webster's Duchess of Malfi, an intriguing and captivating character should always have two sides, and with such a complex

In Theodora Jankowski’s journal “Defining/Confining the Duchess: Negotiating the Female Body in John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi”, she analyzes the Duchess’ ability to challenge the views of the Jacobean society regarding women and their various roles even though the Duchess herself was not able to successfully combine her own diverse roles. Jankowski prefaces the journal with the fact that the many contradictions throughout the play can make it difficult to analyze at times, but allow for various

portrayed as a means for freedom, a lustful exchange, and a reward for not following social expectations in the plays The Duchess of Malfi, ‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore, and The Shoemaker’s Holiday proving that it is an aloof social construct with a range of meanings. In the play The Duchess of Malfi, love is a means of keeping an acquired freedom. For the title character, the Duchess, she earned a peculiar freedom when her first husband died. She gained his political power and essentially her own freedom

John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi Introduction 3 Learning outcomes 3 Background 3 Description 4 Act 1: setting the scene 5 Courts ideal and real 5 Discussion 5 Description 8 Bosola the malcontent 8 Discussion 9 Marriage for love: family opposition 10 Discussion 10 Love and marriage: Antonio the steward 13 Discussion 14 Love and marriage: the Duchess 15 Description 16 Description 17 Discussion 19 Act 2: discovery 21 Ferdinand 21 Discussion 22 Conclusion 24 References 24 Further reading 25 Next steps

One of the most powerful and prominent themes that is explored in all three of my chosen texts is jealousy, It is presented in many different ways ranging from sexual and romantic jealousy to professional jealousy of someone of a higher rank or social standing. In every example jealousy is portrayed as being the main cause of self destruction of the characters it afflicts. Othello is driven to madness by his jealousy and this culminates in the murder of his wife, Ferdinand loses his sanity and murders

The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare established a challenge to the typical images of females in relationships in the relationship of Bianca and Lucentio. In The Duchess of Malfi, Webster continues this challenge to female agency with the relationship between the Duchess and Antonio in his retelling of the story of The Duchess of Malfi also displaying the external struggles in this situation. Courting traditions in Shakespeare's day typically involved suitors presenting themselves to the man of

The “Supernatural” is something that defies the laws of physics, and is said to exists above and beyond nature. In early British texts many writers used the supernatural and magical power to enhance their characters being. They made them above others and noble, in a way that no other character was. Reflecting on the different approaches people conduct when they read and analyze literature, there is a multitude of ways that the supernatural can be interpreted. A reader should consider what is supernatural

At the beginning of the The Duchess of Malfi, Antonio presents a terrible prophecy to his friend Delio, telling him that “a prince’s court/Is like a common fountain whence should flow/Pure silver drops in general; but if’t chance/Some cursed example poison’t near the head,/Death and disease through the whole land spread” (Webster 1.1.11-15). Death certainly spreads throughout the play, with the majority of the characters dying by the time curtain drops, but what “poison” engenders this doom? Initially

The Standards and Values by which the Court of Malfi Lives The values that govern character's decisions in The Duchess of Malfi are diametrically opposed to the modern day ethos by which we are accustomed to live. The play is set in a time and society where today's basic sociability, fairness and freedom from oppression were completely unheard of and unprecedented. Those in power saw no point to their authority if they did not take full advantage of their influence, nobody would lookout