The Duchess of Malfi Questions and Answers Pdf Download

The Duchess of Malfi Questions and Answers Pdf Download

 

Q. 1. Discuss character of the Duchess of Malfi as a Renaissance woman.[The Duchess of Malfi Questions and Answers Pdf Download]

Ans. The Duchess of Malfi is an unusual central figure for a 17th-century tragedy not only because she is a woman, but also because, as a woman, she combines virtue with powerful sexual desire. Dympna Callaghan places Webster’s character in the context of contemporary drama, politics and discourses about widows and female sexuality.

 

The Duchess of Malfi raises questions about the nature and gendering of political authority, as well as expectations about tragedy as a genre. The figure of the Duchess combines the roles of tragic protagonist and tragic victim, and occupies a dramatic centrality that is conventionally only accorded to male characters, such as Shakespeare’s great tragic heroes: King Lear, Othello and Hamlet. However, up until the feminist movement of the 1970s and 80s, the overwhelming weight of (male) critical opinion on the play held that The Duchess of Malfi lacked a centre and focus for its action because critics tended to equate tragic centrality with masculinity. The Duchess dies at the end of Act 4, rather than in a grand finale of Act 5 as in the typical structure of ‘great man tragedy – but this is arguably not because the Duchess fails to command our attention as the mainstay of the action. Indeed, her echo is literally to be heard in Act 5, Scene 3, and this whole last act is permeated with a powerful sense of her afterlife and continuing moral centrality in the play. In the context of a culture that understood power and virtuous femininity to be mutually exclusive, the Duchess’s character questions what it means to be ‘great’ in tragedy. Furthermore, by means of Act 5, which treats the aftermath of her death, we are asked to confront the consequences of violence.

Patriarchal order and the Duchess’s transgression through remarriage The Duchess is a young widow with children who decides she will remarry. This is profoundly troubling to the patriarchal order in which she lives, and specifically to her brothers – one of whom is a corrupt, fornicating cardinal, while the other is her demented twin who believes he is a wolf: he howled fearfullySaid he was a wolf, only the difference Was, a wolf’s skin was hairy on the outside, His on the inside. 

She makes her choice of husband quite independently of her male relatives and wisely determines to keep secret her second marriage to her faithful steward, Antonio, The Duchess thus transgresses her society’s notion of proper female conduct both in exercising her own will in a matter of personal and sexual choice and in choosing a husband who is her social inferior.

The Duchess’s brothers are the primary mouthpieces for the misogynist discourse of the era, which held that women are immoral, over-sexed, weak minded and so on. Such assumptions about female inferiority had faltered in Europe when there had been a veritable rash of female rulers: Mary of Guise had ruled as regent in Scotland, and her daughter was Mary Queen of Scots; Catherine de Medici was regent of France; and not least of all, in quick succession, there were two female queens in England, ‘Bloody Mary’ and Elizabeth I. Yet the reality of women in government was too much for the Scottish Protestant reformer, John Knox, who notoriously denounced ‘the monstrous regiment’ (government) of women as a contravention of divine law.

 

In contrast to Mary and Elizabeth, who ascended the English throne only because their half-brother, Edward VI, had produced no male heir, the system of succession represented in the play places the Duchess in power rather than her brothers. The Duchess has already had a son by her first husband, so her reasons for remarriage are not dynastic but erotic. Unlike the ‘Virgin Queen’, the Duchess seeks marital intimacy rather than renouncing it. Possessed of a healthy sexual appetite, her desires are presented as completely natural. The Duchess protests that she is not a statue:

This is flesh and blood, sir: ‘Tis not the figure cut in alabaster Kneels at my husband’s tomb. (1.1.443–45)

While the celibacy of priests, nuns and monks had been regarded as the highest state of life in pre-Reformation, Catholic England, Protestantism brought with it the elevation of marriage as the ideal way of living. This is reflected in the play when the Duchess asks why she, ‘Of all the other princes of the world, / Be cased up, like a holy relic?’ (3.2.139–40). She is, then, neither Catholic fetish object, nor Protestant funeral monument. In this, despite the exotic Italian setting complete with its ostensibly corrupt religion, the play comes closer than we might at first imagine to representing the lived realities of early modern English widows and the constraints upon their sexual choices. Widowed women potentially achieved autonomy from men upon the death of their husbands, and thus were in theory free to remain single or choose another spouse to their own liking. In practice, however, women sometimes suffered harassment from male relatives or neighbours, so that their best option was to seek protection from a new husband. It was not unusual for this suitor to be chosen for them.

Despite the arrival of Protestantism, widows who did remarry to their own liking were not held in particularly high esteem. These attitudes are reflected in the literature of the period. The moral ‘frailty’ (1.2.333) of a character like Gertrude in Hamlet, for example, is attributed to the fact that she’speeded’ to a second husband, with whom Hamlet believes she enjoys a vigorous sex life in the rank sweat an enseamed bed’, (3.4.92) that he feels her ‘matron’s bones’ (3.4.83) should be too old for. Unlike Gertrude, who is faulted for the a

speed with which she has married her dead husband’s brother, Webster tell us nothing about the Duchess’s first husband, or how long he has been dead. Ferdinand warns the Duchess ‘They are most luxurious / Will wed twice’ (1.1.288–89). Coerced by her brothers into vowing ‘l’ll never marry’ (1.1.293), the young Duchess’s aside is very much in the vein of Jacobean city comedies where typically older widows successfully seek sexual satisfaction by marrying younger men: ‘Let old wives report/I winked and chose a husband’ (1.1.332– 40). What Webster emphasises here, however, is the Duchess’s capacity to take action and initiative when her capacity to do so is severely restricted by her wider society and culture.

Her wicked brothers are typical of the period in condemning remarriage. They echo a cultural commonplace, recorded in Thomas Overbury’s Characters (1615). There, the ‘Ordinary Widow’ remarries because she never loved her dead husband in the first place, and she seeks sexual and material pleasure. In contrast, the ‘Virtuous Widow’ is described as ‘the palm tree, that thrives not after the supplanting of her husband… She is like the purest gold, only employed for princes’ medals, she receives but one man’s impression’. The image here is telling – that a wife, ‘pressed’ by her husband in sexual intercourse, has his identity imprinted upon her, and thus erases her own.

‘I am Duchess of Malfi still’: The Duchess as a complex heroine

That the Duchess is eventually murdered for her defiance of her brothers provides ample evidence of why her marriage was unavoidably covert. Yet male disapproval of the Duchess as a character has persisted to the point that even 21st-century editors of Webster have criticised her entirely legitimate per verba de presenti matrimonial contract (verbal and witnessed), as rash rather than heroic. In fact, Webster develops the Duchess’s character while simultaneously utilising and resisting the polarised discourses around women at the time, which presented women as either chaste paragons of virtue or lascivious whores. The Duchess’s brothers clearly place her in the latter category as a “lusty widow’ (1.1.331) who can be seduced by a ‘neat knave’ with a ‘smooth tale’ (1.1.330), the tale being not only verbal seduction, but also the knave’s sexual appendage, his “tail/penis. But Webster takes on the challenge of representing a woman who is both virtuous and sensual, and who embodies the virtues of a sexually fulfilling married life. He does this in part by articulating what is, for the 17th century, the structural contradiction of having a woman on top:

The misery of us that are born greatWe are forced to woo, because none dare woo us (1.1.431-32)

Importantly, too, the Duchess’s motherhood is a key aspect of her character. She expresses touching maternal concern for her offspring at her death. Her clandestine pregnancies provoked rumours: ‘The common rabble do directly say / She is a strumpeť (3.1.25–26). In order to confirm such suspicions, the malevolent malcontent, Bosola, tricks the pregnant Duchess into eating apricots, which cause her to go into labour. While Bosola is the instrument of her tragedy, after her brave and stoic death his remorse is evidence of the

Duchess’s moral strength. Nowhere is this clearer than at her death, when the Duchess insists not on her chastity or on the conventional list of female virtues to which she might rightly lay claim, but on her political status: ‘I am Duchess of Malfi still’ (4.2.134). In this assertion, the Duchess shows herself to be a more radical figure than her 19th-century successors.

 

Q. 2. Comment on the theme of Power in The Duchess of Malfi.

 

Ans. During the Seventeenth century women were seen as inferior to men and usually had extreme restrictions on what they could or could not. It was an opportunity to criticize the realities that women had to face and allowed more control in their lives. Although the shift was small, more authors began illustrate the reality in gender relationships and women’s very complex roles to demonstrate some type of empowerment Although people can display power in different ways, there was a difference in the way that men and women were able to attain power based on their gender and social class roles. As demonstrated in John Webster’s, The Duchess of Malfi, the protagonist struggles against her violent and possessive brothers and tries to display control over her own life in a more passive manner. Women had to deal with the expected traditions in a patriarchal society, to be weak and submissive, and not speaking their minds for fear of punishment. Nevertheless that ideology began to change for women to become more prideful and display power over their lives and relationships. The characters of the Duchess and Julia represent the divergent paths to power women could take in the early seventeenth century. They both combat and uphold social norms of a patriarchal society with the Duchess only maintaining power through title and Julia through her sex. Although these women eventually died while trying to maintain their power, they each combated the norms to control their lives and created a more realistic ideology for the role of women.

The story deals with the Duchess being subjugated by her brothers who restricted her from marrying after becoming a widow. Through her title as the Duchess of Malfi, she is able to make decisions on her own, and enforce her power because of her status. However there are themes of social and sexual mobility as discussed in Fred Wigham’s article “Sexual and Social Mobility in The Duchess of Malfi.” He states that “Upon (the Duchess’] husband’s death she entered a new realm of freedom from male domination, the only such realm open to Jacobean women, and it is this transformation that directly enables her outlaw marriage” (171). Since she became widowed so young, she expressed her marital freedom to marry again, but the second time was out of love. She gains more confidence in pursuing her love interest and makes the dramatic decision marry out of her class. Even though she claims that she will never marry, her brother the Cardinal exclaims, “So most widows say; / But commonly that motion lasts no longer / then the turning of the hourglass” (1.3.1214). Women who remained widows were deemed as respectable individuals on the contrary to those who would remarry. The fact that she has even considered rebelling against character’s who clearly overly possessive, due to the changing ideologies she is proving that the ideology of submissive is truly changing by strong-willed to make her own decisions.

In addition the Duchess seemed to take her decision to a new level and even accepted the consequences further displaying a power through title. The Duchess asserts her decision after rebelling against her brother. She exclaims, “So I through frights and threatening will assay / this dangerous venture. Let old wives report / I winked and chose a husband” (1.3.54-6). This shows her first rebellion towards her brothers, but also illustrates her independence and willfulness to get what she wants. She asserts her control by initiating her proposal to Antonio, and successfully hiding it from her oppressive brothers that see her as an object. As explained by Theodora A. Jankowski in her article “Defining/Confining the Duchess: Negotiating the Female Body in John Webster’s ‘The Duchess of Malfi'” the females were basically an item that represented their family and their sole purpose was to further family generations. Jankowski states, “That a wife’s body became, in essence, a vessel for reproducing her husband’s or her father’s bloodlines made it necessary for that vessel to remain unpolluted by sexual contact with unapproved males” (228). Since Antonio was seen as an “unapproved male” in the eyes of her brother’s, the Duchess demonstrated her political authority to find a loophole in achieving her desire to marry for love.

Moreover, the Duchess’ marriage changed the dynamic of the traditional way of marriage for higher status. Duchess and Antonio the steward; he marries higher than his status and even the Duchess after marrying Antonio states, “So, now the ground’s broke, / You may discover what a wealthy mine / I make you lord of” (1.3.133-5). Basically, understanding their differences in economic status, but because of the marriage Antonio was able to rise on the socioeconomic ladder and is able to appreciate the wealth that comes with it. I have heard lawyers say, a contract in a chamber/ Per verba de presenti is absolute marriage”(1.5.177-79). By finding a different loophole she defies the norms of a traditional marriage by also disregarding the church’s law and made it legally binding. Not only was manner of proposing displaying an amount of power, through her title she was able to understand the law of “absolute marriage” and made sure no one would be able to contest it because she had a witness. She displays her intelligence, and sidesteps her brother’s plot to keep her oppressed from remarrying for their selfish reasons. It also shows the role reversal because women were normally the one’s that achieved higher status through marriage and it is important to note her ability to maintain control over the relationship because she took the initiative. Antonio didn’t really have the opportunity to back down and it was seen as a marriage for love in the eyes of their witness, Cariola.

Nevertheless, women’s power is also displayed through the use of sex, especially by the Cardinal’s mistress, Julia. Because of her licentious nature, Julia is able to get closer to those in higher statuses. Not only did she deceive her older husband Castruchio, but was also very bold to become the mistress of someone with higher authority. Her attraction to power is what led to her downfall, but she was able to maintain it through her promiscuous nature. Fred Wigham goes on to discuss Julia’s attraction to power and her means to achieve it is through her sex. Wigham states that “By rejecting her decrepit husband Julia also testifies to her ruthless erotic vigor and makes herself alluring to such men (of power)” (173). Because of her covert dissatisfaction with her husband’s ability to perform sexually, she seeks her pleasure elsewhere which also makes her attractive to other men due to her promiscuity. Hence, this allows Julia to be in control over her own sex life and getting what she wants through the use of her own body.

 Julia seems to be the opposite of the Duchess in terms of using her sex as a tool to gain control of relationships. Whereas the Duchess uses her authoritative title first to gain control, and ultimately uses her ability to reproduce for her own pleasure. On the other hand, Julia seems to be just as straightforward as the Duchess when achieving what she wants; as demonstrated in her confrontation scene in Act five with Bosola. She declares that he tell her everything he knows by threatening him with a pistol. However, this scene quickly turns into one of sexual desire and when they both express concern of getting caught, Julia proclaims that if she is caught wooing him by the Cardinal he will not judge Bosola, but instead she will be seen as a “wanton” (5.2.174). Julia has a clear understanding that if she gets caught she will be scrutinized more in this world of men because women were seen as irrational and highly immoral; in contrast to males who could easily get away with controversial situations. While Julia understood the consequences of her boldness, she still had the courage to flirt and ask Bosola for his affection in return so explicitly. She even states, “I am sudden with you. / We that are great women of pleasure, use to cut off / these uncertain wishes and unquiet longings, / and in an instant join the sweet delight / and the pretty excuse together” (5.2.178-182). Julia is blunt and explains understanding of her attraction and admitting to the needs of woman. However, to her it is worth every minute to be loose and free to take pleasure in it.

Although both women gained their power in different ways, both tragically died while either trying to gain more power or asserting it. For instance, Julia died trying to gain more power when she tried to have an equal standing to the Cardinal by gathering more information just like she attempted with Bosola. She declares to the Cardinal, “You have concealed for me as great a sin | As adultery. Sir, never was occasion / For perfect trial of my constancy / Till now sir I beseech you -“(5.2.240-243). Her ulterior motive was to gather more information from him and she is not afraid to be very frank and demands it quite hastily. When he finally tells her that he took fault in the murder of the Duchess and her family, this information shocks Julia, but also comes with a price for trying to demonstrate power. The Cardinal unfortunately poisons her by having her kiss a poisoned bible. His reasons were that she would not be able to keep her mouth shut and therefore lost her purpose of being useful when she was only there for his sexual pleasure. By exhibiting unfeminine attributes of curiosity and not being submissive, she had lost her purpose to him and thus she was killed further illustrating the problem.

Duchess used her social status to marry whomever she wanted but her bravery at the end gave authority to her decision because before she is about to be tortured she proclaims, “For know, whether I am doomed to live or die, / I can do both like a prince” (3.2.68-69). Even though she knows she will not survive the torture her brother’s planned for her, she asserts her authority demonstrating her bravery and refusal to be submissive. The fact that she refers to herself as a “prince,” reveals her confidence and validates her authority in the play. Even as she is dying she proclaims her title of authority to the very end by stating, “I am the Duchess of Malfi still” (4.2.125). Her use of language reflects masculine traits of bravery and pride, and throughout this play she seems to be the only one establishing the only rightful authority in this play. By claiming her title she maintains her power over her decisions to her very death.

Overall, both of these women displayed different forms of control over their lives and decisions. But it was a great deviation from the norm during the Jacobean era. By trying to attain more knowledge or speaking out, it opened the door for a revolutionized way of thinking in terms of women empowerment, Through these characters, Webster reflects his opposing view of marriage and of women being seen as objects. His depictions of these controversial women achievement of power helped change women’s idealized role of submission, to a more realistic view of woman and they to have a right to power in some way even not only in stories but even in real life. Both the Duchess and Julia’s rebellion against society’s norms by claiming one’s authority in their decisions, even if it led to their downfall they acquired it through their own volition. Therefore, it is essential to appreciate the shift from patriarchal views, to the new idea of the role of women.

 

Q. 3. Discuss The Duchess of Malfi as Revenge Tragedy.

 

Ans. The Duchess of Malfi is a deadly, tragic play written by the English dramatist John Webster. The Duchess was Giovanna d’Aragona, whose father, Arrigo d’Aragona, Marquis of Gerace, was an illegitimate son of Ferdinand I of Naples. Her husbands were Alfonso Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi, and (as in the play) Antonio Bologna.

 

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 torevenge tragedies written during the same politically turbulent years of the early seventeenth century is immediately striking. 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. For a fuller account, consult John Kerrigan, Revenge Tragedy (1996).

Characteristics of revenge tragedy:

A secret murder, usually of a benign ruler by a bad person A ghostly visitation of the murder victim to a younger kinsman, generally a son 

A period of disguise, intrigue, or plotting, in which the murderer and the avenger scheme against each other, with a slowly rising body count A descent into either real or feigned madness by the avenger or one of the auxiliary characters 

An eruption of general violence at the end, which in the Renaissance) is often accomplished by means of a feigned masque or festivity * A catastrophe that utterly decimates the dramatis personae, including  the avenger.

Clearly, many of these elements are present in The Duchess of Malfi, but it varies from the conventions in important ways. The revenge tragedy has a hero whose honor has been wronged (often it is a son avenging his father); in this play, the brothers seek revenge on the Duchess, who has done them no harm. The Duchess is surely the hero of the play named for her, and yet she does not seek or win vengeance for the harm done to her. The fact that she is killed in act 4 (and does not die in the act of winning revenge) deflects attention away from her as the center of the action and moves the play out of the category of revenge tragedy. The motive for the actions of the two brothers is unclear, but revenge – whatever they may think themselves is not at the heart of it. W

The Duchess of Malfi is obviously amusing. Deceptions can be found interspersed throughout the whole play and if scrutiny is conducted thoroughly, one will be able to spot various multitudinous facetious comments made by different characters such as Bosola, Cardinal and Ferdinand. This brings out the theme of appearance and reality, which makes the play laughable, yet morbid at the same time. This can be illustrated at how Ferdinand tries to lure Antonio to return to his castle by offering him forgiveness through the letter sent by Bosola to the Duchess and Antonio.

 

John Webster’s The Tragedy of the Duchess of Malfi was first staged around 1613-14. Nowadays usually identified as “a revenge tragedy”, its plot, set in Italy, centers on the transgress action of the widowed Duchess in secretly taking a second husband, her steward Antonio. Enraged by her marriage, her two powerful brothers, one a Duke, the other a Cardinal, conspire to have her strangled. The brothers hire a mercenary malcontent named Bosola to do their dirty work. Bosola eventually turns against them and the play ends on a stage littered with their three corpses.

The play has two distinctive features compared with other tragedies of its era. Firstly, the tragic protagonist is a woman. Secondly, the tragic protagonist dies in the fourth act.

Any examination of the critical history of the play quickly establishes that the play is one which has traditionally aroused a great deal of anxiety and hostility among scholars and cultural commentators. The Duchess of Malfi was evidently popular in Jacobean England but has subsequently become grudgingly acknowledged as a classic with many troubling features.

George Saintsbury was typical of generations of critics in objecting to Webster’s characterisation, remarking (in 1887) “we cannot sympathise with the duchess, despite her misfortunes…She is neither quite a virtuous woman (for in that case she would not have resorted to so much concealment) nor a frank professor of ‘All for Love.'” He added, “By common consent, even of the greatest admirers of the play, the fifth act is a kind of gratuitous appendix of horrors stuck on without art or reason.” 

What this basically amounts to is a whine that Webster failed adequately to represent bourgeois notions of correct behaviour and that his stage practise did not match bookish, scholarly preconceptions of good theatre and good taste. The critic’s narrow subjective assessment of the play is buttressed by the citation of hegemonic values: “we” all agree on how a woman must behave in order to elicit our sympathy, and what “art” and “reason” amount to is agreed “by common consent”.

The reality is that Webster was an accomplished professional who enjoyed a successful career as a dramatist. Records exist of his collaborative work with other dramatists – Munday, Drayton, Middleton, Dekker, Heywood, Chettle – and in 1604 he supplied additional material for John Marston’s The Malcontent. The Tragedy of The Duchess of Malfi was performed by the King’s Ser

vants, who were one of the leading theatrical troupes of the period, and, of course, the one that Shakespeare was involved with. The part of the evil, deranged Duke was played by Richard Burbage, who is often described as the leading actor of the age. The wicked, hypocritical Cardinal was played by Henry Condell, who later co-authored the dedication and address to the reader in the 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare’s collected plays. (The actor who first played the Duchess, incidentally, was my distinguished ancestor, Richard Sharp.)

“Webster was much possessed by death / And saw the skull beneath the skin”, wrote T.S. Eliot in ‘Whispers of Immortality’. No, he wasn’t. Webster was producing a commercial product in a competitive market, and grisly representations of killing and corpses proved profitable. Rather than consult Freud to understand what Webster was up to, it makes more sense to look at the history of contemporary theatre. One of the most popular of all plays staged in London (towards the end of the 1580s) was Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy. It was a rip-roaring success with London audiences. Kyd’s innovation was to put conflict, violence and corpses on to the stage, rather than have actors come onstage and make long speeches about fights and deaths which had happened out of view of the audience. He set his play in Spain, which as every red-blooded Englishman knew was a hot place full of filthy, depraved, passionate, treacherous, violent foreigners. He also threw in a ghost and a bloodcurdling figure named “Revenge”.

 

Q. 4. Discuss the theme of Tragedy vs. Melodrama in Duchess of Mulfi .

 

Ans. In the Jacobean age tragedy mostly degenerated into melodrama. A melodrama lacks in subtlety and depth of characterization, and the dramatist depends for his effects on the exploitation of crude physical horrors. There is much in John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi that is merely melodramatic and sensational, lurid and gruesome. All kinds of fearful things- waxen- images counterfeiting death, the wild masque of madmen, the tomb-maker, the bellmen, the strangling of the Duchess, of the children and of Cariola – things that make the flesh creep and the blood run cold, are presented before the audience to make horror tenfold more horrible. There are conventional murders in the dark to effect their evil purpose, and by the end the stage is littered with dead bodies. There are deaths by poisoning, by strangulation and by the dagger of the assassin. All these are crude devices freely exploited by the contemporary writers of blood and thunder tragedies.

However, although Webster’s plays include adultery, murder, treachery, and political machinations, he doesn’t write that way just for the shock value. His plays reveal real, albeit unpleasant, truths about people: he brings out issues of class divide, the nature of justice, love and lust, the role of religion, political obligation, sibling relations, and immorality in the courts. Webster creates characters that both are and are not sympathetic, complex in a manner not unlike real human beings. All the while he masterfully crafts the play’s structure to prolong suspense.

No doubt, Webster has made free use of crude physical horrors in Duchess of Mulfi, but these horrors are made an integral part of the tragedy. The sensational and the melodramatic is seen acting on the soul of the Duchess, and in this way her inner suffering, the grandeur, majesty and nobility of her soul, are fully revealed. In this way the melodramatic is raised to the level of pure tragedy. In this way the horrible is subordinated to the total artistic effect the artist wants to create. The horror in the play does not remain something extraneous as is the case with other writers of the revenge play.

. The long scene in the fourth act in which the Duchess and her children are murdered is, at the same time, the most horrific and yet the most poetic of scenes. To see horror presented in so poetic a manner is rather unnerving and the poetry is, of course, the poetry of death. It is a long and carefully paced scene, and seems to contain in it the very kernel of Webster’s strange vision. First, Bosola brings in, seemingly for the Duchess’ entertainment, a troupe of madmen, whose lunatic singing and dancing and meaningless gibberish create a quite extraordinary atmosphere. By the time the Duchess is strangled onstage, she is reconciled to her fate, but that does not make the fate any less horrific. Her waiting-woman Cariola is also strangled onstage, and then the bodies of the strangled children are brought in. Ferdinand then enters to see the corpse of the sister he had sexually desired. However, this horrid villain ends up saying, “Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle: she died young.” It is apparently so simple, and yet so haunting and resonant.

To conclude, we can say that John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi is not a melodramatic revenge play in the traditional sense of the term. By introducing the tone of moral justice at the end, Webster raises the original theme of revenge to a higher plane. With the exception of Shakespeare’s Hamlet which marks the highest degree of development that the delineation of the revenge motif ever attained, Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi ranks very high in the evolution of this class of tragedy. What raises Webster’s play above melodrama is the fact that whereas no dramatist of the Revenge School succeeds in heightening the terrific effects of laying bare the inner mysteries of crime, remorse and pain, Webster succeeds eminently and he comprehends and reproduces abnormal elements of spiritual anguish in more refined manner than one of them could do. The Duchess of Mulfi may not the passionate intensity of Macbeth, Othello or King Lear, but there can be no denying the fact that it is a great tragedy, “one in which melodrama has been raised to the level of great tragedy”.

 

Q.5. Write a brief essay on Webster’s sources for writing the play The Duchess of Malfi.

Or,

How does Webster handle the earlier marratives of the story of theyoung Duchess of Malfi in his play, The Duchess of Malfi?

 

Ans. The young Duchess of Malfi of history. There is historical basis for the story Webster presents in The Duchess of Malfi. Enricod’ Aragona, the half brother of King Fredrico of Naples, had three children. Lodovico, the eldest became a Cardinal. Carlo the young son was elevated to title Marquis of Gerace. Daughter, Giovanna was married to Alfonoso, Duke of Amalfi, in 1490 when she was only 12 year old. The Duke died in 1498. Grovanna was to rule Amalfi during the minority of her son who was born in the year 1499. In 1510, she left Amalfi, in the pretext of a pilgrimage to Loretto, and went to Ancona to meet Antonio, the former master of her household whom she had married secretly earlier. Antonio was killed in Milan in 1513 and Giovanna and her children a few months later. However, there are no historical records to prove that they were murdered at the instance of Giovanna’s brothers, the Cardinal and the Duke.

Other authors who used the sources before Webster. The incidents recorded in history took the colour of fiction when Bandello the Italian author included the story in his Novelle published in 1554. The Novella of the Duchess from Bandello’s collection possibly, could not have reached Webster. Belleforest, Frenchman, published his Histories Tragiques in 1565, mainly basing his stories in Bandello. The Englishman, Painter, included the story of the Duchess in his The Palace of Pleasure published in 1566 or 1567. Webster could have come across with the French story but his immediate source possibly had been the story of the Duchess in Painter collection. No wonder, a witty critic mentioned that through the hands of a gentleman, a fool and a knave the tale reached Webster’. Interestingly, Bandello was a cultured person, and Belleforest a pedant, painter had been a clerk of the Royal Ordinance and was found to be guilty of embezzlement. Bandello was an Italian Belleforest a Frenchman and Painter an Englishman.

Other sources. Painter presented the English story as a translation of Belleforest. The aim appears to have been to warn women against the desire for sensual pleasures. Critics have established that Painter’s story had been the main source of Webster. However, there are evidences to show that Webster had made use of Sidney, Montaigne, Cintheo and a few other writers too. The fact that Webster had multiple sources points out that he used remarkable skill in using all of them to weave out a unified plot. Possibly the same fact also explains some of the weaknesses found in the plot. How Webster modified painter’s story. Though Webster followed Painter’s line, he made many noticeable additions. This can be found not only in the plot construction but in characterization. In the play we find the Cardinal and the Duke warning the Duchess against a remarriage. There is nothing of the sort present in Painter. So also are the part played by Bosola, the secret entry of the Duke into the bed chamber of the Duchess and the sub plot of Julia’s adulterous relationship with the Cardinal. Further, most of the incidents of Act IV especially the tormenting of the Duchess, by presenting the spectacle of the waxen images, the Duke’s presenting a dead man’s hand to the Duchess, the antics of the lunatics, Bosola’s entry as a tombmaker and a bellman etc, are all Webster’s inventions, Antonio’s visit to the Cardinal, the Echo-scene, the lycanthropia of the Duke, Bosola’s decision to turn against his master and the final death of all the three, too, are Webster’s additions.

The rationale for the additions. Some of the additions like the installation of the Cardinal as a general, is intended for special effects, as a spectacular event. But many others create a dramatic effect by heightening the tragic feelings of pity and fear, in the mind of the spectators. They are testimony for Webster’s dramatic sense. He creates situations which are thrilling and emotionally tense and they produce a powerful effect on the audience. Webster tries to make the crimes committed by the brothers and Bosola, darker and more fearful and the suffering of the Duchess more terrible and piteous. The presentation of the hand of a dead man, the spectacle of the waxen images, the procession of the executioners with bell cord and coffin etc, serve that purpose admirably well. They may appear to be crude efforts to create horror, but there is some psychological significance in them. The spectators are able to study the working of the mind of the Duchess in varying situations. The fortitude and the dignified resignation with which the Duchess faces them make us admire her. At the same time our feelings of horror and fear are aroused by the presentation of the lycanthropia of the Duke and the ten deaths that take place on the stage. The beastly terrors released on the Duchess, the Machiavellian villainy the Cardinal and Bosola displays and the unearthly echoes that confront Antonio too serve the same purpose.

Characterization of the Duchess. The stories from Bandello to Painter do not give any in-depth characterization of the Draniatis’ Personae. But Webster adds this dimension to the play by presenting highly finished character studies. The characters are seen, in a shadowy way only, in Painter’s story. The Duchess in Webster’s play is an entirely new conception developed from the few hints found in the source. There is some evidence to show that Webster has borrowed heavily from Philip Sidney’s Areadia in his characterization of the Duchess. Bosola’s reporting to the Duke, that You May discern the shape of loveliness

More perfect in her tears than in her smiles:

(Act IV Scene I,L1. 7-8). is one example. Again to the servant who wishes her long life, the Duchess says:

I would thou wert hang’d for the horrible curse Thou hast given me:

(Act IV, Scene I, L1. 91-92) In these cases, one finds Webster lifting lines verbatim from Sidney’s book to portray the passive endurance of the Duchess. Webster has borrowed from Shakespeare too The momentary recovery of the Duchess and her last word is surely an imitation of a similar scene in Othello where Desdemona recovers before her death and utters a few pithy words. True one has to admit that Webster’s Duchess is nowhere near Disdemona in characterization, but Webster’s creation remains wonderful and beautiful, because of his inventiveness. By depicting the Duchess willfully choosing the dangerous course, of choosing a husband disregarding the wishes of her brothers, Webster shows her passionate sensuality. At the same time she reveals not only her courage but also her individuality. Also shown are her delicate sense of humour, and her under-estimation of herself, when she tells Antonio,

Go, go brag You have left me heartless: mine is in your bosom; I hope ‘t will multiply love there. You do tremble Make not your heart so dead a piece of flesh, To fear more than to love me. Sir, be confident: What is ‘t distracts you? This is flesh and blood, sir; ‘T is not the figure cut in alabaster Kneels at my husband’s tomb.

(Act I, Scene I, L1. 441-448)

Her claiming Antonio as her husband ‘like a widow’ with half a blush’ shows her as a flesh-and-blood woman with all the womanly feelings rife in her. Webster took up a few hints given in Painter and portrayed a vivacious and sensuous woman in Duchess.

Characterization of the wicked trio. In portraying the Cardinal, the Duke and Bosola too, Webster has imaginatively added details to the pictures in the sources. Painter shows the Duke as a more violent character than the Cardinal, and the latter as more Machiavellian and dangerous. Webster works upon these hints, adds various additional details and makes them live before the audience. Perhaps there is a basic weakness in their characterization because of the absence of any clear motive behind their attempt to torment and murder their sister. Nevertheless, both of them remain believably lively characters. On reading Bosola’s letter about the Duchess’s giving birth to a child, the Duke displays his turbulent nature, as if he is a tree facing a severe storm. In a fit mad frenzy he rushes to the Cardinal and loudly abuses the sister in a language which sounds vulgar or obscene. Through his beastly behaviour the author prepares the audience to see him fully mad later. So much so, when he turns fully mad in Act V, the audience take the change as natural. The Cardinal is distinguished from his turbulent brother by subtle means. He controls his rage through he too is struck hard by the news of what he thinks to be the Duchess’s adultery. When the Duke asks whether he doesn’t feel enraged, see the Cardinal’s Machiavellian reply:

Yes, (but) I can be angry Without this rupture; there is not in nature A thing that makes men so deform’d, so beastly, As doth intemperate anger.

(Act II, Scene V, L1. 53-56)

He chides the Duke for ‘idly’ showing his anger, and even threatens to walk away from him unless the latter controls his explosive behaviour. The Cardinal is shown to be a ‘great man’ before whom the Duke behaves like an obedient younger brother, though the Cardinal is the younger one. Bosola, who is portrayed only as simply the murderer of Antonio in Painter, is made a

important and portrayed in detail. There are two distinct aspects of Bosola, that Webster brings out clearly. First, the malcontent who indulges in philosophic-moral analysis of men and matters (mostly he is a misogynist and a cynic). Second, the beastly villain who carries out the instructions of the devilish brothers with the expectation of ‘preferment’. Mostly the two roles are blended into a believable complete character. But surely, there are a few discrepancies in his portrayal. He is a cynic, a satirist, a moralist, a philosopher and a villain, all rolled into one. The remorse he feels in Act IV, after the brief recovery and death of the Duchess is made believable by the moral tint he shows in his meditations in earlier scenes. However, his growing soft on the Duchess and still continuing to torment her, appears to be disagreeing with the overall portrayal of him.

Original as well as borrowed. There are several contributions of Webster, in plot construction and characterization which are Webster’s own. At the same time, in both the areas, Webster owes clear debts to some of his contemporaries and predecessors, specially to Sidney and Montaigne. His borrowings, from them are many, and they include those in language and imagery too.

Echo of contemporary episodes. Webster could have been influenced by a few contemporary incidents to make the play what it is. One of them is the story of the fate of Torquato Tasso at the hands of Alfonso d’Este, an Italian Duke, because of his love for the Duke’s sister. Another was the imprisonment of lady Arabella Stuart, as a punishment for her marrying Lord William Seymour against the wishes of King James I, her cousin. Lady Arabella became mentally deranged while in prison.

The basic story of the play is as it is, found in painter’s narrative. But Webster borrowed liberally from other sources, and adding details made the story more dramatic with his imagination. There are phrases, lines and even passages he lifted from Sidney and Montaigne. Then Webster added his own imagination to give realism to the individual characters of the story. Finally he embellished everything with splendid poetry which is equaled by none except Shakespeare.

Q.6. Write a critical essay on Webster’s skill in characterization based on The Duchess of Malfi.

Or,

How far does Webster succeed in portraying characters of depth, in The Duchess of Malfi?

Or,

Does Webster succeed in giving a psychological depth in portraying the main characters in The Duchess of Malfi?

Ans. In portraying the various characters in The Duchess of Malfi , Webster owed very little to painter. He found only the bare outlines of them in the narrative. However, there is much in the characterization that he borrowed, from some minor authors who dealt with the Duchess story, and heavily from Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia.

Webster’s technique of character portrayal: Webster gives, in the opening scenes, the outstanding traits of the various individuals, through descriptions. We find Antonio describing the qualities of the Duke, the Cardinal, Bosola, and the Duchess to Delio, in the first act of The Duchess of Malfi. In those descriptions, the broad outlines are given. Then, as the play proceeds that outline figure is filled in with colours and finer strokes. Antonio describes the Cardinal as ‘a melancholy churchman’ of Machiavellian nature, coldly calculative, highly corrupt and bestially cruel. The Duke is of a ‘perverse nature’, often becoming turbulent. The mirth he displays is superficial, and he uses the law as the spider uses its coweb to entrap others. Bosola is described as the malcontent, whose foul melancholy makes him a cynic. The Duchess is entirely different from her brothers in temperament. She is sweet in nature, gracious and virtuous. Thus the main traits in these characters are given to the audience. In later scenes, the characters are developed further, by revealing further details about them, through their actions. It is like giving a miniature sketch first and then giving an enlargement. However those miniature sketches are presented quite naturally as part of conversation between people. One doesnot get a feeling that they are imposed on the readers by the author. Webster derived from Painter, the graciousness and her deep attachment to her second husband and children.

The Duchess. In developing the character of the Duchess he found inspiration in the nobler writing of Sir Philip Sidney; in his book, Aracadia. Four characters of that book, in their imprisonment, Queen Erona, the princesses Pamela and Philoclea, and the hero Pyrocles, served as models for the situation and suffering of the Duchess. Queen Erona even like the Duchess, marries beneath her. Sidney describes her in her imprisonment as, ‘sad indeed, yet like one rather used than new fallen to sadness’. In her sorrow, according to Sidney one can see ‘the shape of loveliness more perfectly in woe than in joyfulness’. She spent her time in prison ‘glorying in affliction and shunning all comfort and she seemed to have no delight, but in making herself the picture of misery’. Not only these traits are to be found in the Duchess but her descriptions in the play are found almost exact copies of those phrases and sentences. To the other three Sidneian characters, Webster is indebted in presenting the various devices of torture, let on to the Duchess. The Duke giving a dead man’s hand to the Duchess and the spectacle of the supposed bodies of Antonio and the children are closely associated with the incident of the supposed beheading of Philoclea. Duke Ferdinand’s role is similar to that of Cecropia, a character in Arcadia of Sidney. The horror, the Duchess faces has a parallel, in what Pamela and Pyrocles face. Pamela, like Webster’s Duchess tells of her intention to starve herself to death. Surely, Webster has associated his characters with the passive endurance he found in characters of Arcadia, and qualities of Shakespeare’s Desdemona too. Desdemona’s short revival and the last words resemble that of the Duchess almost fully. Despite all these borrowals. Webster’s great inventive skill is identifiable in the portrayal of the Duchess. This is specially seen in places where the author deviates from the narrative and shows originality. The delineation of the Duchess, venturing to choose a husband against the warnings of her brothers is Webster’s invention. Equally skillful is his attempt to paint her as a person of dignified and sweet disposition with ample sense of humour. Her words of encouragement and coaxing to Antonio is a fine example. To a slightly baffled Antonio she says: Sir, be confident:

 What is ‘t distracts you? This is flesh and blood, sir; ‘T is not the figure cut in alabaster Kneels at my husband’s tomb. Awake, awake, man! I do here put off all vain ceremony, And only do appear to you a young widow That claims you for her husband, and, like a widow, I use but half a blush in ‘t.

(Act I, Scene I, L1. 445-452)

Nowhere in the sources of Webster can one feel such a vivacious nature given to the Duchess. She displays her capacity for a delicate humour and ironical understatement even at the very important moment of the declaration of her love. She shows great self mastery, intelligence and determination when confronted with difficulties. After, the Duke’s interaction with her in the bed chamber she remains rather cool while Antonio loses his balance and threatens to shoot Cariola thinking she has betrayed her mistress. But the Duchess who has better understanding of people than her husband tells him of other possibilities. Further she plans the exodus of Antonio and invents a ploy to make his departure plausible. True, it is a weakness on her part that she is too credulous to reveal the identity of her husband to Bosola. It is equally true that she is not seen doing her state duties anywhere in the play. But the fortitude with which she endures her torments more than compensates for her weakness. Fresh horrors only strengthen her anguished soul. Even under extreme pressure of unbearable agony her spirit is never shattered. Proudly and with dignity she says “I am Duchess of Malfi still”. On an earlier occasion, to the masked Bosola, who passes an insulting comment on Antonio, she says, Were I a man, I’d beat that counter-felt face into thy other.

(Act III, Scene V, L1. 115-116) Her words to the executioners, sounds like a majestic command rather than the appeal of a person under the shadow of death. Still, she displays her humility by kneeling before God, at the time of her death. And the last word she utters after her final departure is ‘Mercy’, and it reveals her nobility amply. However, the nobility and strength of her spirit does not make her super human. She has the weakness of the human flesh in her. It is her sensuality that makes her decide to marry beneath her. Further, she doesn’t discharge her duties to the state of Malfi, as responsibly. She flees to Loretto, even without making any arrangements for the governance of the state, after her departure. Despite all those drawbacks she is claimed to be a true heroine.

 Antonio: Webster sets the character of Antonio according to the needs of the play. If he was shown as an unattractive person as the play would have been repulsive. To follow the story of the source, with its intrigues and counterintrigues, of necessity, he has to be a passive person, subjugated to the personality of the Duchess. Giving a bolder and more venturesome character to Antonio would have been very unsalutory. Webster is careful to delineate Antonio, within the limitations imposed by the original story. So he remains that he is, a passive and unadventurous person. However, Webster makes him amply amiable. The mere fact that the noble Duchess has chosen him as her husband tells of his intrinsic worth. In the beginning of the play Duke gives him a gift for excellence in a sporting event. It is worth noticing that Webster makes Antonio his mouth-piece in delivering the author’s own judgements and opinions. Antonio’s idolising opinion of the French King who In seeking to reduce both state and people To a fix’d order, their judicious king Begins at home; quits first his royal palace Of flattering sycophants of dissolute

And infamous persons, -which he sweetly terms His master’s master-piece, the work of heaven;

(Act I, Scene I, L1. 5-10).

betrays the dramatist’s own political opinion. Many of Antonio’s general comments on this world, its men and manners, display universal truths. The pithy statements he makes about the Cardinal, the Duke and Bosola show what a keen observer he is. About the Duchess he is a little too lavish in his praise for he appears to be half in love with her even before she declares her love for him. His temperament is that of a man of thought rather than of action. Though he remains passive and submissive in the early part of the play, he becomes more active towards the end. He tells Delio: This night I mean to venture all my fortune, Which is no more than a poor lingering life, To the Cardinal’s worst of malice:

Yet it shall rid me of this infamous calling: (Act V, Scene I, L1. 61-73). Later we find him becoming worthy of admiration when he tells Delio: For to live thus is..noť indeed to Live; It is a mockery.and’abuse of life; I will not henceforth save myself by halves; Lose all, or nothing.

(Act V, Scene III, L1. 49-52). There is a philosopher hiding in him, who occasionally makes his appearance through his words. Nowhere is this as clearly shown as at his death. He dies without any illwill towards anyone, not even towards Bosola who caused his death. He says,

In all our quest of greatness, Like wanton boys whose pastime is their care We follow after bubbles blown in the air. Pleasure of life, what is ‘t? only the good hours Of an ague: merely a preparative to rest, To endure vexation. I do not ask The process of my death; only commend me To Delio.

(Act V, Scene IV, L1. 69-76) Of course, there is some cynicism lurking in his last words, when he says, And let my son fly the courts of princes.

(Act V, Scene IV. L. 78)

But that is a realistic advice left by one who has had first hand experience of the corrupt court life. Interestingly, Webster too had a similar cynical view of the Jacobean court-life.

The Cardinal. Webster pictures the Cardinal as a worldly person, a Machiavellian prelate, common the Italy of the Borgias. He is popularly known as a person of high spirits and great personal courage. The reality that he is a dark intriguer who keeps an army of spies and shady characters as his tools is known only to be his close acquaintances. No doubt he is cold, calculating treacherous, secretive in his lust and pitiless in his hate. Webster does something more than depicting him as a Machiavellian devil. He has very clearly distinguishes the Cardinal from his brother by his superiority in judging people. Further he has a colder and ruthless sense of purpose. The terrible force of evil present in him is evident from his self-possession. While Ferdinand frets and fumes like a tempest, when enraged the Cardinal only intensifies his critical coolness. The contempt he shows at his brothers’ madness, is still found when he asks his courtiers to forcibly rouse the lycanthropic Duke who is fighting with his own shadow. But we find this cool and strong person losing his nerve on facing Bosola bend upon stabbing him. Possibly this collapse is the result of the moral pangs that smothers him. He has already seen a vision of a spirit in his fishpond, threatening to strike him with a rake. One weak point in the characterization of the Cardinal is that his motivation for his savagely ill-treating the sister is not made sufficiently clear. One has to assume that he is enraged at the Duchess, for bringing disgrace to his high office and to the family by marrying below her.

Ferdinand: Webster has made him also a real-life character adding flesh and blood to the mere skeleton supplied by his sources. Well before Antonio has any reason to dislike him he describes the Duke as a man of ‘most perverse and turbulent nature’. Crafty, treacherous and cruel, he cannot leave Malfi before engaging a spy to keep a watch on his sister. The letter that reports of the birth of a child to the Duchess leads him to a rage and he runs to the Cardinal in a frenzied mood. The words of the Duchess, he overhears in her bed chamber, unnerves him and he leaves like a whirlwind. By picturing the turbulent behaviour of the Duke on that occasion, Webster is preparing the audience to accept the lycanthropic phase of the Duke as plausible. His beastliness is evident in his act of giving a deadman’s hand to the Duchess in pitch darkness. The immediate responsibility of the murder of the Duchess is that of the Duke’s, though the Cardinal owes up his responsibility when he reveals his secret to Julia. The sight of the dead sister’s face gives a jolt to his conscience and the beginning of remorse is evident when he says the famous line, Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle; she died young. (Act IV, Scene II,L1. 258).

 It may be the beginning of the insanity that makes him disown his share of responsibility in the murder of the Duchess. He refuses to reward Bosola for the murder, and says the best he can get is a pardon. The depiction of the Duke under the influence of lycanthropia is done with a skill equalling that of Shakespeare. His mind is devastated and no mask hides his inner devilry.Once he has lost his wits, he discloses his true repulsiveness. He reaches his end under the unrestrained force of his malevolent and ugly spirit. Webster has not made the motivation behind his objection to the sister’s marriage and savagery to his sister, very clear. Some critics charge him with a subconscious incestuous, feeling towards his sister. But others discount the suggestion. Perhaps he himself is not clear about the real motivation. Perhaps the inherent malevolence in him is the only motivation.

Bosola: Bosola is mentioned by Painter, as the one who murdered Antonio. But Webster has made him a major character, in the tradition of the malcontent of the revenge plays of the time. But he is also a tool-villain. Webster faces a difficultly in the delineation of Bosola, as a combination of a malcontented mediator and a tool in the villainy of the brothers. However, on the whole Webster has fused the two roles successfully. But, there are some flaws in the conception of Bosola. Occasionally his meditations as a malcontent lacks sincerity. It appears as a mere pose. Bosola is not to be taken as a mere cynic by profession. His cynicism is part of himself. He is a disappointed person with a grievance not only against the world but also against himself. He, even like Marlowe’s Faustus, has sold his soul for a place and fortune. He doesn’t have any scruples or morals when he agrees to do devilish deeds for the sake of preferment. But what he has received as reward is a long term as a galley slave. As a meditator he loves to brood upon the hollowness of the world. This appears as a venturing of his bitterness at his own disappointed greed and pride, malice and unappeased ambition.

Webster presents three extra ordinary evil characters in the Cardinal, the Duke and Bosola. Such characters may be uncommon in real world, but in his play they live before us. The Duchess, the good character, though has her flaws, is convincingly drawn. even Cariola, Delio and Julia are presented in a convincing manner. Antonio remains passive as the play demands. Barring Shakespeare none among the Elizabethans or Jacobeans show such lifelike characters made convincing by a rare psychological insight. By giving this much of importance to characterisation, Webster has added his imagination to the original story. 

 

Q. 7. Comment on the moral Code of Webster as seen in the play The Duchess of Malfi.

Or,

How far is it true that the play The Duchess of Malfi, Presents a moral world of Webster’s that is different from the conventional mores?

Or,

Do you agree with the statement that Webster, in the play The Duchess of Malfi shows himself as a great moralist?

Ans. The Machiavellian qualities seen in the villain’s, alongwith the pragmatic of even existentialist attitude to life displayed by the good as well as bad characters may give a first impression that the world Webster presents in The Duchess of Malfi, is a chaotic world. But a closer and deeper look at the play will show that the world. But a closer and deeper look at the play will show that the world is influenced by a moral order though this order cannot be universally enforced. Though the moral presence exists, this world remains mysterious, incomprehensible and the future of worldly creatures is unpredictable.

Universality of suffering. The world we see in the play The Duchess of Malfi is dark and gloomy. People of the play appear to live in a mist or a dark pit. Bosola just before his death says,

O, this gloomy world: In what a shadow, or deep pit of darkness, Doth womanish and fearful mankind live:

 

Though he is a villainous person perpetrating some of the most heinous crimes, but he is also portrayed as a meditating malcontent who occasionally appears to act as a mouth-piece of the author’s view of life. Seeking happiness in the world, Webster seems to say, is a futile effort for pleasure and is only momentary. But suffering is inevitable and profound. The dying Antonio makesPleasure of life, what is ‘t? only the good hours Of an ague: merely a preparative to rest, To endure vexation.

(Act V, Scene IV, L1. 72-74) Human beings inflict untold sufferings on his fellow beings prompted by ambition, envy, hatred, greed and lust for power. In Webster’s world it is the natural lot of man that he endures decay, disease and death. The Duchess and Antonio, the good characters of the play meet their death; one after a long suffering, the other by simple accident. Even the blameless Cariola, and the innocent children meet death by strangulation. Virtue, innocence and other good qualities appear to offer no assured safety against suffering and premature death.

Suffering is not heaven-sent. Webster does not believe that human suffering is caused by a supernatural agency-God or Fate. The events in the play show that human suffering is caused partly by the flaw in the sufferers and partly by the devilish qualities that exist in other villainious people. The Duchess, who suffers most in the play, is not a blemishless person. She has her flaw, her hamartia which is her sensuousness that makes her marry beneath her. She doesn’t care for the damage of reputation her marriage could bring to her illustrious brothers, a Cardinal and a Duke. She ignores the advice and warning given by her brothers and says: If all my royal kindred Lay in my way unto this marriage, I’d make them my low footsteps.

(Act I, Scene I, L1. 335-337).

There is an amount of self-centred thinking in her. Further she is a credulous person and susceptible to flattery. We see her gloating over the praise Bosola showers on Antonio and reveals her secret of identity of her husband to Bosola. Then, pleased with his flattering comments on her marriage she takes him as a confidant, decides to accept his advice and to go to Loretto on a feigned pilgrimage. Both the actions lead to disastrous consequences. Antonio too, faces his fate partly because of his flaws. Though he despises ambition as a ‘great man’s madness’, it is his ambition that makes him succumb to the desires of the Duchess and marry her. His passivity too led to his downfall. He does not show any inclination to fight it out with the Arragonian brothers though he knows that justice is on his part.

Both the Duchess and Antonio face punishments disproportionate to their flaws. True, the Duchess and Antonio do have their flaws. But the sufferings they face appear to be out of proportion to their sins. Really, their mistakes are minor, and the punishment too great. Webster illustrates, that the moral order he visualizes does not mete out reward and punishment equitably. The intense suffering that is heaped upon the Duchess and to a lesser extent on Antonio, is determined by the forces of evil that exist in her devilish brothers and their villainous tool Bosola. The three appear to be mentally diseased people, sadists who enjoy inflicting of pain on others. Bosola, despite his occasional moral meditations and occasional show of sympathy for the plight of the Duchess, inflicts subtle mental torture on the Duchess. Further, he seems to show disap· pointment when he finds the Duchess unbroken in spirit, despite her effort to break it. In Webster, like in Shakespeare, the good people with minor flaws, seem to suffer deeply.

 Webster presents a moral world, that is some mysterious ways that ultimately bring punishments for the crimes one commit. The devilish Arragonian brothers and their equally devilish instrument, Bosola, feel the pangs of conscience and meet ignoble death. Remorse touches Ferdinand the most, and makes him lycanthropic. He might have had traits of the mental imbalance earlier as is displayed by his turbulent temper. His presenting a dead man’s hand to the Duchess is another indication. The sight of the dead Duchess indeed acts as a trigger in turning him fully mad. Finally he is killed by Bosola. Bosola is struck with remorse, when he finds that his much expected ‘preferment’ does not come to him. He declares that if he was to live once again he would not commit his crimes, ‘for all the wealth of Europe’ Further looking at the dead Duchess he says, Here is a sight

As direful to my soul as is the sword Unto a wretch hath slain his father. (Act IV, Scene II, L1. 361-363). Later he mortally stabs the Cardinal and the Duke, and himself is killed by the Lycanthropic Duke. Even the Cardinal, who is a cold and calculating Machiavellian, feels the pricking of conscience. He goes to the religious books for consolation but finding it futile, lays it aside. He expresses his mental agony clearly when he soliloquizes: How tedious is a quality conscience: When I look into the fish-ponds in my garden, Methinks I see a thing arm’d with a rake, That seems to strike at me.

(Act V, Scene V, L1.4-7). He realizes that he has to‘die like a leveret (Act V, Scene V, L.51). He does so, and we feel as if he has faced the ultimate punishment for his crimes. Nemesis reaches all the three villains giving the impression that there is some moral .

 

Webster’s world, thus, is one where suffering embraces all, the good and the wicked. Suffering and death are inevitable. They result sometimes from deliberate contrivance as in the case of the Duchess, Cariola etc; some times from compulsive action as in the case of people killed by the Cardinal; sometimes by accident as in the case of Antonio; and they can take place quite arbitrarily, as in the case of the servant. whom Bosola kills. Among all these apparently chaotic happenings in this world one wonders what a man should aim at. Are there some values he should cherish? Webster answers, surely, through his unmistakable esteem for the virtuous characters in the play. He apparently advocates two qualities to be among humans: face cultivated

(i) They should persist in being what they are (ii) They should calamities with fortitude. The closing speech of Delio, may be Websters message to humans.

I have ever thought Nature doth nothing so great for great men As when she’s pleas’d to make them lords of truth: Integrity of life is fame’s best friend, Which nobly, beyond death, shall crown the end. (Act V, Scene V, L1. 125-129). This may apply not only to the virtuous Duchess, but also to the Bosola, who with determination kills the two evil characters. Bosola’s statement ne’er stagger in distrust wicked , minds

Let worthy To differ death or shame for what is just:

(Act V, Scene V, L1. 111-112). makes this point amply clear. Whether virtuous or wicked, all should boldly decide not to compromise or surrender, but persist in being what they have it in themselves. Bosola by declaring I’ll be mine own example(Act V, Scene IV, L1.89). and the Duchess by asserting

I am Duchess of Malfi still

 

People may suffer because of their own flaws or as a result of causes beyond their control: but always they should maintain their integrity and try to endure the inevitable; like the Duchess who faces her death with dignity, and not like Cariola who ignobly tries to avoid the inevitable.

The unconquerable spirit of man. The Duchess of Malfi, like any good tragedy teaches us to know the world and its ways better. There are plenty in the play that are sensational and horrifying making it melodramatic to some extent, and they appeal to the morbid instincts of the playgoer. However, the principal victim of this play is not merely the sufferer, the Duchess, but the unconquerable and unsubdued human spirit of hers. In this the Duchess comes close to Shakespearean heroes and heroines. She keeps up her dignified spirit of defiance towards the evildoers, but is remarkably humble before heaven. She displays her sensuality not only in her marriage but also in devouring the apricots with evident greed. She becomes blind in her passion for Antonio and is credulous in taking Bosola’s words at face value. Her shriking of her responsibility, as a ruler of Malfi is a glaring flaw. Still the resigned dignity with which she faces the spectacle showing her dear ones as dead and her own impending strangling make us respect her unbreakable spirit. That enduring spirit ennobles us and uplifts us. Our faith in the essential nobility of human beings is reinforced, despite the damaging effect on that faith caused by the evil and villainy of others.

Obvious moral statements. The moral message of the play comes out frequently through pithy statements. It is interesting that almost all characters utter some universal truth, some statement significant to human life, displaying the moral undertone of the play. Antonio moralizes from the beginning till his last moments. Ambition is a greatman’s madness’, he comments. On the desertion of the servants, he says,

Right the fashion of the world: From decay’d fortunes every flatterer shrinks: Men cease to build where the foundation sinks:

(Act III, Scene V, L1. 9-11). Musing over the ruins of the Abbey near the Cardinal’s palace he says;

But all things have their end:

Churches and cities, which have diseases like to men, Must have like death that we have

(Act V, Scene III, L1. 17-19) To show the transcience of happiness he says, Pleasure of life, What is ‘t? only the good hours Of an ague:

(Act V, Scene IV, L1. 72-73) significant for their the hands of the out worthy moral

The fables, the Duchess and the Duke relate, too are moral worth. Bosola, though a dark and villainous tool in equally dark brothers, during his meditative bouts brings truths. About gold coins he says, These curs’d gifts would make You a corrupter, me an impudent traitor:

(Act I, Scene I, L1.265-266). He has other philosophic comments too. Since place and riches oft are bribes of shame: Sometimes the devil doth preach.

(Act I Scene I, L1. 290-291).

The weakest arm is strong enough that strikes With the sword of justice:

(Act V Scene III, L1. 345-346). We are merely the stars’ tennis-balls, struck and banded Which may please them.

(Act V, Scene IV, L1. 59-60) Even minor characters are often found to express moral ideas. Cariola comments on the Duchess’s marriage thus: Whether the Spirit of greatness, or of woman Reign most in her, I know not; but it shows A fearful madness:

(Act I, Scene I, L1. 494-496). The first pilgrim has this to say about the fall of the great. Fortune makes this conclusion general. All thigns do help the unhappy man to fall. (Act III, Scene IV, L1. 42-43). Julia, the strumpet too utters a pithy statement

‘T is weakness,

Too much to think what should have been done. (Act V, Scene II, L1. 87-88). Delio has something moral to state very often Though in our miseries Fortune have a part, Yet in our noble sufferings she hath none: (Act V, Scene III, L1. 57-58).

He winds up the play with a statement pregnant with philosophic truth:

Integrity of life is fame’s best friend,

(Act V, Scene V, L1. 128-129) All these moral statements may appear out of place in a tragedy, to a modern reader. But an Elizabethan play goer would have taken it as a sign of the Author’s moral consciousness.

Which nobly, beyond death, shall crown the end.

Is Webster an existentialist? Many of the opinions expressed by the various characters of the play betray Webster’s existentialist leanings though, the word ‘existentialism’ as a philosophy evolved only in the nineteenth century after Kierkgoard. Existentialism rejects metaphysics and concentrates on the individual’s existence in the world. It is a pragmatic and psychologically realistic philosophy that negates the existence of God. There is some inherent absurdity in man’s existence. For “all human activities are equivalent, all are destined by principles to defeat.” But a man is responsible for his effect on others, though only his existence is real to him, and he is ultimately his own judge. Bosola’s telling that “’I will be mine own example” (Act V, Scene IV, L. 89) is a typical existentialist statement. The Duchess’s taking firm personal decision about her marriage, disregarding the opinion of her brothers and her accepting the consequence of that action with a resigned courage too is an existentialist attitude; so also is the detachment with which Antonio faces his fate. One of the basic requirements of that philosophy, negation of God, however is not emphasized in the play. Antonio is an existentialist as far as his attitude to religion. The Cardinal says

Antonio, world

Although he do account religion But a school-name, for fashion of the

(Act V, Scene II, L1. 127-130).

But nothing is said to show that he doesn’t believe in God. The Duchess ridicules Cariola for her respect for religion and calls her ‘a superstitious fool’. However, she displays her belief in God by kneeling before her death. We have to conclude that, Webster doesn’t openly negate the existence of God in the play. However, the turn of events in the play makes one think that Webster’s moral is an existentialist one.

Q.8. Briefly comment on the language, style and imagery Webster uses in the Play: The Duchess of Malfi.

Ans. Webster is subtle writer, an artist who makes his diction, style and imagery contribute to the total effect a play has on the audience. Language. Webster chooses his diction, like Marston and Tourneur with the aim of awakening terror and awe. Though the aim is the same, Webster’s technique is different from that of the other two. Marston and Tourneur, mainly create the terrible effects, by a ruthless directness and through brief similes and metaphors. Webster’s work is more imaginative. He uses usual kind of similes with an arresting appeal. They shine with subtle illustrative power. His figures of speech reveal the full depth of meaning only after our giving plenty of thought to them. Further the figures he uses help in creating the atmosphere of the play, one of awe and terror, that remains from one end of the play to the other.

Prominent images. Webster uses certain kinds of images, very often, to create an atmosphere of decay and death. When Antonio gives a parting kiss to the Duchess, overwhelmed by the agony of the separation she says: Let me look upon you once more, for that speech Came from a dying father: your kiss is colder Than that I have seen an holy anchorite Give to a dead man’s skull.

(Act III, Scene V, L1. 85-8). Two times ‘death’ is mentioned directly and a third time, indirectly through the word ‘skill’. Further, the words ‘Look…. Once more’, ‘colder’, and ‘holy ancharite’ too give a picture of gloom. Altogether the lines create an atmosphere of desolation and death. Such images are found aplenty and they have a cumulative effect on the reader and the audience. It is interesting to note that Webster creates a strange kind of beauty, perhaps a terrible beauty, in such images. The Duke’s describing the Duchess, illustrates above mentioned aspect of Webster’s imagery. He says, Her fault and beauty, Blended together show like leprosy, .

 Surely, there is an artistic beauty in the description, all the same, we shudder at it. The imagery in the first half of the play emphasizes the bestial nature of man. Bosola’s moctly cynical meditations, refers frequently to animals and to diseases of decay. But an examination of the whole play reveals that the imagery associated with death has a pre-ponderence. Bosola’s conversation with the Duchess, in the disguise of a tombmaker illustrates this dominance of such images. But it is interesting to note that even in the sunny courting scene the shadow of death-decay images fall ominously.

Some images of striking nature. Sometimes Webster uses images that illuminates the whole character of a person in a flash. The courtier, Silvio lls about the Cardinal.

Commenting on the Duke’s laughter, Delio too use an image of that sort and says that he laughs, Like a deadly cannon That lightens ere it smokes.

(Act III, Scene III, L1. 53-54). are the images Antonio uses in his opening speech where a royal court is compared to a fountain. The French considers that

Considering duly that a prince’s court Is like a common fountain, whence should flow Pure silver drops in general, but if’t chance Some curs’d example poison’t near the head, Death and diseases through the whole land spread. (Act I, Scene I, L1. 11-15). Images, associated with extremes of heat and cold, pain and feverishness are seen in many places. The metaphor of ague is used repeatedly. Images of torture chamber too are found occasionally. Bestial images, especially wolfish ones, are many. Images from medical practice is used to show that corruption cannot be cured. The physician diagonises the Duke’s malady as lycanthropia, but he is unable to cure him.

Images involving natural calamities. Several images are in the play bring in tempests, thunder and earthquakes. Perhaps the best that belongs this group is found in the Duke’s answer to the Cardinal’s question why former behaves like a tempest: Would I could be one, That I might toss her palace ’bout her ears, Root up her goodly forests, blast her meads And lay her general territory as waste As she hath done her honours,which to the Scene V, L1. 17-21). Webster’s realism. A realist at heart. Webster broods upon the dark of the human soul. In The Duchess of Malfi death looms large. Still, when at his best, he displays an extraordinary imaginative vision. This quality of is seen very clearly when the Cardinal, because of the pricking of conscience fancies strange visions. In a soliloquy he says: How tedious is a guilty conscience: When I look into the fish-ponds in my garden, Methinks I see a thing arm’d with a rake, That seems to strike at me.

(Act II, places he is his ,

(Act V, Scene V, L1.4-7).

Meditative energy. Alongwith the realism may be mentioned the meditative energy and the capacity to realize the irony, the mysterious nature and the pathos of life. The meditative energy Webster displays is an essential part of his dramatic genius. Sometimes he introduces fables or parables even when by doing so inconsistencies in character portrayal creep in. Duke Ferdinand’s parable or Reputation, Love and Death and the Duchess’s fable of the salmon and the dog-fish belong to this area.

Feelings both tender and turbulent. Webster has great skill in displaying feelings of all kinds. The Duchess shows her tender feelings in the wooing scene, as well as in the bedchamber scene. Her tenderness towards her children alongwith pathos of the imminent death is clearly seen in her last message to Cariola. She says:

I pray thee, look though giv’st my little boy Some syrup for his cold, and let the girl Say her prayers ere she sleep. (Act IV, Scene II,L1. 197-9). Ferdinand’s turbulent emotions are effectively displayed through appropriate language and imagery. On receiving the news that the Duchess had given birth to what he thinks an illegitimate child, he says: I would have their bodies

Burnt in a coal-pit with the ventage stopp’d, That their curs’d smoke might not ascend to heaven; Or dip the sheets they lie in pitch or sulphur, Wrape them in’t, and then light them like a match

(Act III, Scene I, L1. 64-68).

Ferdinand, here, imagines a terrible fire or conflagration in which his sister along with her lover is burnt. Antonio too expresses various feelings through suggestive images. In the echo scene, we find a less passive Antonio ready to take a courageous step.

He tells Delio, Come, I’ll be out of this ague, For to live thus is not indeed to live; It is a mockery and abuse of life: I will not henceforth save myself by halves; Lose all, or nothing.

(Act V, Scene III, L1. 48-52). Bosola’s language. Webster makes use of prose in the play very effectively. Much of it is spoken by Bosola. Others, like the mentally deranged use lot of prose. The witty utterances and the conversation of insane people are conducted through prose. Bosola’s prose on the other hand appears a suitable medium for his cynicism and satire. His satirical description of the Cardinal and the Duke as ‘plum trees that grow crooked’ is in prose. His ironical and teasing advice to Delio on how to be an eminent courtier also is in prose. So also is his misogynistical talk with the old woman. The prose, Bosola the tomb aker, uses for his meditation on morality just before the Duchess’s death has a splendour of its own. The language there is similar to that of Sir. Thomas Browne and others of seventeenth century. There is startling imagery, paradoxical and meta-physical in Bosola’s talk with the Duchess. Thou art a box of worm-seed, at best but a salvatory of green mummy. What’s this flesh? a little crudded milk, fantastical puff-paste. Our bodies are weaker than those paper-prisons boys used to keep files in; more contemptible, since ours is to preserve earthworms. Didst thou ever see a lark in a cage? Such is the soul in the body: this world is like her little turf of grass, and the heaven o’er our heads like her looking-glass, only gives us a miserable knowledge of the small compass of our prison.

(Act IV, Scene II, L1. 118-127). In addition to being satirical on human vanity the passage shows an amount of splendour and pathos. As the Duchess asks with dignity ‘am not I thy Duchess?’, the disguised Bosola, says, Thou art some great woman, sure, for riot begins to sit on thy fourhead (clad in gray hairs) twenty years sooner than on a merry milk-maid’s. Thou sleepest worse than if a mouse should be forced to take up her lodging in a cat’s ear: a little infant that breeds its teeth, should in lie with thee, would cry out, as if thou wert the more unquiet bedfellow. (Act IV, Scene II, L1. 129-135).

Here Bosola’s prose displays how common words can be used to give concrete details.

Compressed writing. In The Duchess of Malfi, Webster, shows his skill in what some critics call ‘sententious’ writing. His sentences show a compression and condensation and they weigh heavily with philosophic truths. Preponderence of generalization is an important feature of Webster’s style. Many of them are pithy and enlightening and they appear both in verse and prose. Almost all characters indulge into this kind of generalization. The Duchess justifies the servants who have forsaken her, taking their action as the way of the world and says,

Physicians thus, With their hands full of money, use to give o’er Their patients.

(Act III, Scene V, L1, 7-9).

Antonio’s rejoinder is, Right the fashion of the world: From decay’d fortunes every flatterer shrinks; Men cease to build where the foundation sinks. (Act III, Scene V, L1. 9-11

). Bosola too utters them often: A politician is the devil’s quilted anvil He fashions all sins on him, and the blows Are never heard:

(Act III, Scene III, L1. 315-317). Even minor characters are found speaking great wisdom. In the echoscene Delio tells Antonio Though in our miseries Fortune have a part, Yet in our noble sufferings she hath none; (Act V, Scene III, L1. 57-58). Borrowals. Webster appears to have borrowed many of his ideas of images from Sir Philip Sidney and Montaigne. Webster is said to have kept a note book where he jotted down passages and phrases that had struck him. He used them profusely in his various writings. However, Webster adopted those he found in his sources, rather transmuting them with a touch of his genius. He “distilled his wit and wisdom from many samples and his distillation is complete. He has an extractor of quintessence. What he seems to have aimed at was a style of extraordinary weight and consciseness. He wrests from every sentence its full weight of meaning. Some of his most wonderful speeches are of extraordinary brevity”.

Aphorisms. The play contains plenty of brief statements that are pregnant with meaning. Bosola’s statements, The reward of doing well is the doing of it

 

In their own money: (Act III, Scene II, L1. 229-230) I’ll be mine own example(Act V, Scene IV, (L. 89) Some times the devil doeth preach (Act I, Scene I. L. 28). are some of them. Perhaps the most memorable of this kind is uttered by Delio, at the end of the play Integrity of life is fame’s best friend (Act V, Scene V, L. 128)

Q.9. Point out the comical and the satirical element that is present in The Duchess of Malfi and comment on the appropriateness of those in a hor ror tragedy.

Or,

How far has Webster succeeded in interspersing The Duchess of Malfi with comical and the Satirical?

Ans. Despite the fact that Webster conceived the play, The Duchess of Malfi, as a sombre horror tragedy, he has brought in a number of comic and satirical elements into it. Most of them are to be seen in the first three acts of the play. The opening of the play, is the conversation between Antonio and his friend Delio and the light hearted, even jovial, tone of the conversation is unmistakable. When Bosola comes, an element of discontent arises, but surely there is humour in his satirical comments on the Cardinal and the Duke He and his brother are like plum-trees that grow crooked over standing pools;

(Act I, Scene I, L1. 48-49). But when he says’ a kind of geometry is his last supportation’ there is straight light hearted humour. Later when he explains it is the awkward walk of a man in his crutches, the humour becomes very clear. His additional comment on court life is still quizzical but the meaning becomes transparent: For places in the court are but like beds in the hospital, where this man’s head lies at that man’s foot and so lower and lower, (Act I, Scene I, L1. 68-70)

Of course there is pungency in the satire. The Courtiers with the Duke. When the Duke Ferdinand comes in, some of the courtiers, hangers on for personal benefit, with him. The conversation that follows has surely some humour in it. When Castruccio tries to please the Duke telling that a prince should wage war through a deputy, the Duke asks, Why should he not as well sleep or eat by a deputy?

(Act I, Scene I, L. 102).

Surely the flatterer is snubbed and the audience is likely to go into a laughter. The statement that Castruccio’s wife cannot endure fighting, leads to more humour and the Duke quotes a jest of hers about a wounded captain. The Duke continues, with her wit:

Why, there’s a wit were able to undo all the chirurgeons o’the city; for although gallants should quarrel, and had drawn their weapons, and were ready to go it, yet here persuasions would make them put up.

(Act I, Scene I, L1. 115-118). Perhaps the most laughable incident during the conversation is the Duke’s snubbing the courtiers Roderigo and Grisolan for trying to flatter the Duke by laughing adniringly at a smart statement of his. He asks abruptly, Why do you laugh? methinks you that are courtiers should be my touch wood, take fire when I give fire: that is, laugh when I laugh, were the subject never so witty.

(Act I, Scene I, L1. 128-130).

Then Castruccio’s says his wife ‘cannot endure to be in merry company’, because she feels that too much laughter will create wrinkles on her face. Ferdinand is humourous when he adds that a mathematical instrument may be made to measure, and set a limit to her laughter. True, the humour of the scene is not of a high standard, but still it is humour ,The humour of Bosola. Though philosophically meditative, Bosola brings in some humour often. When Ferdinand offers him gold there is some sardonic wit in what Bosola says;

What follows? never rained such showers as these Without thunderbolts i’ the tail of them: whose throat must I cut?

(Act I, Scene 1, L1. 249-250).

When he realizes the Duke’s intention, with some disdain in his tone Bosola says, that he has to act as ‘familiar.. a very cunning invincible-devil in flesh’. Later, he indulges in a little pun with the word, angels (it means an English coin too).

Take your devils, Which hell calls angels: these curs’d gifts would make You a corrupter, me an impudent traitor: And should I take these, they’d take me (to) hell. (Act I, Scene I, L1. 264-267)

Later there is pure humour, when Bosola, hearing that he is offered the ja of provisorship of horses, interjects:

The provisorship o’ the horse? say, then my corruption Grew out of horse-dung:

(Act I, Scene I, L1. 287-288).

Surely there is wit and humour rather than his usual satire and cynicism in this.

Humour in the wooing scene. The sense of humour of the Duchess manifests itself very well in her attempt to woo Antonio. When Antonio tries to evade her advances by talking of the accounts, with obvious irony the Duchess says, An upright treasurer: but you mistook;

(Act I, Scene 1, L1. 366). Later, pretending the need of a conjuration she slips on her ring on to his fingers. It is almost like forcing it on an unwilling lover and there is fun in the act. Now the ‘grounds’ broke, she tells him, You may discover what a wealthy mine I make you lord of.

(Act I, Scene 1. L1. 422-423). The humour reaches a note higher when the Duchess tells a trembling

Antonio,

You do tremble Make not your heart so dead a piece of flesh To fear more than to love me. Sir, be confident: What is ‘t distracts you? This is flesh and blood, Sir, ‘T is not the figure cut in alabaster Kneels at my husband’s tomb. Awake, awake, man! I do here put off all vain ceremony And only do appear to you a young widow That claims you for her husband, and like a widow, I use but half a blush in ‘t.

(Act I, Scene I, L1. 443-52). There will be good humoured laughter when Cariola suddenly appears on the scene; there is dramatic irony, for the audience knows that the Duchess has taken her into confidence. But Antonio who does not know this will obviously slink in fear, and seeing the futility of the fear, the audience laughs. After the ‘per verba present marriage, Antonio regains his balance, but he, as well as the audience can’t understand why the Duchess tells Cariola ‘Maid, stand apart; now I am blind’: To ease the perplexity of Antonio, the Duchess says: I would have you lead your fortune by the hand

Unto your marriage-bed:

(Act I, Scene 1, L1. 485-486). In all these there is good humoured fun. The humour reveals character. By introducing humour in the first act

Webster intends to throw light on some of the characters. Bosola appears as a wit but his true nature as a cynic and a scoffer too comes out. In Ferdinand which one finds a hollow kind of humour that reveals his great egoism. The Duchess displays in her humour, a tenderness, sensuousness and forthrightness. She disparages herself, with obvious irony, so that Antonio can be emboldened. Delio and Antonio show a normal sense of humour which is a need in polite society. In that kind of humour there is no bitterness, no egoism and it is without any ulterior purpose. The wit and humour of the first act is not for any comic relief, for no truly tragic event have happened in that Act. Except for the warnings coming from the brothers nothing sad has happened. Webster has conceived, the first act as one of jovial mood, may be to work as a contrasty starting point for the disastrous events that follow. 

The comic and the humourous in Act II. The second act begins better and cynical criticism of the court life. He advises Castruccio that if he was to be a judge, he should smile at the accused if he would hang him; on the contrary if he was to acquit someone he should frown upon him. There is certainly implied criticism on the judges of the time, and certainly the remark is funny. With the old lady, Bosola is not only harsh, but almost vulgar. The cosmetics she applied to herself is disgustful to his taste. The reference to the French woman who flayed out her skin to remove the small-pox marks and ended up resembling’an abortive hedgehogʻ surely makes the audience laugh. Bosola continues to ridicule the fashion-loving old woman telling that her closet is full of disgustful make up articles. His scathing criticism extends, first to Castruccio also and then to all mankind, He points out the irony that men feels amazed to see their deformities in every creature, but themselves. He wonders why men hide the rottenness of their body in beautiful garments when they know that their bodies are to become the food of worms and lice after their death. Then he addresses Castruccio and advises him and the old lady, thus: Your wife’s gone to Rome: you two couple, and get you to the wells at Lucca to recover your aches.

(Act II, Scene I, L1. 67-68). The wit in all this is slightly unpleasant, and in some places even indecent, but the chemical and the laughable can not be missed, Later in the scene he meets Antonia and with irony and sarcasm, tells him: O, sir, you are lord of the ascendant, chief man with the Duchess: a Duke was your cousin-german removed. Say you were lineally descended from King Pepin, or he himself what of this? Search the heads of the greatest rivers in the world you shall find them but bubbles of water.

(Act II, Scene I, L1. 102-107).

Despite the arrogance Bosola shows here, the words contain some humour, In the second scene, when the old woman returns Bosola disparages womankind by telling her,

And some of you give entertainment for pure love, but more:

for more precious reward. The lusty spring smells well; but drooping autumn tastes well. If we have the same golden showers that rained in the time of Jupiter the thunderer, you have the same Danaes still, to hold up their laps to receive them.

(Act II, Scene II, L1. 15-20). Though this appears to be in bad taste to a moderner, the Jacobean audience would have found something worth appreciating in it. Perhaps Bosola’s satirical wit is at its best when Antonio asks him why he has come out contrary to the instruction from the Duchess not to do so. He says, Now all the court ‘s asleep, I thought the devil Had least to do here; I come to say my prayers;

(Act II, Scene III, L1. 26-27). The audience, well familiar with the devilish courtiers of King James surely would have roared into a laughter, on hearing this. All these passages are not dramatically important. They do not contribute to the development of the plot, but only serves the purpose of bringing in a local colour to the play. The classical humour in the first part of the bed chamber scene. The first part of Act III, Scene II, where the Duchess is shown to enjoy martial bliss has some humour in it. The Duchess, Antonio and Cariola are exchanging pleasantries in a good humoured way. Antonio brings in several mythological persons to show the superiority of married life. Those who resisted the emotional call of the sex urge, ended up ignoiminously and those who yielded to it, were glorified. The story of the three fair goddesses appearing before Paris stark naked, with a question that confuses him, is certainly erotic but also humorous. Antonio’s question why not-o attractive ladies prefer to have ugly maids and the answer of the Duchess too are with their humourous undertones. The humour present here with its :-narp contrast to the turbulent incident that follows produces a striking drar iatic effect.

The madmen’s antics give comic relief. Webster has introduced the antics of the mad men with the clear intention of bringing in the comic. Only, it is a little grotesque. The remarks made by the astrologer, the lawyer, the priest and the doctor surely amuse an audience even today. The remark of the 3rd mad man,

Woe to the caroche that brought home my wife from the mask at three o’clock in the morning: it had a large featherbed in it. (Act IV, Scene II, L1. 100-102).

could be a generalized comment on the easy morals of the Jacobean ladies. Or it could be a hint at a rumour that was going round about a particular lady . The mad men’s remarks on Puritanism, lechery , law and women surely had some topical appeal. The humour here provides the needed comic relief, in this otherwise painful and long scene. It serves, also, the purpose of adding to the mental torture of the Duchess.

The fun in the Julia-Delio meeting. The brief episode of Delio meeting his old flame, Julia, at the Cardinals’ palace, too gives rise to humour. His question ‘do you lie here’ and her answer, Our Roman prelates for ladies.

Do not keep ledging (Act II, Scene IV, L1, 48-49). tickle us with the dual meaning of the word lie and dramatic irony. His attempts to tempt her with money and her witty reply makes us smile. But the most humourous part of the episode is his asking her to be his mistress, whenever her husband is not in station. It makes one laugh with its abruptness and coarseness. Her reply Sir, I’ll go ask my husband if I shall And straight return your answer.

(Act II, Scene IV, L1. 74-75). is equally laughter producing. Delio is a character who brings in humour in other situations too. His comment on the count Malatesti, the great warrior,has worn gun-powder in’s hollow tooth for the tooth-ache.

(Act III, Scene III, L1. 12-13). is amusing. Equally so are the comments of his, on the count, in his following lines. Delios jovial effort to tempt Julia with money to make her his mistress, are digs at the amoral man-to-woman relations that existed in the Jacobean court.

Ferdinand’s madness has its comic elements. Generally madness when presented on the stage generates sympathy. But when we see the villainous Ferdinand fully mad out of lycanthropia, we watch him with a satisfaction flavoured with amusement. His falling at his own shadow, his remarks about driving

To drive six snails before me from this town to Moscow; neither use goad nor whip to them, but let them take their own time;the patient’st man i’ the world match me for an experiment:and I’ll crawl after like a sheep-biter.

(Act V, Scene II, L1. 47-51). and his threatening the doctor, telling, I will stamp him into a culis, flay off his skin, to cover one of the anatomies this rogue hath set i’ the cold yonder in Barber- Chirugeon’s hall.

(Act V, Scene II, L1, 74-77). are quite funny. His attacking his brother the Cardinal, with the The devil:

words My brother fight upon the adverse party:

(Act V, Scene V, L1. 58-59). arut his stabbing Bosola, shouting, There flies your ransom

L1. 60). are equally funny, though we sympathise a bit with him for his worsened stickness. The Duke’s madness is the only comic incident in this act of gruesome murders. Surely Webster intended it as a necessary comic relief.

(Act V, Scene V,

There are quite a few instances of comic, funny and humourous scenes, in this, otherwise a very murky play. Some of them are introduced for comic relief while some others are introduced merely to appeal to the fun loving audience of the time. With the latter intention, Webster has brought in certain incidents which had some notoriety in ‘contemporary England. Though a moderner is not likely to get the full significance of those, the audience at Webster’s time possibly had mirth enough in them. Bringing in humour, in all its forms, into tragedies was an usual practice among Elizabethans and the Jacobeans, including Shakespeare, Webster too, followed that tradition.

 

Q.10. Comment on the local colour that is found in The Duchess of Malfi.

Or,

Write a note on the Italian element found in the play The Duchess of Malfi.

 

Ans. Italy, of the later Renaissance period, was steeped in all the evils, imaginable. Stories of intrigues and conspiracies, murder by poisoning and strangling, and tormenting of enemies by beastly methods were frequently heard. Italy of those days, was considered to be a virtual worldly-hell by many Europeans. Travellers, and travalogues had brought in to England, the dark picture of the life of the Italian nobility, leading an amoral life, steeped in lustful sensuousness and bestial cruelty. Webster could not have been ignorant of the notoriety of that vulgar rich phase of Italian history. No wonder, he, in his eagerness to present a horror tragedy thought of an Italianate setting. By dramatizing the Italian story of the young Duchess, who married her steward and consequently faced disaster, he has shown on the stage the vulgarity of Italian life of the time of the Borgias. At the same time the author very faithfully gave a local colour too, to the play in order to appeal to the English play-goers.

Outwardly all Italian. Outwardly the play appears fully Italian. All the characters of the play are Italians and Webster sticks on to the Italianate names without anglicizing them. For example he did not change Antonio to Antony. Duke, Ferdinand and the Cardinal are typical late Renaissance Italian nobles. One, is a secular prince and the other, clerical, but both are equally amoral and Machiavellian. Bosola is another typical person of the times, too willing to sell his services, at the expectation of a high place in the state. He is a scholar, but has spent his scholarship on futile researches just to acquire the name of a learned man. His learning has not made him any humane wiser or more. But he uses his learning to criticize the evil in others and thereby to justify his own evil doings. Expecting preferment from the court of the Cardinal and stately favours from the Duke, he commits crimes with a true Machiavellian indifference. Castruccio’s wife Julia is another Italian type, common during those days. Many noble women cuckolded their husbands, sometimes simply for fulfilling their loss, sometimes to get material benefits. Julia appears to do it for either, depending on the convenience. Even the Duchess whom Antonio describes as innocent and anglie, secretly marries her Master of the Household and gives birth to three children. Delio appears to have been in love with Julia once, but in the play he will like to have an adulterous relationship with her, if she agrees. With that intention, he tries to tempt her with money. Perhaps he does so with the intention of extracting information, about the Cardinal’s attitude to the Duchess, but it amply reveals that the sexual anarchy reigning among the Italian nobles of the time realistically.

Religion is shown without any sancity. The degenerate Italian life is honestly presented by presenting religion, separated from virtue and sancity. The cardinal of the play is a copy of the clerics, of the Borgia family. He bets dances, courts ladies and fights duels. Antonio’s description of the Cardinal, will very well fit the Borgia pope of history:

He is a melancholy churchman; the spring in his face is nothing but the engendering of toads; where he is jealous of any man, he lays worse plots for them than ever was imposed on Hercules, for he strews in his way flatterers, panders, intelligencers, atheists, and a thousand such political monsters. He should have been Pope; but instead of coming to it by the primitive decency of the church, he did bestow bribes so largely and so impudently as if he would have carried it away without heaven’s knowledge.

(Act I, Scene I, L1. 163-173). Thou art a superstitious fool: (Act III, Scene II, L 311).

Further we find him giving up his Cardinal’s hat and donning the armour of a soldier with pomp pagentry at Loretto. Even some of the good characters of the play like Antonio and the Duchess show an indifference to religion. The Cardinal says that Antonio, ‘do account religion but a school name’. Though the Duchess kneels earnestly before her death, she doesnot show any enthusiasm for religion. Without any religious scruples she decides to feign a pilgrimage to Loretto.

 

The Renaissance period in Italy glorified wealth, magnifiscent living, easy morals, and war-like qualities. The ceremony at Loretto, where the Cardinal is installed as a general, shows the glorification worldly life in Italy of those times. Many pilgrims reach the Loretto to witness the ceremony. The second pilgrim says,

The Cardinal of Arragon Is this day to resign his Cardinal’s hat: His sister Duchess likewise is arriv’d To pay her vow of pilgrimage. I expect A noble ceremony.

(Act III, Scene IV, L1. 80-85). Perhaps the only ones who sincerely believed in religion may have been the poor people. Cariola and the pilgrims at Loretto make this amply

Good people too existed. However, it would be a mistake to think that only evil existed during the days. A few had been there in the world always, even in the midst of utter moral degradation, who strived for virtue. The Duchess, Antonio, Cariola, and Bosola on some occasions, show the noble side of human beings. The pilgrims at Loretto too strike a moral tone. Webster appears to have been influenced by the stoic philosophy of Seneca. That influence might have made him portray Bosola occasionally virtuous and the Duchess and Antonio and Cariola, always. Those characters strike a contrast to the others, who are thoroughly depraved. The stoic philosophy considers it noble of man, to face evil with fortitude, and to conquer evil by self-suffering and self-torture. Thus, perhaps, one may be able to change evil into good the stoics thought. We see that the stoic fortitude, the Duchess shows in facing disaster, opens the eyes of not only Bosola but also of the Duke. The first, changes completely and decides to fight evil, and to an extend destroys evil. The Duke, too shows change for the better, but the effect shatters him completely and knocks him out of sanity.

 

The events too display Renaissance colour. The decadent culture of the late Renaissance of Italy are well reflected in the play. Horribly schemed crimes, and ellish torments practised on innocent people according to the whims of the evil nes in power, were common during those days. Webster is eminently successful 1 portraying such events in the play. The kidnapping and imprisonment of the Duchess, the inhuman torments heaped on her, the strangling of the Duchess, her maid and the innocent children, the adulterous life of the Cardinal, the casual way in which Julia is disposed off, the killing of Antonio and the servant, the incidents of the final scene, and the callousness with which all these are executed give the play a true colour of the decadent Italian life of later Renaissance.

The amoral life of the Jacobean court too is indirectly portrayed. Webster has borrowed an Italian horror story, kept up the Italianate atmosphere of decadence and Machiavellian pragmatism, and even kept the Italian names of the dramatis personae. At the same time through The Duchess of Malfi, in a remote way through, he had been criticizing evils, found in the Court of James I. The material prosperity that the Elizabethan times had brought in to England led to easy morals and corrupt practices during the reign of James I. Devilish scheming and horrible crimes were rampant among the nobility. Religion, if at all was practised, was for climbing up the ladders of success in material life. The bishops and Archbishops of England too led profligate life like The Cardinal in The Duchess of Malfi. Then there is the recorded history of the English noble woman, Lady Arabella Stuart, who remained in prison with her mind unhinged. Her crime: marrying Lord William Seymour secretly against the wishes of her cousin and reigning monarch King James I of England. Webster was too smart to write an English play openly criticizing the corrupt life of the English court of the time. He knew pretty well that consequences could be disastrous. The law of the State, at that time, could be applied arbitrarily at the whim of the King and his advisers. Webster is likely to have found the Italian story quite a convenient play to air his critical view on the corrupt English court.

 

****************************

The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi

The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi

The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi

The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi

The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi

The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi  The Duchess of Malfi