Recount the Duchess’s fate, Webster’s presentation of the highly ceremonializedĮmotional torture of the Duchess prior to her murder underscores the social instabilityīrought about by the irregular marriage. The Duchess’s independence and her violation of cultural taboos are brought about by herīrothers’ vengeful punishment and execution of her. Subversion of both her family and the church’s authority over her.

Reflected in the play, particularly by the Duchess’s bold marriage to her steward and her Standards for preferment combined with the changing perspectives on marriage are Lenient view of preferment led to aristocratic anxiety regarding position. Loosening of restrictions for gaining entrance into the gentry because of King James’s Marriage over the arrangement of financially motivated nuptials. Through Webster’s treatment, the Duchess andĪntonio invoke growing trends in Protestant philosophy that emphasize companionate Scene between the Duchess and her steward – Antonio – which had been overlooked in In particular, the playwright augmented the marriage That are reflective of anxieties surrounding the cultural, economic, and political changes Sources for his production, he made significant modifications in his version of the story Marriage and disappearance of an Italian Duchess approximately one hundred yearsīefore the play’s 1613 performance in England.

Prendergast (Creator) Institution The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW ) Web Site: Ībstract: John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi is a dramatization of the unsanctioned Required reading for courses in seventeenth-century English literature, this provocative masterpiece from the Golden Age of English drama will not only be welcomed by students and teachers of English literature but also a wide audience of general readers.The Duchess's 'New World' : marriage and its consequences in 'The Duchess of Malfi' UNCW Author/Contributor (non-UNCW co-authors, if there are any, appear on document) Michelle A. Often compared to Shakespeare in terms of his dynamic plots and poetic lyricism, Webster created radical, profoundly original works that feature shifting perspectives and thought-provoking challenges to conventional moral judgments. When the Duchess of Malfi marries Antonio, a household steward, her two fiendishly jealous brothers ― hoping to inherit her title and estates ― plant a household spy whose treachery leads to a bloody and horrifying climax. John Webster's great Jacobean drama focuses on a secret marriage that strikes the disastrous spark to an inferno of violence. The evils of greed and ambition overwhelm love, innocence, and the bonds of kinship in this dark tragedy, first presented circa 1613.

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The duchess of malfi online