The characters and central conflicts in this story rival the genius of Shakespeare; it was truly a treasure for me to have discovered The Duchess of Malfi thanks to my ever-amazing British Literature professor. Ocassionally reading Shakespeare can get frustrating when you've read practically all of his works, so The Duchess was a nice treat - Shakespearean in style and nature, but providing a fresh appreciation for Elizabethan theatre with new characters and storylines.
The Plot
The Duchess of Malfi takes place in city-state divided Italy, specifically Venice. The central figure, known only by her title, is recently widowed, and sitting on a pretty inheritance from her late husband, the Duke of Malfi. Her brother, Duke Ferdinand of Venice and their youngest sibling, the Cardinal, reside in Venice...and want their sister's money. It's all about control and dominance in a male-driven society; women were not "worthy enough" to be rulers or to have such an influence in the society as the Duchess has, so the brothers concoct a plan: they'll forbid their sister to remarry. By keeping her a widowed mother, Ferdinand and his brother solidify their inheritance of the Duchess' power upon her death, as her son is not yet old enough to inherit the Malfien dukedom.
But, as it turns out, there are more gruesome ideas in Ferdinand's mind: he doesn't just want to keep Malfi's dukedom until the Duchess' son is old enough to inherit, he wants it all, permanently. The mastermind of evil and manipulation, Ferdinand hires an ex-soldier named Bosola, who is introduced quite early in the play. Bosola is a complicated and bitter character, much like Iago in Shakespeare's Othello. He has been ignored and slighted by the Cardinal who used him years before to do his dirty work, which in turn sent Bosola to the galleys. Bosola wants his just deserts: a position in the Venetian court where he can provide for himself and begin to earn his self-esteem back.
But the Duke has other plans for him. He secures Bosola's allegiance to do whatever he asks, and then orders Bosola to spy on the Duchess and her household, looking for anything that could be perceived as unwise, voluptuous, or even traitorous. In a pivotal moment of the first act, Bosola is resisting Ferdinand's attempts to win his trust, insultingly with money: "So," Bosola asks, sarcastically, "What follows? Never rained such showers as these / Without thunderbolts i' th' tail of them. Whose throat must I cut?" Bosola knows that if allies with the corrupt Ferdinand, he will be turned into "a villain" that "must do / All the ill man can invent!" Unlike Iago in Othello, Bosola feels a victim to the government himself, a reluctant villain who, ultimately, provides the moral conscience of the entire play.
Without revealing the entire plot, I will say this much: the Duchess decides to defy her brothers' insistence that she never remarry, and falls passionately in love with her household steward, Antonio. They must keep their marriage an absolute secret, but as is only expected, they get pregnant...and Bosola, despite his reluctance, is a very good spy.
The Result
I could not get enough of this play. The characters jump off the page at you; I literally imagined the entire play as if I were watching it on stage, complete with body language and motions, pitches and tone of voice, and all the rest, because the dialogue was so real. Webster, like his idol, Shakespeare, was a master at language and used it in such a way that each and every character had their own distinct voice. I fell in love with Antonio's gentleness, Bosola's conflicted antiheroism, the independent but humble femininity of the Duchess, and I could go on. This play works on paper because Webster was such a master at his art; I will be returning to this one in the years to come when I get into the Shakespearean/Elizabethan theatre mood or when it's a dark and stormy night, curled up by the fireside.
I highly, highly recommend this play to Shakespeare fans everywhere, and even if you're not, I'm sure you'll enjoy it as well; most of my British Literature classmates did, and very few of them are into Shakespearean play like I do! (To really show you how much I loved this play: I wrote my paper on Bosola's internal conflicts, AND I want to purchase this play ASAP! And yes, I know - I'm a literature nerd; what else do I have to do to persuade you?)
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