Context for DOM

Question 1

What are revenge tragedies influenced by?

Answer 1

Seneca’s tragedies (4BC-65AD Roman)

Question 2

Give three characteristics of revenge tragedies:

Answer 2

Supernatural elements
Gory scenes
Madness
An eruption of violence at the end

Question 3

Who was Seneca?

Answer 3

A Roman philosopher and playwright

Question 4

What is Seneca’s most famous play?

Answer 4

Oedipus

Question 5

When we’re Seneca’s plays translated?

Answer 5

1580’s so would have influenced Webster

Question 6

When was the Elizabethan period?

Answer 6

1558-1603

Question 7

When was the Jacobean Era?

Answer 7

1603-1625

Question 8

What popular figure held critical and rebellious views?

Answer 8

The malcontent

Question 9

What was the average life expectancy of Webster’s audience?

Answer 9

35-40

Question 10

What was the infant mortality rate at the time?

Answer 10

50% of children died before the age of 15

Question 11

Why was James I’s court corrupt?

Answer 11

Vast debt
Sexual corruption
Scheming for financial power

Question 12

How were catholics viewed?

Answer 12

They were distrusted and feared as they were seen as superstitious and corrupt

Question 13

When was the Bible first translated into English ?

Answer 13

1611

Question 14

How is TDOM linked to Shakespeare’s Macbeth?

Answer 14

Ambition was Macbeth’s downfall

Question 15

What is monomania?

Answer 15

Preoccupation/obsession with one thing

Question 16

Define Eros love

Answer 16

Erotic love- sexual passion and desire

Question 17

Define Phillia love

Answer 17

Affectionate love- friendship

Question 18

Define storge love

Answer 18

Familiar love - family, children and parents

Question 19

Define ludus love

Answer 19

Playful love - linked to Eros, excitement of first love

Question 20

Define mania love

Answer 20

Obsessive love

Question 21

Define philautia love

Answer 21

Self love and narcissism

Question 22

What influence did the anatomy theatres have on webster’s theatre

Answer 22

the actual theatre supplied what the anatomy theatre could not: ideas about pregnant women’s bodies and the bodies of women in general.

Question 23

What impact did the death of queen elizabeth have on how women were portrayed on stage

Answer 23

increase in female protagonists

Question 24

what is bawdy humour

Answer 24

humour in an indecent way like dirty jokes

Question 25

four humours

Answer 25

phlegm
blood
yellow bile
black bile

Question 26

How do the four humours impact the characters in duchess of malfi

Answer 26

Often linked to illness, the four humours explain the actions of the characters. eg. Julia is lustful, thus she has too much blood.

Question 27

How does Webster use the idea of Catholicism to isolate his characters?

Answer 27

The play is set in a catholic country but with protestant ideas.

Question 28

purgatory

Answer 28

the layer between earth and the afterlife

Question 29

eco-critical

Answer 29

when lit reflects the environmental concerns of the time period in which it is set

Question 30

natural disasters during the jacobean era

Answer 30

the plague spread via rats

Question 31

when was dom published

Answer 31

1623

Question 32

why is bosola not a stereotypical revenger

Answer 32

He plays all the characters of a revenge tragedy: intellectual, malcontent, intelligencer, tool-villain, murderer, revenger.

Question 33

Who were murdered in the original story of the Duchess of Amalfi?

Answer 33

the duchess and her three children

Question 34

what happens to antonio in the real story of the duchess of almalfi

Answer 34

he escapes but is later assassinated