DoM More Critics

Question 1

Ellen Caldwell

Answer 1

‘although she is not literally dissected, the pregnancy of the Duchess marks her […] as an object of both reverent fascination and disgust.’

Question 2

LUCKYJ on why the duchess remains unconventional

Answer 2

‘The Duchess remains unconventional: partly because her marriage remains secret, she retains her ‘masculine’ authority as widow and ruler and continues both to issue commands and to generate the action’

Question 3

LUCKYJ on the ekphrasis

Answer 3

“It is Ferdinand who uses horror-mongering forms such as the ‘spectacle’ of the wax corpses and the severed hand; the Duchess, by contrast, often reaches for analogies from the natural world, likening herself to ‘robin redbreast and the nightingale’

Question 4

Callaghan

Answer 4

‘Webster gives two ‘twin’ shows of madness, the Duchess’s and Ferdinand’s, and directs two opposing responses, one charitable, one mocking’

Question 5

Brennan

Answer 5

‘Malfi (…) constantly suggests a series of contrasts and parallels: between light and darkness; health and sickness; sanity and insanity; life and death.’

Question 6

Ekeblad

Answer 6

‘the dance of the madmen chart[s] the Duchess’s fate by turning the marriage masque into a masque of death.