Duchess of Malfi Context Flashcards
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Setting
set in Malfi, Italy to allow Webster to comment and criticise on the English court
1504
Antonio Bologna returned from exile in France and he married above him
military present
background tension in play. Renaissance England was permeated with conflict (Spanish Armada under Elizabeth I)
The world of the play starts in a political frame
Webster wants us to establish a debate about what virtuous rule and good government
Divine Right of Kings
James I believed in this strongly. publishes treaties on Kingship and sycophants treated him
Machiavelli
used unethical means to acquire power (Cardinal, Bosola). those in power were afraid of social mobility.
Marriage
contained and class-based
women and the patriarchy
misogynistic society despite a female monarch of Elizabeth I
women expectations
expected to be modest, mild and obedient. women who weren’t were seen as witches. James I brought in hunts for witches
Independent women
were seen as a threat to the established society that maintained an order and kept decorum
images of physical decay
ideas about moral and political corruption
power
people in power could afford decedance and opulence
death and public execution
A Jacobean audience would walk past the tower of London and see disembered bodies on their way to the theatre making them desensitised to blood and death
Religion
Protestant country under the rule of James I
gunpowder plot in 1606
catholic conspiracy - meant that James I was very fearful and this meant that he used espionage and sycophants in his court
