Duchess of Malfi Critical Readings Flashcards
David Gumby (Bosola malcontent)
Describes a malcontent as a ‘character divided within himself’ and if the
metaphorical ‘fountain’ of the court hadn’t been poisoned then Bosola would have been allowed to thrive
P.B. Murray (Duchess)
‘The radiant spirit of the Duchess cannot be killed
Muriel Bradbrook (Bosola)
‘Bosola, the chief instrument in the Duchess’ betrayal and subjection, also bears the strongest witness to her virtues’
Lee Bliss (Cardinal)
‘The Cardinal’s cool, unemotional detachment is more terrifying than Ferdinand’s impassioned raving’
Irving Ribner (Duchess vs Brothers)
‘The Duchess, not her brothers, stands for ordinary humanity, love and the
continuity of life through children’
Christopher Hart (Bosola)
Bosola is a ‘twisted misanthrope and cut-throat’
Muriel Bradbrook (Duchess + Ferdinand)
‘The sight of (the Duchess’) face awakens Ferdinand to what he has done’
Frank Whigham (Duchess + Ferdinand)
‘When Ferdinand looks down into his sister’s ‘dazzling’ eyes, he sees himself, faces his own death too’
Muriel Bradbrook (Cardinal)
The Cardinal knows already that he is in Hell’
Nanci Roider (Play)
The play is ‘a cautionary tale which shows what can happen when women marry without being granted the ‘proper’ consent’
R.S. White (play)
Play is ‘the tragedy of a virtuous woman who achieves heroism through her death’
Travis Bogard (Death + Corruption)
‘The ultimate tragedy of Webster’s world is not the death of any individual but the prescience of evil and decay which drags all mankind to death’
R.S. White (Villains’ Deaths)
Webster’s villains ‘meet their deaths in ways which satisfy poetic justice’
Rupert Brooke (End of Play)
‘The end is a maze of death and madness’
Rupert Brooke (Death)
‘It is … in or near the moment of death that Webster is most triumphant. He adopts the romantic convention that men are, in the second of death, most essentially and significantly themselves’
William Archer (Bosola)
Bosola is one of the most ‘human of villains’
Heinrich Kramer in 1486 ‘Malleus Malefic arum’ (Satan)
Women are ‘instruments of Satan’
Coddon (Corruption)
Antonio’s speech in Act 1 Scene 1 reflected the troubled court of King James I
Angeles + Fort (Duchess)
Actions of Duchess are ‘disruptive behaviour and a reversal of her expected role in the family and society’
Book of Timothy (Patriarchy)
‘I do not permit a woman to … exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet’
2010 RSC Production
Duchess drags a bull carcass filled with gallons of blood, (bull = patriarchy), to show the weight of patriarchal authority around her.
2010 Greenwich Production
Duchess + Antonio meet in heaven, getting the happy ending they both arguably deserved
2014 Dromgoole’s Production
Ferdinand crudely dry humps bed to re-enact Duchess with “some strong-thighed bargeman”, showing his intense emotion
P.B. Murray (Antonio)
‘Antonio is modelled on the ideal of Christian gentility’
