Duchess of Malfi critics

Question 1

Feminist critic Kathleen McLuskie

Answer 1

“The physical image of Ferdinand holding the dagger dramatises the sexual aggression of remarks”

Question 2

Jeanette Weatherall argues that Webster’s drama about corruption and the abuse of power gains its impact from the intimate relationship between the verbal and the visual.

Answer 2

“Webster reveals the effects of totalitarian power, in the world of the play and the society it reflects”

Question 3

Professor Lisa Hopkins

Answer 3

Argues that the Renaissance fascination with anatomy and public dissections can be linked to a quest to understand the secrets of female heart, soul and body in Jacobean drama

Question 4

Jenia Geraghty

Answer 4

“the corrupt motives of those around them bring about the downfall of the couple, which is inevitable outcome of revenge tragedy”

Question 5

William Poel

Answer 5

“Bosola is a criminal in action but not in constitution”

Question 6

CV Boyer

Answer 6

“The Duchess of Malfi is not properly the tragedy of the Duchess at all, but of her brothers Ferdinand and the Cardinal, and of Bosola”

Question 7

William Poel 1893

Answer 7

“Julia is designed as a set-off to the Duchess; as an instance of unholy love in contrast to the chaste love of the Duchess”

Question 8

Kathleen McLuskie

Answer 8

“Women characters can step out of the enclosing misogyny of other characters’ view of them but are ultimately controlled by the power of men who control the world in which they live”