Malfi context

Question 1

when was the play first performed?

Answer 1

1613/14

Question 2

where was King James’ court?

Answer 2

Whitehall

Question 3

Inspiration for Webster’s satire against Roman Catholics

Answer 3

John Donne’s Ignatius (1611)

Question 4

Where’s the play set

Answer 4

Catholic Italy in 1504

Question 5

Machiavelli’s analysis of political power

Answer 5

every prince, in order to survive, must devise plots and practice deception

Question 6

Original inspiration

Answer 6

William Painter’s The Second Tome of the Palace of Pleasure, 1567

Question 7

Original Duchess of Malfi

Answer 7

Giovanna dAragona, born 1478. Married to a senex amans

Question 8

freedom of widows

Answer 8

free from coveture (being governed by a closest male relative), exercised full legal authority over their person, property and chattels, allowed to enter into legally binding contracts, allowed to bring a suit before the court, her dowry was returned to her and she was given control over 1/3 of her husband’s property

Question 9

Shift in marital expectations on 17th century

Answer 9

romantic love more accepted, seen in Troyes’ Arthurian romances and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Lust in relationships also more accepted, portrayed by Chaucer in the Miller’s and Clerk’s tales.

Question 10

James I’s cousin punished for her marriage

Answer 10

Lady Arabella Stuart: married William Seymoure 1610, James imprisoned them and she committed suicide by starvation in the Tower in 1615

Question 11

Noblewoman punished for remarriage

Answer 11

Catherine of Valois, widow of Henry V. Became dependent on her brothers-in-law the Duke of Bedford and the Duke of Gloucester. Married Owen Tudor, who she had promoted to clerk of her wardrobe. Had 5 children together

Question 12

The Cardinal incest production

Answer 12

1960 Stratford-on-avon- Julia red-wigged like the Duchess to show parallels and implies that the Cardinal too has incestuous desires

Question 13

Bosola character

Answer 13

subverts the genre of malcontent- early characterisation inspired by Richard III, another malcontent whose ‘vaulting ambition’ is criticised but Bosola is a moral bastion at the end

Question 14

Remarriage of widows

Answer 14

Matter of contention at this time in England ) a feature of the plot of Twelfth Night)

Question 15

Play criticising James’ court

Answer 15

John Marston’s ‘Parasitaster’ 1604