The Divine Right of Kings & the Monarchy Flashcards
How does Antonio reference the Divine Right of Kings in the first act?
The fact that Antonio speaks about a royal court in a religious register in Act 1 reminds us that in early modern England doctrines like the Divine Right of Kings, which claimed that kings were God’s representatives on earth, invested the monarchy with a religious significance.
Antonio is referring to the corruption within the court as a result (“flatt’ring sycophants”).
How does Antonio’s speech in the first act set up the tragedy of the play of the destruction of the court as a result of the corruption within (but also a portrayal of James I and his court at the time)?
So Webster begins his play with a description of an ideal court only then to show onstage a court that fails in every respect to live up to that ideal. This is a crucial part of his construction of the play’s dramatic world, but most critics have assumed that this portrayal of courtly decadence and corruption in the play text also gains from being viewed in the context of the court of King James I, who had been on the English throne for around ten years when The Duchess of Malfi was first performed. James would wholeheartedly have endorsed the sentiments expressed in Antonio’s opening speech.
How is the court in the play similar to the court of James I?
James’s court was infamous for its profligacy and corruption. He himself showered his favourites with money, offices and privileges, and those same favourites spared no expense in displaying their prestige to the world through their own lavish spending. James’s extravagance contributed to a constant need for money that he satisfied in part by selling titles of honour like knighthoods and peerages. Traditionally thought of as indicators of distinguished ancestry or rewards for loyal service, such titles in James’s court were up for grabs by anyone with sufficient money to pay for them. Later in the opening scene of The Duchess, when Ferdinand secures Bosola the post of the Duchess’s Provisorship of Horse on condition that he spies on his employer, the play enacts another feature of James’s court: its status as a hotbed of plotting and intrigue.
