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THE DUCHESS OF MALFI BY JOHN WEBSTER

The Duchess of Malfi is a work of genius that has placed John Webster firmly among the best playwrights in literature . It is a tragedy in the tradition of the Elizabethan revenge play but it considerably modifies and enriches that tradition . The central motif is revenge , but the revenge is not taken as a sacred duty but out of selfishness and vindictiveness . The motif for revenge is dishonorable and our sympathies tend to be towards the victim of the revenge rather than with the avengers

. Webster was successful in making the revengers , the Cardinal and Duke Ferdinand , look repugnant and detestable , while the traditional revenger was always capable to rouse the admiration and sympathy of the audience . Here we admire the innocence and fortitude of the Duchess , and in proportion hate the two brothers as monsters of inequity . This gives the uniqueness and originality to the play

Like most of the other playwrights of his age , Webster too did not invent a story but found the same from a real sequel that was later historied by William Painter in his Palace of Pleasure (1567 . The facts of the historical Duchess are as follows : in 1490 she married when she was twelve , and was widowed at the age of twenty . After Antonio Bolonga became her major-domo in 1504 , she fell in love with him and secretly married him for which only her maid was a witness . This wedlock was revealed only after the birth of the first child and the arrival of the second caused rumors . When her brothers watched , Antonio took the children leaving her behind pregnant with a third . She was deserted by her household when she confessed about her marriage and after banishment , the Duchess , her children and her maid was taken to Malfi by her brothers and was never heard of again

In characterization , The Duchess of Malfi is an immense advance over other contemporary plays . The Duchess , the central figure , is a stoical figure who bears misfortune with calm resignation and fortitude . Opposed to her and devout to destroy her are the three Machiavellian figures - Duke Ferdinand , the Cardinal and Bosola . But the characters cannot be divided so easily into good or bad . They are beyond the implications of such a division as they are very intricate and puzzlingly complex . The wicked characters have some good in them . That is why Ferdinand goes mad seeing the face of his dead sister even Bosola is moved and decides to avenge her death . The Duchess is one of the finest creations in Elizabethan drama no other female character outside Shakespeare surpasses her in vividness and subtlety . Her persecution transforms and her despair renders her personality a lofty and stoic touch

The scene of the play is laid in Italy . The setting to the play is provided by contemporary Italian court life . It is the Italianate Hell The courts are those of the small independent states into which Italy was divided at...

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