John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi

Martin Wiggins (University of Birmingham)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1613

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

The action of The Duchess of Malfi takes place in early sixteenth-century Italy against a background of escalating European war; but its focus is on tensions within an aristocratic family. The power of the male head of the family over his female relatives' love-lives was a feature of patriarchal society which fascinated the author, John Webster, and underpins character relationships in many of his plays. In The Duchess of Malfi, the tensions, and the secrecy, arise from the Duchess's brothers' opposition to her remarriage; the Duchess being told by her elder brother, the Cardinal, that “[t]hey are most luxurious [lecherous] / Will wed twice” (1.1.284-5). In a period when female honour was associated largely with female …

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1240 words

Citation: Wiggins, Martin. "The Duchess of Malfi". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 October 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=996, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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