Malfi contexts

The Aristocracy

Revenge tragedies focus on a corrupt and immoral milieu - the ruling class is presented as tyrannical and tainted by sinfulness

The Divine Right of Kings

The Divine Right of Kings was a doctrine which claimed that kings were God’s representatives on earth, thus investing the monarchy with a religious significance. This doctrine was fully endorsed by James I who wrote a book about it

James I’s court

James I’s court was famous for it’s corruption - he enjoyed flattery and he gave his favourites money, titles and privileges. His court was famous for its sexual licentiousness, (also evident in Malfi in the relationship between the Cardinal and Julia)

The Body Politic

The Body Politic was a metaphor used to describe the nation and it was closely linked to the belief in the monarch’s two bodies - the body politic that saw him as a ruler ordained by God rather than his own mortal, weak body. If these two bodies pursued opposing objectives, this threatened the stability of the body politic

Women’s Sexual Desire

Early modern England expressed some anxiety about female sexuality as women were believed to have a much stronger sexual appetite than men and so were feared as untrustworthy

New Individualism/Emerging Capitalism p

Those in power in early modern England believed in a fixed social order (The Chain of Being) but that was under threat from a new restlessness as land and wealth began to move into the hands of ‘new’ men, along with a nascent meritocracy - where one might be rewarded for merit rather than for birthright - as Antonio is by the Duchess

Widowhood

Widows, as sexually experienced women, were thought to be especially susceptible to sexual desire, a fear expressed by Ferdinand in his insult ‘lusty widow’. The Duchess, however, celebrates her sexual nature in her loving desire for a new husband

Religion: Catholicism & Protestantism

Audiences at Malfi would have been, in general, anti-Catholic as Catholics were seen to be disloyal and potentially treacherous because of the religious friction and turmoil caused by Henry VIII’s break with the Church years earlier and the recent Gunpowder Plot. Thus, the demonisation of the Catholic Church (made clear in the characterisation of the Cardinal) and Italy embodied the English fear and fascination for this distant land and seemingly hostile religion

The Malcontent

The malcontent was a stock character in Renaissance drama who exposes the vices of those he despises whilst also participating in the vicious world he rails against

The Chain of Being

The Chain of Being organised the world into a fixed order. Within that order, men were organised from the king down to serf