The Duchess of Malfi Context

The Duchess of Malfi date

Webster wrote The Duchess of Malfi ten years into the Jacobean era (17th century) in England and only a few years before Shakespeare's death. (1614)

The Duchess of Malfi true story

The play is based on an Italian novella, which in turn is based on true historical events. The real Duchess, Giovanna d'Aragona, married Antonio Beccadelli in secret and bore him three children. She was murdered by her brothers, one of whom was a Cardinal, in 1510.

Webster deviates from the story how

True story - Antonio didn't die until a few years after the Duchess' death, and Bosola's repentance and ultimate betrayal and murder of the brothers is fictionalised, as the two were never accused or killed. Development o f the character Bosola, who was morally opposed to the crimes he was forced to commit, however still 'must do/ 'all the ill man can invent'.

First performed by

The Duchess of Malfi was first performed by the King's Men, the theatre company to which Shakespeare belonged that performed all of his work. Richard Burbage, who first played famous characters such as Hamlet and King Lear, was the first to play Duke Ferdinand. Henry Condell, one of the editors and publishers of Shakespeare's First Folio, first played the Cardinal.

First performed in ... theatre

Play first performed in Blackfriars, more intimate and frequented by the intellectuals - allowed for more sneaking and subtle lighting and play has different texture to Shakespeare as it was for a different audience.

Tragedy

a play with a central protagonist of elevated social station, who when confronted with a series of choices consistently makes the wrong decision because of a central flaw in his character - leads to fall - because of elevated status, others fall with him.

Aristotle's theory of tragedy

tragedy is serious, has magnitude, is dramatic, only deals with one issue and feelings of pity and fear are central.

Revenge Tragedy

A prominent type of play in the 17th century, however, dates back to the Senecean Tragedies in Ancient Rome. Thomas Kyd and Middleton all portray extreme violence in their respective works.

What were revenge tragedies also about

The lack of justice - contained all elements of tragedy also. Punishment in Jacobean was very harsh as a deterrent as couldn't catch them easily - people also deterred by idea of God being omniscient and would punish them in the next life. The idea was that people shouldn't take justice into their own hands as it is up to God, but in these tragedies people do take it into their own hands and so escalate it - makes it worse. Revenge tragedies demonstrate the dangers of exacting such revenge.

Elements of Revenge Tragedy

(also called tragedies of the state) court setting, murder, subterfuge, madness (links to breakdown of state) 'malcontent', the issue of the 'machiavellian', exploration of religion.

The great chain of being

God was perceived to have allocated the social hierarchy, and therefore to change it would be usurping God's powers and going against Him. It was an ultimate sin to defy the Chain of being, which both Lucifer and Eve committed.

The malcontent

The malcontent would be a familiar stereotype to a Jacobean audience, as a character who is mistreated and condemns their society, but is prepared to use any means to gain promotion in the same society. Other example - Hamlet.

The machiavellian

The archetypal Machiavellian character would be familiar to a Jacobean audience, as, after Machiavelli wrote an instructional book in 1513, the Machiavel became a stereotype in drama for villains who used manipulation or cruelty to complete acquire and maintain power.

Why 17th century women subordinate to men

The roots of these attitudes lay in the bible, when Eve is persuaded to dishonour god and eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Dympna Claghan explains that this story is 'both the justification and the cause of women's subjugation'

Which women were seen as independent

Women who did not display the traditional feminine virtues - modesty, chastity, obedience - were seen as a threat to social fabric and were often publicly punished, using, for example, the ducking stool, or were demonised as witches.

How was the society obsessed with disease and death

Public executions were commonly attended by the public and different methods of torture were used to ensure the victim suffered for as long as possible. Furthermore, severe outbreaks of the plague were common, for example in London in 1603 over 1/6 of the population died in an outbreak of the plague.

Dekker's opinion of the plague

The plague was a result of the corruption and decadence in the court under Queen Elizabeth I, and it was a common concern in the 17th century that the corruption in James' court could lead to a further spread of 'death and diseases'.

The four humours

Used as an explanation for human behaviour by renaissance doctors.

Ferdinand's humour

choleric (excess of yellow bile - angry) - poor intentions of deceit.

Duchess's humour

sanguine (excess of blood - full of life) - courage and amorousness, positive nature of deciet

Cardinal's humour

phlegmatic (excess of phlegm - lack of emotion)

Bosola's humour

melancholic (excess of black bile - cynical)

What did Hippocrates think of the womb

That it was a free moving organ that moved around the body causing hysteria. It was characterised as a mental illness that caused paralysis, spasms and general pain. Ferdinand's attempts at making the Duchess insane link to this

Bedlam and mental illness

Bedlam was a hospital specialising in mental illness. Visitors would pay to see patients even without any relation to them. When public access ended in 1770 patient abuse began.

Sumptuary laws

Social order was becoming more fluid in the 17th century, especially as a result of James' policies that allowed court positions to be bought and sold, reducing the significance of ancestry. In order to protect social rankings these were passed which decreed that people should dress according to their social status, and, therefore, only the aristocracy, for example, could wear certain, more extravagant, fabrics.

Who was suspected of being witches

Any females who were old, physically disabled, suffered from a mental disorder, had an irritable personality or were widowed could be suspected of witchcraft. Legislation existed so that possession of herbs like mandrake or cannabis could result in execution by burning. It was a common belief that witches could hunt or even kill and so communities staged witch hunts.

What did James 1st write about witchcraft

'Daemonologie', an examination of necromancy and Black Magic, in 1597 - fascinatd, imagery familiar to jacobean audience

How did Webster censor

Setting plays in Italy - safe to explore politically unaccpetable ideas. (Madness ran in the royal-blood (Phillip of Spain's heir was strangled in prison) - wasn't safe)

How did poverty increase and why discontent?

A result of increased colonial expansion - inflation, increased taxation, mass unemployment and low wages.

Following on from the peasant revolt in 1381 - exasperated by the extravagance they saw in James' lifestyle and his court, leading to consistent peasant protests throughout the 17th century.

Stoicism

The endurance of pain and hardship without complain or the expression of emotions. The Duchess is the most " character, she welcomes her death with dignity.

The White Devil (1612)

Webster's first play which was not well-received initially. It has similarities to Malfi, however: both involve the supernatural, both focus on a heroine and both are tragedies.

How was corruption started in court

When James was a young man - others attempted to flatter him to boost influence - It was a tactic that Robert Carr and George Villiers were to use with great success after James was made king of England

The Basilikon Doron

Written by James in 1599 (Royal gift) for his eldest son and heir prince Henry, in which he advises him to choose courtiers and advisors with great care. However, this was deeply ironic as James was notorious for filling government positions with flatterers and poorly qualifies people, such as Robert Carr.

Church vs State

The country was divided into a two system rule - church and providence, and therefore two systems of judgment - divine and temporal. There was conflict between the two in the Jacobean era.

James Stuart dates

6th of Scotland, 1st England (June 19, 1566 - March 27, 1625) - faced many complicated religious challenges during his reigns in Scotland and England.

James and the English Church

Church system still adhered to an episcopate and supported the monarch's position as the head of the church.

But there were many more Roman Catholics and James inherited a set of penal laws which he was constantly exhorted to use against them. James had said that he would not persecute "any that will be quiet and give but an outward obedience to the law" but he soon reinforced strict penalties against Catholics.

James and the Scottish church

There was a developing reformed church - the Kirk - attempting to rid the country of bishops, diocese and parishes etc and establish a fully Presbyterian system, run by ministers and elders. But James saw the bishops as the natural allies of the monarchy and frequently came into conflict with the kirk in his sustained effort to reintroduce an episcopal (office of a bishop) policy.

The gunpowder plot

The catholics in England had expected James to be more tolerant of them, but his treatment of them so angered some Catholics that they decided to kill James and put his daughter Elizabeth on the throne ensuring that she was a Catholic. This led to a plot to kill not only the king of England, James, but also everyone sitting in the Houses of Parliament at the same time as James was there when he opened Parliament on November 5th, 1605.

Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators, having rented out a house right by the Houses of Parliament, managed to get 36 barrels of gunpowder into a cellar of the House of Lords, where Guy was caught in the cellar before lighting the fuse and the whole plot unravelled.

Anti-Catholicism

Was started by other catholic conspiracies - the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the Pope's previous promise of salvation to anyone who assassinated the well-liked Queen Elizabeth - and the laws the punished people refusing to follow Protestantism harshly.

Measures against the catholics

After the Gunpowder plot, James sanctioned stricter measures to suppress them. In May 1606, Parliament passed an act which could require any citizen to take an Oath of Allegiance, entailing a denial of the pope's authority over the king.

James believed that the Oath was merely concerned with civil obedience, a secular transaction between king and subject; but it provoked opposition among Catholics, as it did not explicitly restrict itself to political matters. James' policy aimed at punishing a few instead creating bloodshed; Jesuits and seminary priests could simply be asked to leave the country. James proved lenient towards Catholic laymen who took the Oath of Allegiance, and tolerated crypto-Catholicism even at court. Henry Howard, for example, outwardly professed Protestantism but remained a Catholic in private and was received back into the Roman church in his final months.

The obsession with Protestantism and the virgin queen

Catholics were viewed as disloyal from the Virgin Queen's ascension, Mary Queen of Scots was suspected of treason and was executed in 1587. The Duchess' power and seemingly Protestant actions liken her to Elizabeth.

Why did James start persecution of the puritans

they presented him with the Millenary Petition, allegedly signed by a thousand English clergy, requesting reforms in the church, particularly the abolition of confirmation, wedding rings, and the term "priest", and that the wearing of cap and surplice, which they regarded as "outward badges of Popish errours", be made optional.

James, however, equated them with Scottish Presbyterians and, after banning religious petitions, told the Hampton Court Conference of 1604 that he preferred the status quo, with the monarch ruling the church through the bishops. He therefore resolved to enforce conformity among the clergy, a decision which led in the short term to about ninety ejections or suspensions from livings - leading to this.

A measure against the puritans

A notable success of the Hampton Court Conference was the commissioning of a new translation of the Bible, completed in 1611, which became known as the King James Bible, considered a masterpiece of Jacobean prose.