Hegemonic masculinity Malfi

Point

1.       Ferdinand is like a textbook case of hegemonic masculinity gone mad.

He’s not just embodying it; he’s enforcing and weaponizing it to preserve a patriarchal and classist order.

Represses his emotions - only emotions he does display are bursts of violent rage

A2S5

“I … digged up a mandake this night”

“I’m grown mad with it”

“Root up her goodly forest, blast her meads”

• Perhaps suggesting that repression of emotion in order to conform to society’s expectation of the ‘perfect’ male leads to insanity

• which ultimately illustrates the destructive consequences of adhering to toxic masculinity.

• Apocalyptic imagery suggesting the end of innocence and the obliteration of natural beauty as a result of oppressive masculinity.

A5,S2

Unlike Stanley - who receives little to no punishment for his domineering masculine behaviour Ferdinand faces consequences for his toxic masculinity

Lycanthropy

“ Said he was a wolf” “Howled fearfully” “ What follows me … I will throttle it”

• deuteriation of mental state - perhaps due to the oppressive societal expectations of masculinity, which lead Ferdinand to madness and violence.

• Perhaps Webster critiquing hegemonic masculinity and violent male behaviour showing how it can corrupt and tarnish the soul

AO3 - Jacobean mental illness

. Unlike modern notions of mental illness, Jacobean audiences often interpreted madness as both divine punishment and moral consequence.

AO3 - what webster is trying to say through F’s lycanthropy

Ferdinand’s condition serves as a critique of hegemonic masculinity; Webster suggests that when male identity is built solely on dominance and suppression of feeling, it results not in strength but in destruction—both of the self and others.

Ao5

“Webster exposes the violence inherent in patriarchal structures by taking masculinity to its grotesque limits.”
— Laurie Maguire

You can use this to argue that Ferdinand doesn’t just represent a man gone mad—but a system gone mad.

Comparison

uniquity of masculinity in not only jacobean society also setting in SND

Poker scene - ubiquity of a masculine presence “primary colours” “peak of their physical manhood” “ lurid nocturnal brilliance”

Oppressive all-encompassing nature of men