Corruption within Malfi

Key events

  • The most distinct example is the treatment of the Duchess at the hands of the brothers - her isolation,imprisonment,torture and death

  • Hiring of Bosola - the brothers’ use of bosola to wipe the responsibility of their actions and manipulate their ‘agent’ for their selfish wrongdoings - using law to do this

  • Confiscating of lands from Antonio - use of the Church to relieve personal conflicts- highlights corruption within the church as an establishment

  • The adulterous relationship with Julia and The Cardinal yet displaying a code of honour to almost delude himself of his nobleness

  • Murder of Julia through poisoned bible

  • Corruption comes forth physically in Ferdinand’s lyncanthropia

Corrupt characters

  • The Cardinal

> the most dangerous form of corruption ; cold , calculating and intelligent .

> his abuse of power to fulfil private issues demonstrates the extent of his influence and authority whilst also showing the lack of morality

> hypocrisy - maintains his holy exterior yet engages in sin as severe as murder(multiple counts)

> his poisoning of the Bible - this act physically demonstrates his corruption and lack of faith (entirely a facade for personal gain) - tarnishing religion and using to commit murder

> every interaction he has appears for his benefit or used to show his limitless power

  • Ferdinand

> contrasting personality with his brother - he is perverted and twisted , uses no logic or composure to commit acts - rash and spontaneously violent - however highlights his inner turmoil so potentially he has less of a true understanding of his behaviour than his brother does

> similarly uses law as tool for destruction on his terms

> incestuous obsession- unnatural - he is biologically, mentally deformed

> lyncanthropy - descent into madness is physical manifestation of his corruption - abandons humanity and turns to bestiality

  • Bosola

> economic and social corruption

> educated but desperate

> he recognises his lack of agency under the brothers so frees his conscience from his acts

Quotes

  • A prince's court / Is like a common fountain, whence should flow / Pure silver drops in general; but if't chance / Some curs'd example poison't near the head, / Death and diseases through the whole land spread." (Antonio, Act 1, Scene 1)

  • "He and his brother are like plum trees that grow crooked over standing pools: they are rich, and o'erladen with fruit, but none but crows, pies, and caterpillars feed on them." (Bosola, Act 1, Scene 1)

  • "Some fellows, they say, are possessed with the devil, but this great fellow were able to possess the greatest devil and make him worse." (Bosola, Act 1, Scene 1)

  • "He is a melancholy churchman. The spring in his face is nothing but the engendering of toads... he strews in his way flatterers, panders, intelligencers, atheists, and a thousand such political monsters." (Antonio, Act 1, Scene 2)

  • "He speaks with others' tongues, and hears men's suits / With others' ears; will seem to sleep o'th' bench / Only to entrap offenders in their answers." (Antonio, Act 1, Scene 2)

  • "You live in a rank pasture here, i'th' court. / There is a kind of honey-dew that's deadly: / 'Twill poison your fame." (Ferdinand, Act 1, Scene 3)

  • "I would hang on their ears like a horse-leech till I were full, and then drop off." (Bosola, Act 1, Scene 1)

  • "There are rewards for hawks and dogs when they have done us service; but for a soldier... there is nothing but kind words." (Bosola, Act 1, Scene 1)

Critical comments

  • David Cecil: "The world as seen by Webster is, of its nature, incurably corrupt."

  • Travis Bogard: "The ultimate tragedy of Webster’s world is not the death of any individual but rather the presence of evil and decay which drags all mankind to death."

  • David Gunby: Describes the "Malcontent" (Bosola) as a "character divided within himself" and argues that if the metaphorical fountain of the court hadn't been poisoned, "Bosola would have been allowed to thrive" as a good man.

  • Lee Bliss: "The Cardinal’s cool, unemotional detachment is more terrifying than Ferdinand’s impassioned raving.

  • Michael Neill: "The system devours those who serve it."

  • Kate Aughterson: She argues that in Malfi, "political corruption is clearly linked to masculinity, and individual freedom and justice to femininity."