My Take - The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster

The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster takes the reader/audience through a sensationalist ride of court intrigue, revenge, treachery and murder. The drama is set in the early 16th century Italy and focuses on the vengeance fostered by two noble brothers, one of which is a Cardinal against their sister. This drama falls under the category of revenge tragedy because as mentioned earlier it focuses on revenge and also on the tragedy which inevitably accompanies vengeance.
The eponymous Duchess is a young dowager and is prohibited by her brothers Cardinal and Lord Ferdinand from remarrying. Nevertheless, she secretly marries her steward, Antonio Bologna and bears him three children. This defying act of her enrages her brothers to such an extent that they end up plotting her and Antonio’s murder and finally executing it. The Duchess had to suffer many tyrannies of her brothers before she was finally strangulated by their henchman Bosola.
Initially, I thought that the Duchess’ murder was a murder killing committed by her brothers. Because the brothers made a big deal of her marrying someone below their station which they believed had ruined their honour. However, later it was revealed that the brothers did not want their sister to remarry because that would nullify their claims over her large fortune. Nevertheless, either of the reasons portrays the miserable and dismal condition of women in the society. Since, the woman in question is a financially independent duchess; I shudder to think of the wretched condition of the ordinary, poor women. Women, regardless of their socio-economic status are obliged to obey their male guardians and defying their guardians would lead to disastrous consequences. Also, the drama is replete with disparaging insinuation about the vices of womanhood, such as, their frailty, frivolity, lecherousness, etc.
       “I would fain put off my last woman's fault,
  I'd not be tedious to you.”
The quoted lines are spoken by the Duchess herself and they represent not only the patriarchy rampant in society but also how it is internalised by women themselves.
I believe that Webster through this play intended to caution us against the insidious consequences of revenge. Revenge, like fire ravages all that play with it. Hence, in the end everyone trapped in this web of revenge dies, except the eldest son of the Duchess and Antonio. However, I felt the change of heart that Bosola who was the main actor in this play of revenge underwent was pretty farcical. He turned against the brothers only because they refused to remunerate him. Had they given him his due, I don’t think he would have bothered with them anymore.
I also found many loopholes within the play. Such as, though the Duchess’ brothers were seething with rage and were ready to murder her at the instance when they learnt that despite their prohibiting she had taken a husband and delivered a child but they persecuted her and her husband after they had their third child. Isn’t it too long a gap to be accounted for?
It is a well-written play and one of the canonical texts of English literature, but I was not overly amazed by it. I felt the story to be a bit clichéd and the characters, even the major ones lacking depth. Nevertheless, I am amazed to see how the essential elements of The Duchess of Malfi, such as revenge, intrigue, cold-blooded murder continue to enthral us to this day which becomes evident in the abundance of modern films and TV series which primarily deal with these very elements. I want to end my review with one of my favourite lines from the play:
          “Places in the court are but like beds in                  the hospital, where this
     Man's head lies at that man's foot, and                 so lower and lower.”
My rating – 3.5 Stars

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