<aside> 👑 It is based on real events ocurred in 1500s Italy it was written during Jacobean era, a time of political and religious upheavel. The play is a classic example of revenge tragedy, a popular genre in Elizabethan and Jacobean period.

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• John Webster: He wrote dark and violent tragedies like The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which explored themes of corruption, revenge, and madness2.

• Plot: The Duchess falls in love with her steward, Antonio. Despite opposition from her brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal, they marry in secret4.

• Narrative Techniques: The plot consists of a main plot connected with the story of The Duchess and a subplot5.

• Dramatic Devices: The play uses dramatic irony, with the audience generally made aware of the Duchess and Antonio’s secret marriage well before any of the rest of the cast6.

• The Duchess: She is a young widow and the ruler of the Italian town of Amalfi. She is intelligent, kind, and virtuous. Despite her brothers’ prohibition, she marries her steward, Antonio, for love345.

• Ferdinand: The Duchess’s twin brother, he doesn’t want his widowed sister to remarry, partly due to his pride and greed3.

• Themes: The main themes of The Duchess of Malfi include politics and corruption, love and male authority, guilt, death, and suffering, religion and sin, and gender roles and women5.

• Genre: The Duchess of Malfi is a revenge tragedy6.

• Objectives: The play explores the relationship between appearance and reality, of seeming versus being, which evokes the theatre itself2. It also explores the ways in which people can become morally corrupted4.

• The play enacts an inversion of gender roles with respect to discourse. The Duchess’s voice and silence are associated with honesty and dramatic authority, while her brothers’ voices are associated with incestuous and murderous desires4.

• The language reflects the ideology of the play, which comments on the corruption and abuse of absolute political power within the reign of King James I and the Catholic Church5.

• Webster consciously uses certain terms and figures of speech to enhance the tragic elements of the play5.

• Cultural/Social/Philosophical Issues: “The Duchess of Malfi” by John Webster explores themes of love, power, and the consequences of marrying beneath one’s class3. It also delves into the politics of remarriage and the role of marriage in social stability4.

• Given Circumstances: The play is set in the Italian town of Amalfi during the Renaissance5. The Duchess, a young widow and ruler of Amalfi, marries her steward Antonio secretly, against the wishes of her brothers3.

• Crucial Scene: Act 12. The Duchess defies her brothers by wooing and marrying Antonio in a chamber ceremony2.

• Impact: This scene is crucial as it sets the plot in motion and leads to the tragic events that follow.

• The play “The Duchess of Malfi” operates as a visual presentation with Jacobean emphasis on spectacle and embodiment3.

• The Duchess’s voice and silence are associated with honesty and dramatic authority, while her brothers’ voices are associated with incestuous and murderous desires4.

  Fox - Basilisk - Wolf- Melancholy - Diamonds - Pearls Poison- Disease - Blood

• Plot