The Duchess of Malfi
by John Webster (1580-1634)
Summary of The Duchess of Malfi
About the author: John Webster was a Jacobean dramatist. He was famous for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess Malfi.
Click here; To read notes of The Duchess of Malfi
Key Facts
Author: John Webster (1580-1634)
Full title: The Tragedy of the Duchess of Malfi.
Time of composition: Between 1612-1613
First performed: At Globe Theatre 1614
Published date: 1623
Genre: Tragedy or Revenge Tragedy or Decadent Play.
Note: Decadent play shows the destruction of standards, morals, honor, religious faith and discipline.
Time setting: 16th century Europe because the play opens in 1504 at the court of Mlfi, Italy.
Place setting: Malfi, Rome, Ancona, Loreto, Milan
The number of acts: There are five acts in the play which consist of 18 scenes.
Symbols
The court: The court is the general symbol of a corrupted society.
The Duchess: The Duchess is a symbol of motherhood and light.
Ring: The ring functions as symbolic of accomplishment and virtue as well as a pledge of fidelity.
Darkness: Darkness symbolizes crime, evil, madness, ignorance, and diabolical or devilish forces.
Insanity: Insanity signifies the loss of pure love and relative.
Themes
- Corruption
- Disguise and deception
- The fertile woman
- The class distinction
- Cruelty and heroism
Character List
Daniel de Bosola
He is the villain of the tragedy. He is a criminal hired by Ferdinand to spy on the remarriage of the Duchess. Bosola is such a hired murder who does not hesitate to kill anyone. He is corrupted, cynical, melancholic, deceptive, and cunning.
Ferdinand
Ferdinand is the Duke of Calabria and the twin brother of the Duchess. He hires Daniel de Bosola as the spy. He is terribly furious, greedy, lustful, corrupted, and powerful. Finally, he himself is overtaken by insanity.
The Cardinal
The Cardinal is cynical and calculated elder brother of the Duchess and Ferdinand. He keeps an illegal mistress named Julia who is the wife of Castruccio.
The Duchess
The Duchess is the widowed Duchess of Malfi. She is disappointed because of the premature death of her Duke and her brothers have imposed a prohibition on her for remarriage. She is the symbol of a fertile woman and heroism because she begets three children avoiding all restrictions.
Antonio Bologna
Antonio Bologna is the loyal steward of the Duchess of Malfi. He is loved by the Duchess and married secretly in presence of Criola who the loyal maidservant of the Duchess is.
Delio
Delio is one of the most important courtiers at Malfi. A good-hearted gentleman, he remains loyal to Antonio and the Duchess. In the final scene, he enters with the eldest son of the Duchess.
Castruccio
Castruccio is one of the important courtiers at Malfi. He is a courtier under Ferdinand and Julia’s older husband. He represents the cuckolded fool.
Summary
The outset of the drama focuses on how the life of a young widow is disappointed for the regret of the loss of her beloved husband and a large fortune. The play opens at the court of Malfi. Antonio Bologna who is the steward of the Duchess has returned to Malfi after a visit from France. Two brothers of the Duchess, Cardinal who is the elder brother of the Duchess, and Ferdinand who is the twin brother of the Duchess, have come to Malfi with the spy of the play Bosola.
Ferdinand tells Duchess that Bosola will look after her horses as the manager or chief of the groom. The Duchess agrees or assents. Ferdinand and Cardinal before leaving the court of Malfi forbid Duchess to remarry. Ferdinand instructs Bosola to spy whether Duchess is engaging herself with someone for marriage or not.
Then the Duchess expresses her deep frustration before maidservant Cariola by declaring that her life has been pathless in the wilderness. The Duchess makes it clear before the audience that her brothers do not have any attention to her sorrow and happiness. They are only busy with possessing her large fortune. At that moment, Antonio Bologna reenters the scene. This time the Duchess without any hesitation declares that she loves Antonio and she wants to marry him. Antonio gives his consent and the Duchess and Antonio get married secretly keeping Cariola as the only witness.
After long nine months, the plot of the play has been set at the court of Malfi. Now the Duchess after enjoying a long-secret married life with her loveable and loyal husband Antonio is pregnant. Boloso who is spying for Ferdinand doubts the pregnancy of the Duchess. To justify his suspicion, Boloso offers the Duchess apricots that is a kind of fruit that is favorite to the pregnant one. After eating apricots, the Duchess feels ill because of pregnancy pain. Duchess requests Antonio to take her to her bedroom. After this, Duchess and Antonio hit upon a plan to handle this critical situation. Antonio tells Delio who is Antonio’s bosom friend that Delio spreads the news that Bosola has given poisonous fruit to Duchess for eating.
Antonio in a hurry and loud shouting orders to close the gates of the place because a Swiss thief has entered Duchess’s bedroom with a weapon and the valuable things which nearly cost 4 thousand ducats have been stolen. Bosola now is sure that the Duchess is pregnant, and her bleeding has been started for having apricots.
Criola enters and congratulates Antonio because the Duchess has begotten a baby boy. At midnight Bosola is busy with his spying and at the same time, Antonio sees Bosola. They talk hotly. Before leaving, Antonio accidentally casts the paper of his newly born baby’s horoscope or nativity calculated.
Bosola picks up the paper and becomes damned sure that he heard the shout coming from Duchess’s room was nothing but delivery cry. Gleefully, Bosola plots that he will send a letter to the brothers of the Duchess of Malfi via Castruccio, who leaves the next day for Rome.
The scene now sets in Rome in the house of the Cardinal. The Cardinal is now enjoying his illegal sexual relationship with Julia who is the wife of Castruccio. In meantime, a servant comes and informs the Cardinal that a letter has come from Bosola. After reading the letter, Ferdinand and Cardinal come to learn that the Duchess has begotten a baby boy. Ferdinand is very furious, but he is suggested by his elder brother Cardinal to be cool and calm because a hot brain cannot produce any proper planning to solve a critical situation.
Now the scene turns to the court of Malfi. Meanwhile, two years have passed, and the Duchess has begotten two more babies. Ferdinand and the Cardinal are well aware of this. Ferdinand and the Duchess enter. Ferdinand tells Duchess that he has found a suitor for the Duchess named count Malateste. The Duchess replies that she does not like this proposal. Then, Bososla informs Ferdinand lonely that he has done all, but he could not learn about the father of the Duchess’s babies.
In the bed-chamber of the Duchess, Antonio and Duchess are exchanging their cordial love for each other. The Duchess wishes to spend tonight with Antonio. Ferdinand learns about Duchess’s concern for Antonio because of Antonio’s sudden absence from the Duchess’s chamber. Cariola takes Antonio aside to say something but the Duchess is not aware of this. In the meantime, Ferdinand enters the Duchess’s chamber with a knife.
After hearing this, Ferdinand shows his wrath to the Duchess and gives her the knife so that she could suicide. Ferdinand also takes an oath that he will never see the face of the Duchess. Then Antonio and Cariola enter the chamber. Antonio, hearing from the Duchess, comments that the Duchess should have hit Ferdinand with the knife. At this very moment, someone knocks on the door of the Duchess’s bedroom. Cariola ensures that Bosola is in the door. The Duchess tells Antonio to leave the place right now.
Bosola informs Duchess that Ferdinand has left Malfi and he is on the way to Rome. The Duchess explains to Bosola that Antonio has betrayed him because a huge number of valuable things are missing from the repository of the Duchess. Bosola leaves and Antonio enters. The Duchess tells Antonio to leave Malfi and stays at Ancona, a city in central Italy. The Duchess ensures Antonio that she will join Antonio.
At the court, the Duchess discusses the matter of Antonio’s from Malfi. Bosola protests this and asserts that Antonio is a virtuous man. Then the Duchess frankly confesses to Bosola that Antonio is her husband and father of her three children. The Duchess trusts Bosola but Bosola betrays her and discloses the plan of the Duchess to Ferdinand.
The Duchess goes to Loreto for the pilgrimage. Bosola reaches Loreto and informs the Duchess that her brothers have learned this. The Duchess requests Antonio to go to Milan with their eldest son. From Loreto, the Duchess is arrested and sent to jail.
Ferdinand imposes heavy torture on the Duchess in jail. He actually wants to make the Duchess insane, but the Duchess is very patient. Ferdinand meets the Duchess in the Jail in darkness because of his commitment. Ferdinand shows the duchess a hand of a dead man to ensure that Antonio has been killed. There was the wedding ring of the Duchess at the hand of the dead man’s hand.
But this not all since Ferdinand wants to destroy the Duchess completely. He decides to shift insane persons around the Duchess. But Bosola this time protests Ferdinand not to do so. In the jail, the Duchess and Carola talk to each other about their distress in life. Cariola is given the responsibility to look after the children of the Duchess. After the Duchess and Cariola discuss their unfortunate situation, a servant announces the entrance of eight madmen, who include an astrologer, a lawyer, a priest, a doctor, a farmer, a tailor, an usher, and a broker.
However, Ferdinand orders to kill the Duchess. The duchess is killed with Cariola and her two children. Now the scene is dramatic because Ferdinand could not tolerate the dead body of the Duchess. Ferdinand becomes insane and tells Bosola that he should not kill his sister. At this moment, Bosola comes to the Duchess who is still alive. Bosola informs the Duchess that her husband is still alive. Then the Duchess dies peacefully.
However, Ferdinand has been mad. The Cardinal orders Bosola to kill Antonio in Milan. But at the same, the Cardinal makes a plan that he will kill Bosola whenever he will kill Antonio. Bosola overhears this and takes an oath that he will save Antonio anyhow and avenge Ferdinand and the Cardinal. Bosola exploits Julia sexually to spy on the Cardinal.
But the Cardinal is such a cunning person that he could presume all and kills Julia by the name of taking oath kissing on the poisonous Bible. After Julia’s death, Bosola is determined to kill the Cardinal. But in the darkness, Bosola kills Antonio thinking that it is the Cardinal. Antonio comes to the court of Malfi to reconcile with Ferdinand and the Cardinal.
Then Bosola goes to the Cardinal with the dead body of Antonio and he threatens the Cardinal. Bosola kills the servant and then stabs the Cardinal twice. Ferdinand enters in a fit of insanity. He also stabs the Cardinal and then gives Bosola a lethal wound. Bosola kills Ferdinand, who dies exclaiming “My sister! O, my sister!” The scene ends with the deaths of the Cardinal and Bosola. Delio enters, together with Antonio’s son, and sadly contemplates the tragedy.
Moral lesson
Human passion and necessity must be evaluated. If Ferdinand and The Cardinal pay hid to the happiness of their sister, they will find a suitor for her.
