The Duchess of Malfi is a macabre, tragic play, written by the English dramatist John Webster and first performed in 1614 at the Globe Theatre in London. It is loosely based on true events that occurred between about 1508 and 1513, recounted in William Painter's The Palace of Pleasure (1567). The play is also thought by some to represent the tragic circumstances surrounding Lady Arbella Stuart, who, like the Duchess, saw her clandestine marriage in 1610 sabotagued by a powerful family member, in Stuart's case King James I. It begins as a love story, with a Duchess who marries beneath her class, and ends as a nightmarish tragedy as her two brothers exact their revenge, destroying themselves in the process.

The play is sometimes ridiculed by modern critics for the excessive violence and horror in its later scenes. Nevertheless, the complexity of some of its characters, particularly Bosola and the Duchess, and Webster's poetic language, give it a continuing interest, and it is still performed in the 21st century.

Characters

• Antonio Bologna. The Duchess's steward, recently returned from France, and full of scorn for the Italian courtiers whom he sees as more corrupt than the French.
• Delio. A courtier, who tries to woo Julia. A friend of Antonio.
• Daniel de Bosola. A servant of Cardinal, sent by the Cardinal as a spy to work for the Duchess.
• The Cardinal. Brother of the Duchess.
• Ferdinand. The Duke of Calabria, and brother of the Duchess.
• Castruchio.
• Roderigo. A courtier.
• Grisolan. A courtier.
• Silvio.
• The Duchess.
• Cariola. Duchess's maid.
• Julia. Castruchio's wife, and the Cardinal's mistress.
• Malateste. A hanger-on at the Cardinal's court.

Plot

The play is set in the court of Malfi (now Amalfi), Italy over the period 1504 to 1510. The Duchess, recently widowed, falls in love with Antonio, but her brothers, not wishing her to share their inheritance, forbid her from remarrying. However, she secretly marries Antonio and bears him several children.

The Duchess's lunatic and incestuously-obsessed brother Ferdinand threatens and disowns her. In an attempt to escape, the Duchess and Antonio concoct a story that Antonio has swindled her out of her fortune and has to flee into exile. She takes Bosola into her confidence, not knowing that he is the Cardinal's spy, and arranges that he will deliver her jewellery to Antonio at his hiding-place in Ancona. She will join them later, whilst pretending to make a pilgrimage to a town nearby. The Cardinal hears of the plan, instructs Ancona to banish the two lovers, and sends soldiers to capture them. Antonio escapes with their eldest son, but the Duchess, her maid and her two younger children are returned to Malfi and executed by Bosola. This experience, combined with a long-standing sense of injustice, turns Bosola against the Cardinal and his brother. Antonio, meanwhile, obtains a pardon from the Pope.

The Cardinal confesses to his mistress Julia his part in the killing of the Duchess, and then murders her to silence her. Next, Bosola overhears the Cardinal plotting to kill him, and so visits the darkened chapel to kill the Cardinal at his prayers. Instead, he mistakenly kills Antonio, who has just returned to Malfi to attempt a reconciliation with the Cardinal. Ferdinand, who by this time has gone mad, stabs the Cardinal, who dies. In the brawl that follows, Ferdinand and Bosola stab each other to death.

Antonio's elder son by the Duchess appears in the final scene, and takes his place as the heir to the Malfi fortune.

Quote

We are merely the stars' tennis balls, struck and banded

Which way please them.

-- Bosola, to Antonio after accidentally stabbing him

External link

• The Complete Text, with Notes and Commentary