9–10. In its totality, it reads: "Deadly accent. John Gielgud, as Ferdinand, accentuated the element of incestuous passion in that character's treatment of the Duchess (played by Peggy Ashcroft). The internal struggle faced by the Duchess when fighting her brothers and hiding her marriage was all part of Webster's intention to reflect and refer to the Roman paradigms and Senecan tragedies. Equestrian steward; one who had the care of providing for her stables. Her assertion of her freedom of choice is best illustrated in her soliloquy following her conversation with her brothers when they strictly advise her to not even think about remarrying. The Cardinal abuses his ecclesiastical powers to have Antonio's property confiscated and to have the Duchess and her family banished from the state of Ancona. Bosola kills Ferdinand, and is left with the dying Cardinal. Bosola greets the Duchess, telling her that her brother wishes to speak with her, but will not do so where he can see her. He should have been Pope; but instead of coming to it by the primitive decency of the church, he did bestow bribes so largely and so impudently as if he would have carried it away without heaven's knowledge. Drama in Renaissance England is traditionally divided into two periods: Elizabethan (1550s– 1603) and Jacobean (1603–30s). As Produced At The Theatre Royal, Sadler's Wells, November 20, 1850. When she leaves, Ferdinand re-enters; Bosola pleads with him to send his sister to a convent, refusing to be a part of the plot any more. Tomo secondo, Londra: presso Riccardo Bancker (i.e. Nandini B. Pandey, "Medea's Fractured Self on the Jacobean Stage: Webster's Duchess of Malfi as a Case Study in Renaissance Readership", Web. Her brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal tell her not to remarry (she was recently widowed). W. H. Auden adapted Webster's text for the modern audience. This statement impresses the hidden Antonio. If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices. Born in Giorvanna d'Aragon, she was married in 1490 at the age of 12 to Alfonso Piccolomini, son and heir of the first Duke of AMalfi. In 2010, the production was staged for Stage on Screen[18] at the Greenwich Theatre, London. Antonio and Delio hold their conversation, stepping to the background to watch as Bosola angrily tries to gain the Cardinal's pardon, speaking of the time he has spent in the galleys in penal servitude, and in the service of the Cardinal. Shortly after, Duchess came to the United States. Learn faster with spaced repetition. The couple puts on a show argument for the benefit of the returning Bosola and officers, where she criticises his faulty record keeping and banishes him. 1, 2004, pp. When he leaves, Antonio and Delio comment on his past offence, and how he will surely come to no good if he is kept in neglect. Boy player Richard Sharpe played the title role not in the original 1612 production, presumably due to his age, but in the revival of 1619–23. Ferdinand and the Cardinal order the death of the Duchess without any proper judgement passed by a court of law. The Cardinal leaves to petition for her and her family's exile from Ancona, while Bosola goes to tell the Duchess's first child (from her first husband) what has happened with his mother. Scene 1—Outside Ferdinand and the Cardinal's palace in Milan: Antonio returns to see if he can reconcile with Ferdinand and the Cardinal, but Delio is dubious as to the wisdom of this. "Webster and the Social Tragedy.". Ferdinand comes to view the scene, and is also shown the bodies of his sister's children, who were murdered as well. Chandra, Sandhita. [citation needed] Though the Duchess and her brothers are aware of this, her brothers, concerned with wealth and honour, nevertheless strive to dismantle her marriage to Antonio[10] while disapproving of their sister's love life. Patrick Wymark played Bosola. The continued objectification of the Duchess from her brothers conveys males' perceived ability to control a woman's body in the society of the 16th century. In the aftermath of World War II, George Rylands directed a production at the Haymarket Theatre that at last caught the public mood. Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. Bosola and masked guards then take the Duchess and her remaining children captive, on the orders of her brothers. William Poel staged the play at the Opera Comique in 1892, with Mary Rorke as the Duchess and Murray Carson as Bosola. [21] This production coincided with a representation of the aforementioned Theobald text of 1736 as part of the Globe's Read Not Dead series – directed by David Oakes.[22]. A shocked Bosola has no time to call for medicine; he manages to tell the Duchess that Antonio is not really dead; that the figures she saw were fake, before she finally dies. He believes she is pregnant (no one but Delio and Cariola know that the Duchess and Antonio are married), and aims to prove it by using apricots both to spark her pregnant appetite and to induce labour, as apricots were believed to do. Delio asks Pescara, a marquis, to give him possession of Antonio's estate for safekeeping, but Pescara denies him. Instead, he mistakenly kills Antonio, who has just returned to Malfi to attempt a reconciliation with the Cardinal. Renaissance drama drew on a number of di… The Cardinal and Ferdinand then turn their attention to their sister, urging her not to marry again, now that she is a widow, going so far as to threaten her with death, in Ferdinand's case. / The ring upon't / You gave"(4.1 42–44). The production was staged in a promenade style and performed at a mysterious vacant site at Great Eastern Quay in London's Royal Albert Basin. DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19152-9_6; Publisher Name Palgrave Macmillan, London; Print ISBN 978-1-349-19154-3; Online ISBN 978-1-349-19152-9 Conspiracy and intrigue are the air he breathes. The actor-centred troupe led by Ian McKellen and Edward Petherbridge chose Webster's play as one of their first productions. Working with Horne's text, director James Stark staged a production in San Francisco; this version is noteworthy for a sentimental apotheosis Stark added, in which the Duchess and Ferdinand are reunited in heaven. Bandello says that the brothers arranged the kidnapping of the Duchess, her maid, and two of her three children by Antonio, all of whom were then murdered. The son's decision is in spite of his father's explicit wish that he "fly the court of princes", a corrupt and increasingly deadly environment. Bosola declares that he is surely done with service, but the Cardinal is not interested in Bosola's new merit and takes his leave. The production was filmed and broadcast on BBC4 on 25 May 2014. The text was adapted by Richard Henry Horne. Kathman, David. Contemporary reference also indicated that the play was performed in 1618, for in that year Orazio Busino, the chaplain to the Venetian ambassador to England, complained of the play's treatment of Catholics in the character of the Cardinal. Hoby was clearly very impressed by the decor, by implication superior to what he was used to in England, describing the chamber in which they were accommodated as: 'hanged with clothe of gold and vellett, wherein were two beddes, th'one of silver worke and the other of vellett, with pillowes bolsters and the shetes curiouslie wrowght with needle worke.'[13]. Bosola kills the servant of the Cardinal first, and then stabs the Cardinal. Bosola informs the Duchess that Ferdinand has left for Rome again, and she tells him that Ferdinand's bills of exchange (he has so far dealt with her accounts) will no longer work, since Antonio has been false with her accounts. Webster's tragedies come toward the close of the great series of tragedies of blood and revenge, in which "The Spanish Tragedy" and "Hamlet" are landmarks, but before decadence can fairly be said to have set in. [11], The play makes use of various theatrical devices,[12] some of them derived from Senecan Tragedy which includes violence and bloodshed on the stage. The specific requirements or preferences of your reviewing publisher, classroom teacher, institution or organization should be applied. He then exits, leaving Bosola to show the Duchess lifelike figures of her husband and children, made to appear as though her family was dead. But her rancorous brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal, are implacably opposed to the match. This experience leads Bosola to turn against the brothers, and he decides to take up the cause of “revenge for the Duchess of Malfi” (5.2). Ferdinand reveals that he and the Duchess were twins, and that he had hoped, if she had remained a widow, to inherit all her wealth. Costumes: This was the Jacobean era, and Renaissance clothing, often hand-me-downs from noble patrons, would have been appropriate during this time. Son of the Duchess and Antonio: Gordon Davies ... Delio: Edmund Gray ... Pescara / Madman: Miles Manderson Kenneth Osbourne She refuses to be bullied, and once her brothers are out of sight, she proposes to Antonio by giving him her wedding ring. The Duke's corruption in the end destroys his sanity: incestuous desire for his own sister. Webster's play follows this story fairly faithfully, but departs from the source material by depicting Bozzolo as a conflicted figure who repents, kills Antonio by mistake, then turns on the brothers killing them both. "Defining/Confining the Duchess: Negotiating the Female Body in John Webster's the Duchess of Malfi.". He succeeded to the dukedom in 1493 but died of gout in 1498. From March to June 2012, London's Old Vic Theatre staged a production,[19] directed by Jamie Lloyd and starring, amongst others, Eve Best. Antonio, unaware of their fate, escaped to Milan with his oldest son, where he was later assassinated by a gang led by one Daniele Bozzolo.[5]. 6 The Duchess of Malfi; A Tragedy in Five Acts. Jacobean drama continued the trend of stage violence and horror set by Elizabethan tragedy, under the influence of Seneca. They are interrupted by the entry of Bosola and the Cardinal. Elizabeth Oakes critic, what does the Duchess saying "I am duchess of Malfi still" show. As in the play, she secretly married Antonio Beccadelli di Bologna after the death of her first husband Alfonso I Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi. A vein of corruption runs throughout the play, notably in the character of the deadly Cardinal, a man ready to employ lesser beings (such as Bosola) to commit murders for him, then cast them aside as rotten fruit. In 1919, the Phoenix Society revived the play in London for the first time in two decades. "The Duchess of Malfi" was published in 1623, but the date of writing may have been as early as 1611. The traveller and future translator of Castiglione's Cortegiano, Thomas Hoby, together with his friend Peter Whitehorne, translator of Machiavelli's Art of War, were lavishly entertained by a subsequent Duchess of Malfi and her son, Innico, in the Castello di Amalfi in 1550. Wharton T.F. O fly your fate. The quarto's cast list allows more precision about casting than is usually available. The Cardinal and Ferdinand are in line to receive the inheritance if the Duchess does not have any children, so controlling her sexual affairs becomes their singular focus. Padding would be built into their costumes, their heads would be adorned with wigs, and extra make-up would be applied to their faces. The widowed Duchess of Malfi longs to marry her lover, the steward Antonio. That suits it best. The Duchess, a young widow and the ruler of the Italian town of Amalfi, is the intelligent, kind, virtuous sister of the Cardinal and the twin of Duke Ferdinand. She then retires to her chamber claiming to be ill, with a worried Antonio following in her wake. However, the Duchess went against her brothers' wishes and remarried. In an attempt to escape, she and Antonio concoct a story that Antonio has swindled her out of her fortune and must flee into exile. In 2018, a production was staged in Stratford-upon-Avon by the Royal Shakespeare Company. / What cannot a neat knave with a smooth tale / Make a woman believe? Critics have rarely considered the Duchess of Malfi as a political character despite the fact that she rules Malfi as Regent for her son, the minor heir to the Duke of Malfi, her dead husband. Even with all the uproar, Antonio is not distracted from his wife's "illness"; she is actually in labour. In 1980, Adrian Noble directed the play at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. [2] However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. Yet Kathleen McLuskie observes that the critical his- Scene 1—The Duchess's palace in Malfi, after some time has passed: Antonio greets the returning Delio, who has come from Rome with Ferdinand. • Antonio reveals that the Duchess has had two more children in the time Delio was gone. In this regard, Bosola becomes less of antagonist to the Duchess but a separate tragedy within The Duchess of Malfi. Judi Dench took the title role, with Geoffrey Hutchings as Bosola and Emrys James as the Cardinal. The play was not printed until around ten years later in 1623, in quarto, a smaller and less expensive edition than the larger folio size … Bandello had known Antonio Beccadelli di Bologna in Milan before his assassination. The Cardinal then proceeds to take the Duchess's wedding ring, banish her, Antonio, and their children, while the pilgrims muse over the reason for what they have just seen. The Duchess is often criticised (Clifford Leech condemned her for her 'irresponsible overturning of a social code') for stepping out of the societal expectations of a widow in sixteenth century England. [15] Nicholas Tooley played Forobosco, and Robert Pallant doubled numerous minor roles, including Cariola. The recently widowed Duchess falls in love with Antonio, a lowly steward. Ferdinand, shown by now to be a depraved lunatic, threatens and disowns the Duchess. Ferdinand bursts in, also attacking his brother; in the fight, he accidentally wounds Bosola. John Webster, The duchess of malfi . In Act I, Scene I, Ferdinand makes this clear when he states, "Nay, / I mean the tongue: variety of courtship. The Duchess believes them to be the genuine articles, and resolves to die—her despair is so deep it affects Bosola. The central conflict of the play involves the Duchess' desire to marry for love and her brothers' desire to prevent her from remarrying (either to inherit her estate and control her choices, or perhaps out of Ferdinand's potentially incestuous love for his sister). This bad boy makes two appearances: first when the brothers are hassling the Duchess about remarrying in Act 1, and later when Ferdinand makes his really scary (and really rude) visit to the Duchess's bedroom in Act 3. Scene 4—The shrine of Our Lady of Loreto, Italy, in the Ancona province: Two pilgrims are visiting the shrine in Ancona, and witness the Cardinal being symbolically prepared for war. He is then left on stage to lament his role as a spy, for now he must reveal all to Ferdinand. Julia leaves to meet her husband, Castruccio, and Delio fears that her husband's arrival means Antonio's secret marriage is about to be revealed. The duchess' former husband. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Duchess of Malfi Author: John Webster Release Date: June, 2000 [EBook #2232] Last Updated: February 7, 2013 Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUCHESS OF MALFI … Take them like samples when you create your college assignment. Ferdinand goes to find Antonio. Antonio and Cariola leave to allow the Duchess to complete her night-time preparations, but she is not alone; Ferdinand sneaks in and startles her. He is no stranger to murder himself, however, as he slays his own mistress by making her kiss a poisoned bible. The play is known to have been performed for Charles I at the Cockpit-in-Court in 1630; there is little reason to doubt that it was performed intermittently throughout the period. The staging was highly stylised, the scenic backdrop segmented, and the actors' movements tightly controlled. Webster did base The Duchess of Malfi on actual events in Italy. Only their sister, the Duchess, earns the approval of everyone, a very pleasant and gracious woman. He manages to relate the death of the Duchess and children to the dying Antonio, who is glad to be dying in sadness, now that life is pointless for him. Antonio describes him thus: The spring in his face is nothing but the engend'ring of toads; where he is jealous of any man, he lays worse plot for them than ever was impos'd on Hercules, for he strews in his way flatterers, panders, intelligencers, atheists, and a thousand such political monsters. The ideal quality her brothers would foist on the Duchess is that of being submissive to (their) male control, though ironically widowhood was often the first time women might be independent of the control of husbands or male relatives. The play was written for and performed by the King's Men in 1613 or 1614. We picked at least 16 essays on The Duchess of Malfi. The title of Ferdinand. In the darkness, the Duchess thinks that Ferdinand is asking for her forgiveness when he reaches out his hand, and so she kisses it; when the lights come on she sees the dead bodies of her husband and children, and believes she just kissed her husband's severed hand. The gentlemen who heard the cries now enter the room to witness the deaths of the Cardinal and Bosola. Bosola, meanwhile, interrupts the Cardinal's private conference with news of his sister. When Pescara leaves to visit an ill Ferdinand, Antonio decides to pay a night-time visit to the Cardinal. In … Dench's husband Michael Williams played Ferdinand, casting which highlighted the sexual element of the play's siblings. Ferdinand is caught committing adultery but is not punished. He also accuses her of being too like a witch; the old lady and Castruchio leave Bosola alone to muse on the mysterious way the Duchess is acting of late. the end she is, she says, the Duchess of Malfi, and with that title she negates her relationship with Antonio: she becomes the woman carved in stone that Ferdinand wanted her to be. Mirren's performance received special acclaim. Bosola then stabs the Cardinal, who dies. Ferdinand is particularly obsessed with the idea of inheriting the fortune to which his sister is entitled, because it would protect his social and financial status. The Duchess of Malfi - Reception and Performance History. A summary of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi – a gory tale of revenge and dark humour. 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