Duchess of Malfi context

The Duchess of Malfi -Context

John Webster

Best-known plays, The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi

1580-1626/34 -Born in a family of wealthy couch makers in London -Dramatist and man of letters -Youngest son, therefore he had the abilty to follow other persuits.

Education: Probably attended the Merchant Taylors' School -Where it is thought he received a 'top class' humanist education: Greek, Latin and Law.

Webster and His Time

There were a series of plays staged around 1610 – 1613 ‘centring of virtuous heroic women who challenge corrupt men that attempt to assert political and sexual dominance over them’: -Chapman’s 'The Revenge of Bussy d’Ambois' -Middleton’s 'The Lady’s Tragedy', -Dekker’s 'Match Me in London' -Tourneur’s 'The Atheist’s Tragedy' ‘implicitly replay elements of Jacobean nostalgia for Elizabeth by associating female autonomy with virtue, and domination by courtly males with corruption and oppression.’

‘..his plays repeatedly advocating citizen as opposed to courtly values, portraying Catholic rituals and institutions as inherently corrupt, and valorizing individual probity as opposed to inherited rank as a guarantor of personal worth.’

They all ‘carry an element of muted political critique in which female autonomy calls up associations with the lost court of Elizabeth I, and male sexual and political dominance resonates with the corruption and absolutist ideology of James I.

Greek Influence

The Duchess of Malfi -Context

Euripides was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full.

Like Euripides (…) Webster overturns classic convention by focussing in a realistic mode on women and women’s issues. This creates low-born characters who have a higher intelligence and displaying the weakness of ‘heroes’ whose exalted status is not matched by personal worth.

‘…the images of fragmentation and dismemberment that characterize Webster’s ‘Malfi’ are prominent in other plays of the period and link up with contemporary issues:like Protestant fear of engulfment by Catholicism and Londoner’s perception of a growing estrangement between court and city.’

Language

‘A play full of echoes’​Echoes and repetitions throughout play: secret marriage scene – reference to jewels – entry with drawn weapons – Julia and Cariola echo the Duchess Bosola reflects Antonio. ​ Repeated images: birds in cages – the soul caged by the body, ‘loving’ palms (emblems of a healthy marriage),

Meloncholy

​Melancholy was a physical condition – not just a state of mind. ​All characters suffer from melancholy at some point. Cardinal and Bosola most obvious examples.​ -Ferdinand suffers from rage or choler (over dominated by yellow bile (hot and dry)). He is associated with words to do with fire.​ -Duchess is sanguine (warm and moist) associated with blood (courage, love and hope).​ She goes through choler and melancholy, but manages to overcome them.

Simon Goulart (Admirable and Memorable Histories (1607 translation)). Divides lycanthropes into two types: those whose severe melancholy causes them to believe that they are wolves; and those actually transformed into wolves by Satan. ​ Galenic doctrine of humours – four bodily fluids: blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile. If the body produced too much of one, the physical condition manifested itself as a mental imbalance.

The Duchess of Malfi -Context

Jacobean England

At the Hampton Court Conference of 1604, a new translation and compilation of approved books of the Bible was commissioned to resolve discrepancies among different translations then being used. The Authorized King James Version, as it came to be known, was completed in 1611 and is considered a masterpiece of Jacobean prose. It is still in widespread use.

25th July 1603 – James I accedes to throne during an outbreak of the plague. He had ruled in Scotland from 1567 from theage 13 months as James IV, son of Mary Queen of Scots, ​

1597 wrote ‘Daemonologie’, a tract inspired by his personal involvement that opposed the practice of witchcraft. James personally supervised the torture of women accused of being witches.

1604 – makes peace with Spain ​

1612 –son and heir Henry dies suddenly (suspicion of poison but probably Typhoid fever)​

In 1597–98 wrote The True Law of Free Monarchies and Basilikon Doron (Royal Gift), in which he argues a theological basis for monarchy. In the True Law, he sets out the divine right of kings, explaining that kings are higher beings than other men for Biblical reasons, though "the highest bench is the sliddriest to sit upon". The document proposes an absolutist theory of monarchy, by which a king may impose new laws by royal prerogative but must also pay heed to tradition and to God, who would "stirre up such scourges as pleaseth him, for punishment of wicked kings". )​

1605 Catholic Gunpowder Plot

Catholism

After the Gunpowder Plot, King James sanctioned harsh measures to control non-conforming English Catholics. In May 1606, Parliament passed the Popish Recusants Act, which required any citizen to take an Oath of Allegiance denying the Pope's authority over the king. James was conciliatory towards Catholics who took the Oath of Allegiance, and tolerated crypto-Catholicism even at court. On ascending the English throne, James suspected that he might need the support of Catholics in England, so he assured the Earl of Northumberland, a prominent sympathiser of the old religion, that he would not persecute "any that will be quiet and give but an outward obedience to the law". ​ In the Millenary Petition of 1603, the Puritan clergy demanded the abolition of confirmation, wedding rings, and the term "priest", among other things, and that the wearing of cap and surplice become optional. James was strict in enforcing conformity at first, inducing a sense of persecution amongst many Puritans; but ejections and suspensions from livings became rarer as the reign continued.

K' James relationship with Parliament

The Duchess of Malfi -Context

As James's reign progressed, his government faced growing financial pressures, due partly to creeping inflation but also to the profligacy and financial incompetence of James's court.

James developed a reputation for great generosity towards his favourites and seemingly limitless spending at court and this eventually soured his relationship with London and Parliament.​

On 7 July 1604, James had prorogued Parliament after failing to win its support for full union or financial subsidies. "I will not thank where I feel no thanks due", he had remarked in his closing speech. "... I am not of such a stock as to praise fools ... You see how many things you did not well ... I wish you would make use of your liberty with more modesty in time to come".

The co-operation between monarch and Parliament following the Gunpowder Plot was atypical. Instead, it was the previous session of 1604 that shaped the attitudes of both sides for the rest of the reign, though the initial difficulties owed more to mutual incomprehension than conscious enmity.

James then ruled without parliament until 1621, employing officials who were astute at raising and saving money for the crown, and sold baronetcies and other dignities, as an alternative source of income.

The negotiations became so protracted that James eventually lost patience and dismissed Parliament on 31 December 1610. "Your greatest error", he told Salisbury, "hath been that ye ever expected to draw honey out of gall".

In February 1610, Salisbury proposed a scheme, known as the Great Contract, whereby Parliament, in return for ten royal concessions, would grant a lump sum of £600,000 to pay off the king's debts plus an annual grant of £200,000.

The same pattern was repeated with the so-called "Addled Parliament" of 1614, which James dissolved after a mere nine weeks when the Commons hesitated to grant him the money he required.

The Duchess of Malfi -Context

James sexuality and 'his favourites'

Contemporary Huguenot poet Théophile de Viau observed that "it is well known that the king of England / has union with the Duke of Buckingham". Buckingham himself provides evidence that he slept in the same bed as the King, writing to James many years later that he had pondered "whether you loved me now ... better than at the time which I shall never forget at Farnham, where the bed's head could not be found between the master and his dog".

James's sexuality is a matter of dispute. Throughout his life James had close relationships with male courtiers, which has caused debate among historians about their exact nature. After his accession in England, his peaceful and scholarly attitude contrasted strikingly with the bellicose and flirtatious behaviour of Elizabeth, as indicated by the contemporary epigram Rex fuit Elizabeth, nunc est regina Iacobus (Elizabeth was King, now James is Queen).

Some of James's biographers conclude that Esmé Stewart (later Duke of Lennox), Robert Carr (later Earl of Somerset), and George Villiers (later Duke of Buckingham) were his lovers. Sir John Oglander observed that he "never yet saw any fond husband make so much or so great dalliance over his beautiful spouse as I have seen King James over his favourites, especially the Duke of Buckingham" whom the King would, recalled Sir Edward Peyton, "tumble and kiss as a mistress." Restoration of Apethorpe Palace undertaken in 2004–08 revealed a previously unknown passage linking the bedchambers of James and Villiers. ​ Some biographers of James argue that the relationships were not sexual. James's Basilikon Doron lists sodomy among crimes "ye are bound in conscience never to forgive", and James's wife Anne gave birth to seven live children, as well as suffering two stillbirths and at least three other miscarriages.

The Duchess of Malfi -Context

Giovanna D'Aragona

Seemed to have access to sources not in the published materials:​-The survival of the eldest son; ​-The fact that the Duchess was a twin;​ -The Cardinal had a mistress called Julia.

Duchess of Amalfi from 1493 until her disappearance after 1511 in the Italian Renaissance. Of royal blood from the Spanish House of Aragon which ruled the kingdom of Naples between 1442 – 1501.​ Grandfather was Ferrante I of Naples a vicious and disastrous method of government.​

After the public announcement, she fled to Sienna, trying to evade capture but they were intercepted and never heard of again. He husband escap18ed to Milan where he was likely murdered by a Danielle da Bozzola – probably at the Cardinal’s behest.​ ​ ​

​Husband was wounded in battle (French invasion 1495) and died three years later. She was named regent until her disappearance in 1511.​

Age 12 she married Alfonso Piccolomino, son of Duke of Amalfi who succeeded his father as duke in 1493.​

She had a scandalous secret marriage with Antonio da Bologna (1505 or 1506) which was not made public until 1510. (Webster made Antonio lower class.)​

2 children – a girl who died aged 8 and a boy born the same year who eventually became Duke.

Duchess is the courtly seductress and Antonio the innocent victim.​ Her folly and shameful lust drove her to seduce him, and both were destroyed by their passion. ​ Webster relocates the monstrous lust of Painter to her brothers instead. ​Evidence from early performances show that sympathy was with the Duchess.

Ferdinand

The Duchess of Malfi -Context

Lucrezia Borgia – reputedly had sex with her brother Cesare in order to secure the papal succession for the Borgias.​Deploys fragmentary objects in a way that suggests the Catholic use of sacred relics (the hand, the dagger, the tableau etc.).​ The Jacobean Court Masque (dances, songs and allegorical tableaux) – anti masque followed by masque which restores the social order and king is celebrated. ​Ferdinand was also different. (Twin brother was called Carlo and was not directly implicated in her death, married rather than single and not mad or given to attacks of lycanthropy. ) He is more like Ferdinand D’Aragona of Spain – famous for Machiavellian political tactics and driving Muslims out of Spain because of fears of tainting the Spanish blood.​​ In Malfi, Ferdinand’s version of the masque means that the reverse is true. ​ Webster makes Ferdinand’s lycanthropy (popular in stories of this period) a reification of his lust for his sister. – it also resonates with images of spiritual predation – particularly in Protestant demonization of Catholicism.​

Bosola

The Cardinal

Largely Webster’s invention.​ Structurally and morally he ties the play together.​ Embodies the different attitudes and beliefs of every character in the play.​ Betrays everyone, including himself.​ ‘Quaintly principled and strangely immoral.’ ​ Represents a specific type – the unemployed graduate whose lack of employment has made him cynical. Over educated and under employed. Frank Whigham – ‘a crisis of inauthenticity’

The Cardinal – based on Luigi D’Aragona. Gave up his wife and title to join the church. Fought in battles, but was also a bon vivant – wine, women and song… Direct contrast to brooding melancholic figure in the play. It is thought that he was directly implicated in the Duchess’s death.

Women

The Duchess of Malfi -Context

Women in Power

The Duchess’s brothers are the primary mouthpieces for the misogynist discourse of the era, which held that women are immoral, over-sexed, weak minded and so on.

Women in Plays

Female autonomy is associated with virtue and domination by courtly males with corruption and oppression.

Such assumptions about female inferiority had faltered in Europe when there had been a veritable rash of female rulers: Mary of Guise had ruled as regent in Scotland, and her daughter was Mary Queen of Scots; Catherine de Medici was regent of France; and there were two female queens in England, ‘Bloody Mary’ and Elizabeth I.

Male sexual and political dominance resonates with the corruption and absolutist ideology of the Court of James I.

The Jacobean Cult of Elizabeth

Lots of plays around celebrating Elizabeth.Thomas Heywood the most obvious. Book of Martyrs / You Know Not Me / You Know Nobody: all commemorate Elizabeth and replay high points of her reign and show her to a fantasy of London liberty and autonomy.​ Malfi was the last in a series of plays that centred on virtuous and heroic women. ​Webster recalls rumours about Elizabeth (sexual dalliances, secret affairs, children) and redeems her through the Duchess. She is married (although in secret) when she has her children and one of then goes on to claim the throne. The Duchess is seen radiant female ruler who goes on to use her sexuality productively (unlike real life Elizabeth), and just like Elizabeth, she refers to herself as a Prince. ​

Prince Henry offered elements of continuity with Elizabethan Protestantism​ following his death, the cult of Elizabeth began to flourish among those who were disaffected with the Stuart regime.​The one remaining member of the family who appeared to be dedicated to the goals of the militant protestants was James’s daughter Elizabeth who married a staunch Protestant. Elizabeth’s shortcomings as a monarch were forgotten and there was a focus on her reign as a lost golden time of military triumph and goodwill between monarch and people. ​ There was an increase in interest for a female protagonists this can be correlated with the nostalgia for Elizabeth’s reign. Many literary works at the time commemorated her.

The Duchess of Malfi -Context

Clandestine marriage

In reality Antonio was of greater social status than he is painted in Malfi. Webster helps to accentuate ideas about merit through his marriage to the Duchess, but she is also chooses a sexual partner who does not compromise her status as ruler. ​ In reality, the marriage would have been valid because they had exchanged vows and rings (although Cariola is the only witness so it isn’t publicly acknowledged). In 17th Century England people had to exchange vows – per verba de presenti – in order for the marriage to be valid. However, in 1604 James brought in new laws which meant that banns had to be read in church on 3 Sundays prior to the wedding.

James and marriage

Lady Arbella Stuart, James’s cousin, waited for years for him to find her a husband (it was treason to marry without the King’s consent if you were royal) and then married William Seymour in secret. James had them imprisoned but they escaped. He had them recaptured and she was imprisoned in the Tower of London. In 1614, she was reportedly going mad and died in prison on 1615. ​ Her treatment would have been seen by many as an overuse and abuse of royal power.

The Duchess of Malfi -Context

The Wheel of Fortune

When Fortune's wheel is overcharged with princes and the weight makes it move swift.

The ancient view of human affairs frequently referred to the "Wheel of Fortune," according to which human life was something of a lottery. ... In a fatalistic universe, the length and outcome of one's life (destiny) is predetermined by external forces.

The Wheel of Fortune, or Rota Fortunae, is a concept in medieval and ancient philosophy and means the unpredictable nature of Fate. The wheel belongs to the goddess Fortuna, who spins it at random, changing the positions of those on the wheel - some suffer great misfortune, others gain windfalls.

Machiavelli

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian diplomat, philosopher, and historian who lived during the Renaissance. He is best known for his political treatise 'The Prince', written about 1513. He has often been called the father of modern political philosophy and political science. The Prince (first published 1532)​ “it is much safer to be feared than loved because ...love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.” ​ “Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception.” ​ “…he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived.” ​“Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved”