The Duchess of Malfi (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Webster
- First Published: 1623
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Tragedy
- Time of Work: Sixteenth century
- Setting: Amalfi and Milan, Italy
- Principal Characters: Giovanna, Antonio, Ferdinand, The Cardinal, Bosola
- Genres: Drama, Tragedy
- Subjects: England or English people, Childbirth, Sixteenth century, Widows or widowers, Italy or Italians, Blood, Time, Monarchy
- Locales: Milan, Italy, Amalfi, Italy
The Story:
The Duchess of Malfi was a young widow whose two brothers, a cardinal and Ferdinand, the duke of Calabria, were desperately anxious lest she marry again, for they wanted to inherit her title and estates. Their spy in her household was Bosola, her master of horse.
The duchess fell in love with her steward, Antonio, and married him secretly. Later, she secretly bore a son. When the happy father wrote out the child’s horoscope according to the rules of astrology and then lost the paper, Bosola found the document and learned about the child. He dispatched a...
[The entire page is 2205 words long]
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