The Renaissance

The term “Renaissance” means “rebirth,” marking a period of new beginnings in Europe as it emerged from the Middle Ages. This era introduced fresh perspectives on science, religion, philosophy, and art. During the earlier medieval period, Europeans often viewed themselves as insignificant beings, subordinate to divine entities. However, when some Italian scholars began studying ancient Latin and Greek texts that had been neglected for centuries, they sought to merge contemporary Christian thought with classical beliefs in human potential. This belief, now referred to as Renaissance humanism, ignited a passion for celebrating human achievement and potential. The ideal “Renaissance man” was expected to excel in science, mathematics, poetry, art, and athletics.

As an intellectual movement, the Renaissance influenced every facet of life. Science and exploration flourished. Political theorists tried to incorporate the best aspects of classical thought, while religious reformers advocated for the common person's right to directly access biblical texts. There was a renewed enthusiasm for reading classical literature in its original Greek and Latin, and for integrating classical mythology into literature and art. New forms emerged, inspired by classical models, such as the revenge tragedy which evolved from the study of Senecan tragedy. Literature, including drama, moved beyond its traditional role tied to the church, exploring stories that celebrated or criticized human capabilities.

Of course, there was no specific day when the Middle Ages ended and the Renaissance began. The transformation occurred over many years and did not affect every country simultaneously. Generally, the Renaissance is considered to have started in Italy during the fourteenth century, reaching England about a century later. The peak of the English Renaissance occurred during the sixteenth century and the early seventeenth century. Webster’s career falls at the end of this period, and The Duchess of Malfi bears many hallmarks of its time. The duchess’s demand for personal choice, the secular tone of the play, the five-act structure and blank verse, the references to classical mythology, and the cardinal’s numerous mentions of new technology and science all indicate the play's Renaissance origins.

One element of Renaissance literature that might seem odd to modern readers is the concept of imitation. Greek and Roman students often emulated models to produce their own works, a technique embraced by Renaissance writers. The core narrative of The Duchess of Malfi, for instance, is based on a true story from Italy around 1510. This tale was adapted into a sixteenth-century Italian novella and later appeared in English in William Painter’s story collection, The Palace of Pleasure, as well as in Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia. Webster drew heavily from these sources—sometimes even using exact lines and phrases—to craft his play. Throughout his career, he maintained a journal where he noted down snippets of poetry and quotes that intrigued him. He freely incorporated these entries into his plays, inserting lines wherever they fit well. This practice was not viewed as plagiarism but rather as a sensible way to build upon the knowledge of predecessors.

Jacobean Age

The era within the Renaissance when England was under King James I's rule is known as the Jacobean period, derived from the Latin form of James. James I reigned from Elizabeth I's death in 1603 until his own in 1625. Although he was not a widely loved monarch, his reign marked a significant era in English drama. William Shakespeare, for instance, began his career before James ascended the throne, but his most renowned and mature works were created during the Jacobean period. Similarly, Webster produced his finest works in these years, as did many other notable dramatists.

James’s governance was heavily influenced by his strong religious beliefs. A devout member of the Church of England, it was under his reign that the King James Bible was produced. James also held a firm belief in the divine right of kings, the idea that monarchs are answerable only to God and that the monarchy's inheritance system is God-ordained. Given that the Church of England was the official religion of the monarchy and the nation, religion and politics were deeply intertwined in ways that differ from contemporary England. The divine right of kings bolstered James's authority, while the Roman Catholic notion of a pope chosen by God challenged it. To maintain his power, James harshly dealt with dissenters, including Puritans (many of whom eventually left England for the New World), Catholics (portrayed irreverently through Webster’s character of the cardinal), and Jews (who are treated with casual disrespect in The Duchess of Malfi and other popular literary works of the time).

Revenge Tragedy

From 1542 to 1642 in England, numerous playwrights drew inspiration from early Latin authors. A notable subset of English Renaissance plays, later termed revenge tragedies, was modeled after the works of the Roman philosopher and playwright Seneca, who lived from 4 BCE to 65 CE. Seneca’s tragedies featured a set of conventional characters and plot elements that resonated with these Renaissance writers. By the late sixteenth century, English plays emulating Seneca began to emerge. William Shakespeare (1564–1616) penned two plays, Titus Andronicus (c. 1590) and Hamlet (c. 1601), that are widely recognized as revenge tragedies. Although The Duchess of Malfi is often categorized as a revenge tragedy, it is more precise to say that Webster drew heavily from the genre's conventions to craft a distinct type of play.

Seneca's nine tragedies share several characteristics: a five-act structure; a theme centered on revenge; long-suffering nobles; loyal female companions; ghosts; gruesome violence driven by lust, incest, and vengeance; the death of children; and a chorus that comments on the action and describes the offstage violence. During the Elizabethan era, playwrights began depicting violence onstage to meet the expectations of audiences accustomed to public executions and other violent spectacles. They enhanced Seneca's formula by adding a hero reluctant to seek revenge, genuine or feigned madness, and an emphasis on schemes and secrets.

Many of these elements are evident in The Duchess of Malfi, but the play diverges from the traditional conventions in significant ways. Typically, a revenge tragedy features a hero whose honor has been wronged, often a son avenging his father. In this play, however, the brothers seek revenge on the duchess, who has not harmed them. The duchess, the play's protagonist, does not pursue or achieve vengeance for the wrongs committed against her. Her death in act 4, occurring without her winning revenge, shifts the focus away from her as the central figure and moves the play out of the revenge tragedy genre. The motivations of the two brothers remain ambiguous, but revenge, despite their beliefs, is not the core of their actions.

Blank Verse

Many lines spoken by characters in The Duchess of Malfi are composed in a poetic style known as blank verse. Blank verse refers to unrhymed lines of ten syllables each, with accents on the even-numbered syllables. Although lines do not have to be in perfectly regular iambic pentameter to be considered blank verse, they often follow this pattern. For instance, Ferdinand expresses a wish to be a wild storm "that I might toss her palace ’bout her ears, / Root up her goodly forests, blast her meads." These lines each contain ten syllables, with natural accents on the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, and tenth syllables. If every line were this regular, the speech would sound singsong and unnatural, so the poet’s challenge is to maintain enough regularity while introducing variability to reflect different characters and tones. In reality, very few lines in The Duchess of Malfi are perfectly regular ten-syllable lines; most deviate in syllable count or stress patterns, as seen in the line "We are merely the stars’ tennis-balls, struck and banded."

Not every line in The Duchess of Malfi is written in verse. Antonio converses in prose with Bosola and Ferdinand before marrying the duchess, and the eight madmen also speak in prose. When the duchess and Bosola converse while he is disguised as the tomb-maker, they use prose but switch to verse when he reveals his intent to kill her. Blank verse is often used to convey solemnity and nobility, so important speeches by significant characters are predominantly in blank verse. An interesting example of this technique is seen in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I, where Prince Hal speaks in prose with his tavern friends but switches to blank verse when addressing the king or on the battlefield.

Using blank verse for tragedy was a standard practice among Elizabethan dramatists. The first English tragedy, Gorboduc (1561), was also the first English drama written in blank verse, aiming to emulate the regular rhythms of Senecan tragedy, which was written in Latin. Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare elevated the form to its peak approximately thirty to forty years later. A generation after them, Webster and his contemporaries continued to write tragedies in blank verse, although not as masterfully.

Webster often concludes a scene with two rhyming lines, known as a couplet. The rhyme draws the audience’s attention, making the final lines of a scene more memorable and giving a sense of closure, similar to a period at the end of a sentence. Within fifty years of the publication of The Duchess of Malfi, most English poetic drama was composed entirely in couplets.

• Early Seventeenth Century: King James I rules over both England and Scotland. He ascended the throne through inheritance and the principle of divine right, serving as the country's sole monarch.

  Today: Queen Elizabeth II is the reigning monarch of England. Although she inherited the throne from her father, her role is largely ceremonial, with the country governed by a Parliamentary system.

• Early Seventeenth Century: The condition known as melancholia is believed to result from an excess of black bile in the body. Some individuals intentionally exhibit melancholic traits, as it is associated with intellectual brilliance. Bosola might be one such individual.

  Today: Depression is a common disorder, thought to stem from a chemical imbalance. In technologically advanced nations, antidepressant medications are widely prescribed.

• Early Seventeenth Century: Most noblewomen do not marry for love. Similar to the duchess, they may be placed in arranged marriages with older men at a young age. Even if widowed, they are often not free to remarry or manage their property independently.

  Today: Although social pressures may still influence the upper classes to avoid marrying outside their social strata, there are no legal barriers between classes. English women have the freedom to marry whomever they choose and have control over their own property.

• Early Seventeenth Century: A marriage in England is legally binding simply by a man and woman declaring themselves husband and wife. No witnesses or written documentation are necessary.

  Today: Marriages must be officiated by an individual certified by the state.

• The Duchess of Malfi was adapted for television by the BBC in 1972. This 123-minute VHS tape, featuring Eileen Atkins, Michael Bryant, and Gary Bond, is available through Time-Life Video.
• In 1980, the BBC produced an audio recording of the play, starring Dame Peggy Ashcroft and Paul Scolfield. This version spans three audiocassettes and is distributed by Audio-Forum.
• Another audio version, initially released on vinyl records and since 1972 available on three audiocassettes, comes from Caedmon. This edition stars Barbara Jefford as the Duchess and includes a booklet with biographical details and essays about the play.
• In 1962, Caedmon released a recording of excerpts from the play, read by the renowned British poet Dylan Thomas, celebrated for his remarkable voice. This recording is offered on one audiocassette by Caedmon.

Sources

Archer, William. “The Duchess of Malfi,” in Twentieth Century Interpretations of “The Duchess of Malfi,” edited by Norman Rabkin. Prentice-Hall, 1968, p. 14; originally published in Nineteenth Century, Vol. 87, 1920, pp. 126–32.

Calderwood, James L. “The Duchess of Malfi: Styles of Ceremony,” in Twentieth Century Interpretations of “The Duchess of Malfi,” edited by Norman Rabkin. Prentice-Hall, 1968, pp. 79, 82; initially published in Essays in Criticism, Vol. 12, 1962, pp. 133–47.

Craig, Sheryl. “‘She and I were twins’: Double Identity in The Duchess of Malfi,” in Publications of the Missouri Philological Association, Vol. 19, 1994, p. 21.

Ekeblad, Inga-Stina. “The ‘Impure Art’ of John Webster,” in Twentieth Century Interpretations of “The Duchess of Malfi,” edited by Norman Rabkin. Prentice-Hall, 1968, p. 50; originally published in Review of English Studies, Vol. 9, 1958, pp. 253–67.

Hallett, Charles A., and Elaine S. Hallett. The Revenger’s Madness: A Study of Revenge Tragedy Motifs. University of Nebraska Press, 1980, p. 286.

Moore, Don D. John Webster and His Critics 1617–1964. Louisiana State University Press, 1966, p. ix.

Turner, Kimberly A. “The Complexity of Webster’s Duchess,” in the Ben Jonson Journal, Vol. 7, 2000, p. 400.

Further Reading

Bloom, Harold, ed. Elizabethan Dramatists, Modern Critical Views series. Chelsea House, 1986. This anthology of critical essays includes two pieces about The Duchess of Malfi along with essays on Webster’s key contemporaries. In “Tragical Satire in The Duchess of Malfi,” Alvin B. Kernan characterizes Bosola as the quintessential, and one of the last, Elizabethan satirists. G. Wilson Knight offers an essay titled simply “The Duchess of Malfi,” which explores the play’s image clusters.

Boklund, Gunnar. “The Duchess of Malfi”: Sources, Themes, Characters. Harvard University Press, 1962. Boklund investigates Webster’s sources for the duchess’s story, highlighting where Webster diverges to craft his own narrative. For instance, the portrayal of Antonio as modest yet honest is Webster’s creation.

Knight, G. Wilson. “The Duchess of Malfi,” in Elizabethan Dramatists, edited by Harold Bloom, Modern Critical Views series. Chelsea House, 1986, pp. 85–107. Knight provides a detailed analysis of the play’s imagery and symbols, asserting that the play’s coherence lies not in its plot logic but in the evocative power of its imagery.

Rabkin, Norman, ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of “The Duchess of Malfi.” Prentice-Hall, 1968. This compilation addresses major critical questions about the play through ten critical essays, or “Interpretations,” and fourteen brief excerpts, or “View Points,” featuring scholars such as T. S. Eliot and Northrup Frye.

Thomson, Leslie. “Fortune and Virtue in The Duchess of Malfi,” in Comparative Drama, Vol. 33, No. 4, 1999–2000, pp. 474–94. Thomson compares the play to medieval and Renaissance iconography, illustrating the connections between fortune, love, and death. She shows how the relationships between the duchess (fortune) and Antonio (love) are derived from earlier morality plays and emblem books.

Winston, Mathew. “Gendered Nostalgia in The Duchess of Malfi,” in The Renaissance Papers, 1998, pp. 103–13. Winston identifies a yearning in the play for Queen Elizabeth I, who had been deceased for a decade by the time The Duchess of Malfi was initially performed. According to Winston, the death of the duchess in act 4 is a deliberate part of Webster’s narrative strategy, aiming to illustrate in act 5 how the world falls into decay in her absence.