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The Duchess of Malfi
• Genre: Tragedy
INTR
INTRODUCTION
ODUCTION • Setting: Roman Catholic Italy: Amalfi, Rome, Loreto, and
Milan
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN WEBSTER
• Climax: The Duchess is killed / Antonio, Duke Ferdinand, the
John Webster led a relatively obscure life. The exact dates of Cardinal, and Bosola all kill each other
his birth and death are unknown. He was born in London,
• Antagonist: Duke Ferdinand and the Cardinal
probably in 1580, to Elizabeth Coates and his father, also
named John Webster, who was a tailor in London. It’s thought
that Webster attended the reputable Merchant Taylor’s School, EXTRA CREDIT
though it is uncertain whether he did or not. He began his Based on Fact. The principal story of The Duchess of Malfi is
career collaborating with other playwrights, writing The factual. Giovanna d’Aragona was married at age twelve in 1490.
Malcontent with John Marston in 1604 and Westward Ho with Five months after her husband’s death (in 1499) Giovanna
Thomas Dekker in 1607. In 1605 or 1606, Webster married gave birth to their son and became the regent of Amalfi since
Sara Peniall, a 17-year-old girl who was seven months pregnant the duke (her son) was an infant. Antonio Beccadelli was hired
at the time. They had several children. Little else is known to run her estate, and the two secretly married, had children,
about Webster, though we know from a reference to him in the and faced the wrath of Giovanna’s brothers, one of whom was
past tense in a 1634 publication that he was dead by that year. truly a Cardinal.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT The King’s Men. The Duchess of Malfi was first performed by
the King’s Men, the theatre company to which Shakespeare
Webster wrote The Duchess of Malfi ten years into the
belonged that performed all of his work. Though Shakespeare
Jacobean era in England and only a few years before
himself might not have acted in the first production of The
Shakespeare’s death. The play is based on an Italian novella,
Duchess of Malfi, the production was filled with his friends and
which in turn is based on true historical events. The real
peers. Richard Burbage, for example, who first played famous
Duchess, Giovanna d'Aragona, married Antonio Beccadelli in
characters such as Hamlet and King Lear, was the first to play
secret and bore him three children. She was murdered by her
Duke Ferdinand. Henry Condell, one of the editors and
brothers, one of whom was a Cardinal, in 1510. Webster’s main
publishers of Shakespeare’s First Folio, first played the
changes to the true story are that Antonio didn’t die until a few
Cardinal.
years after the Duchess’ death, and Bosola’s repentance and
ultimate betrayal and murder of the brothers is fictionalized, as
the two were never accused or killed.
PL
PLO
OT SUMMARY
RELATED LITERARY WORKS The Duchess of Malfi takes place in Roman Catholic Italy, which
The Duchess of Malfi takes most of its plot from The Palace of English audiences at the time when the play was written would
Pleasure by William Painter, which is the translation of an have associated with corruption. It begins in the palace of the
adaptation of an Italian novella. Webster is known for his play Duchess, a young widow and the ruler of the Italian town of
The White Devil, which is also set in Roman Catholic Italy. The Amalfi. Her steward, Antonio, has just returned from a visit to
Duchess of Malfi contains echoes of other Elizabethan revenge the French court, and Bosola, a murderer and former employee
of her brother, the Cardinal, has just returned from his
tragedies, such as Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus and Shakespeare’s
punishment. Soon Duke Ferdinand, the Duchess’s other
Hamlet, Coriolanus, and King Lear
Lear. Webster also references
brother, enters with his whole retinue. In a private
Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
conversation with his friend Delio, Antonio reveals that though
the Cardinal and Duke appear good, they are in fact jealous,
KEY FACTS conniving, and despicable. He adds that though her brothers
• Full Title: The Tragedy of the Duchess of Malfi are horrible, the Duchess is noble, temperate, beautiful, and
intelligent.
• When Written: 1612-13
Even though the Duchess is still young and beautiful, her
• Where Written: London, England
brothers do not want her to remarry. They hope to both
• When Published: 1623 preserve their honor by ensuring for ongoing sexual purity, and
• Literary Period: Jacobean Drama to eventually inherit her fortune by forcing her to remain a
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widow. In order to make sure they have their way, Ferdinand confronts her in the dark. He gives her his hand to hold, but
gets Bosola a position on the Duchess’s estate and hires him to then reveals that it is the hand of a dead man in order to
be his spy. Bosola doesn’t want to be a spy, but he feels that it’s convince her that Antonio is dead. He then plays a trick with
his duty to obey the duke, even if doing so makes him corrupt. silhouettes to convince the Duchess that her children are also
Ferdinand and the Cardinal then confront the Duchess with a dead, at which point the Duchess wants to die. Ferdinand
rehearsed speech instructing her not to remarry. She agrees reveals to Bosola that he plans to torture her by exposing her
not to, but as soon as her brothers leave, she tells her maid to madmen from the local insane asylum. While Bosola feels
Cariola that she will marry in secret. The Duchess then woos bad for the Duchess and dislikes that he is participating in her
Antonio, inverting the traditional male and female roles in torture, he continues to obey the duke.
courtship. The two marry in secret. In her prison, the madmen confront the Duchess and Cariola.
Nine months later, the Duchess is pregnant with Antonio’s Bosola then enters, disguised as an old man, and he tells the
child. Bosola, still spying for Ferdinand, notes the signs of her Duchess that he’s going to kill her. The Duchess maintains her
pregnancy and plans to give her apricots as a test, because they composure and is unafraid, but executioners enter and strangle
are known to induce labor. The Duchess eats the apricots and her, her two children, and Cariola. Though Ferdinand has no
goes into labor, creating chaos in her palace. To try to maintain pity for the children, he immediately begins to feel remorse
the secret, Antonio and the Duchess give out a story that the when he sees the Duchess’s dead body. Ferdinand becomes
Duchess has fallen ill with some disease. Antonio confronts maddened by guilt, and Bosola also acknowledges feeling a
Bosola to ask if the apricots were poisoned. Bosola denies the guilty conscience. Ferdinand then condemns Bosola for
accusation, but after the confrontation he notices that Antonio following his orders, and refuses to pay him for his work. After
ha accidentally dropped a piece of paper: it is a horoscope for a Ferdinand has departed, the Duchess wakes up, but only long
baby, which provides Bosola with concrete evidence that the enough for Bosola to tell her that her husband is still alive; she
Duchess had a child. He decides to send the paper in a letter to dies for real almost immediately after waking up.
the Duchess’s brothers in Rome. When Ferdinand and the Now in Milan, Antonio doesn’t yet know his wife’s fate. He
Cardinal learn that the Duchess has disobeyed them, they are decides to wager everything and confront the Cardinal in
infuriated, thinking their noble blood has been tainted (and person in an attempt to defuse the situation. Ferdinand,
Ferdinand seems also to be overwhelmed with anger by the meanwhile, has been diagnosed with lycanthropia (werewolf
idea that the Duchess has been having sex at all), but they disease), and he begins acting like a madman, even attacking his
decide to wait to find out who the father is before taking action. shadow, clearly plagued by guilt. The Cardinal wants his
A few years later, the Duchess has had two more of Antonio’s involvement in the murder to remain secret, and he instructs
children. Ferdinand, who learned of the children from Bosola, Bosola to murder Antonio. A woman named Julia, with whom
decides to confront the Duchess in her bedchamber. Ferdinand the Cardinal has been having an affair, becomes smitten with
sneaks in and frightens the Duchess, giving her a knife and Bosola, and he convinces Julia to try and get a confession out of
suggesting that she kill herself. She admits that she is married, the Cardinal. Julia confronts the Cardinal and finds out his
and he becomes enraged. He says that she has lost her secret, so he forces her to kiss a poisoned book, thereby killing
reputation, and he swears that he will never see her again in his her. Bosola reveals to the Cardinal that he has overseen this
life. Antonio and the Duchess make a plan to flee: the Duchess murder and the Cardinal’s confession. He agrees to help the
announces that Antonio has been using his position to steel Cardinal in return for payment, but in fact this is a trick. He
from her, and has been fired, as an excuse to get him out of decides that he will do everything in his power to save Antonio
Amalfi. After Bosola privately defends Antonio to the Duchess and get revenge on the brothers.
as being honorable and worthy, the Duchess confides in Bosola In the Cardinal’s palace, the Cardinal tells all of his courtiers to
that Antonio is innocent and is in fact her husband. She plans to stay away from his room, no matter what they hear, even if he
flee to join him. tests them with screams and shouts. Bosola sneaks into the
Back in Rome, the Cardinal and Ferdinand find out from Bosola palace, and overhears that the Cardinal plans to kill him after
about the Duchess’s plan. The Cardinal then formally banishes he helps the Cardinal. Soon after, Antonio sneaks into the
the Duchess, Antonio, and their children. Ferdinand invites palace in his effort to find the Cardinal and end their quarrel.
Antonio to reconcile, but Antonio believes this is a trap, so However, in the darkness, Bosola accidentally stabs Antonio,
instead of accepting the invitation he flees with his eldest son mistaking him for one of the brothers. Antonio lives just long
to Milan. After he leaves, Bosola reenters in disguise and takes enough for Bosola to inform him that the Duchess and two of
the Duchess and her other two children captive under orders their children have been murdered, at which point Antonio no
from the brothers. longer wants to live. Bosola goes to find and kill the Cardinal,
The brothers imprison the Duchess in her Amalfi palace. There, and when the Cardinal starts screaming for help, no one comes
because Ferdinand has sworn never to see the Duchess, because of his instruction that they stay away. In the chaos,
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Bosola stabs the Cardinal twice. Ferdinand then enters, and, seeing the Duchess’s dead body, however, Ferdinand almost
mistaking, his brother for the devil, stabs both the Cardinal and immediately feels remorse, and his guilt eventually drives him
Bosola. Bosola then stabs Ferdinand, who uses his dying words insane. In his madness he stabs the Cardinal, and is killed by
to say that our deaths are caused by our own actions. While Bosola.
Bosola explains what happened, the Cardinal dies, and after The Cardinal – The Cardinal is the brother of Duke Ferdinand
Bosola makes a final speech, he dies as well. After all of the and the Duchess. Though he is a religious figure, he is in fact
deaths, Delio enters with Antonio’s son, announces his just as immoral and despicable as his brother, facts made clear
intention to help the son to receive his proper inheritance, and by his attempt to bribe his way into being pope, the fact that
ends the play. Bosola once killed a man on his orders, and the affair he carries
on with Julia, Castruccio’s wife. Like Ferdinand, he tries to
prevent the Duchess from remarrying in order to preserve his
CHARA
CHARACTERS
CTERS sense of his family’s purity and honor as well as his access to
the Duchess’s wealth. Unlike the wild Ferdinand, though, the
MAJOR CHARACTERS
Cardinal is careful, calculating, and controlled: he refuses to
The Duchess of Malfi – The Duchess, a young widow and the interact personally with the spy Bosola, and he threatens to
ruler of the Italian town of Amalfi, is the intelligent, kind, walk away when Ferdinand becomes too overt about his plans
virtuous sister of the Cardinal and the twin of Duke Ferdinand. for revenge on the Duchess. While it’s never explained whether
Her brothers have prohibited her from remarrying because, the Cardinal is upset by Ferdinand’s violence or just trying to
they argue, her remarriage would ruin her honor and the honor shut Ferdinand up in order to keep themselves looking clean
of the family. The Duchess also seems to understand that her while they plan their revenge, the fact that the Cardinal is
brothers have more nefarious aims, such as ensuring their own entirely capable of murder – he later poisons Julia, after all,
chances at inheriting her fortune, though her understanding is when she learns his secrets – suggests that it is the latter.
implied mainly by her actions rather than her words. Though he is aware of the religious consequences of his
Independent and defiant of her brothers’ wishes, the Duchess actions, he wields religion only as a tool to maintain his power.
decides to secretly marry her steward, Antonio, for love, and He never seems to feel true guilt for his actions, and there is a
has three children with him. She keeps both the marriage and sense of poetic justice in the fact that ultimately the Cardinal
the children secret because she understands the threat her dies after being stabbed by Bosola, the spy he used but refused
brothers would pose to her family should they find out. And, in to engage with or even pay, and his own brother, Ferdinand,
fact, once her brothers do find out the Duchess seems almost who by the end of the play is guilt ridden and insane.
completely unable to protect herself or her children. Perhaps
Antonio Bologna – Antonio is the Duchess’s steward, and very
because she is a woman, she lacks her brother’s political power,
capably runs the Duchess’s estate. Despite the fact that he is
and they quickly banish and split up her family. They then
neither wealthy nor high-born, the Duchess considers him to
imprison, torture, and strangle both her and her children.
be a “complete” man, and the two of them secretly marry. He
Through all of these trials, the Duchess remains virtuous and
clearly reveres the Duchess – he is marrying for love, not just
good, and she faces both torture and death with bravery and
money. He is also knowledgeable about people: even early in
dignity.
the play he knows that Ferdinand and the Cardinal are
Ferdinand, Duk
Duke e of Calabria – Duke Ferdinand is the brother duplicitous and murderous. Despite his knowledge of their
of the Cardinal and the twin brother of the Duchess. He doesn’t characters, though, he proves entirely incapable of protecting
want his widowed sister to remarry, in part because of his pride his family from Ferdinand or the Cardinal. And while that
and his greed for her wealth, but also because he harbors his failure seems to stem from his lower-class status and lack of
own incestuous desires for her. It is Ferdinand who places political power of any sort, and while Antonio never seems
Bosola in the Duchess’s employment and then hires Bosola to anything less than morally good, his plan to sneak into the
spy on her activities. When rumors reach Ferdinand of the Cardinals home at the end of the play in order to try to
Duchess possibly giving birth to children (and thus also having convince the Cardinal to make amends also seems incredible
sex), his anger is so overwhelming that his violent outbursts naïve. During this effort, he is accidentally killed by Bosola, who
about the horrible ways he plans to revenge himself on her are mistakes Antonio for someone else.
too much even for the Cardinal. When he finds out that she has
Daneil de Bosola – Bosola is the spy planted by Duke
secretly married Antonio and had three children, Ferdinand
Ferdinand as the stable master at the Duchess’ estate. He is a
acts decisively: he has her imprisoned, tortured, and killed. He
man who is used to doing the dirty work for others: before the
seems to enjoy the torture, and act as if the torture he makes
events of the play he spent time in jail for murdering a man on
her endure is just payback for torture that she has made him
the orders of the Cardinal. He is also aware that the men who
endure, though the clear implication is that the “torture” he
do the dirty work seldom actually get the rewards promised
experienced was his sexual jealousy of the Duchess. Upon
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them, as the Cardinal refuses to speak or be seen with him. from the torture of her thoughts that plague her when there is
Even so, though he feels guilty for all of his actions – and does silence.
not even want to become a spy when Duke Ferdinand offers Ex
Executioners
ecutioners –The executioners work for Ferdinand and carry
him the payment to become one – he feels that it is his duty to out the murders of the Duchess, her children, and Cariola.
obey the Duke and accepts that to follow orders he must
Pilgrims – Witnesses to the banishment of the Duchess and
become corrupt. After he participates in the torture of the
Antonio.
Duchess, though, his guilt becomes so great, and Ferdinand’s
refusal to pay him for his services so outrageous, that he Servants – Throughout the play there are several servants,
switches sides and plans to help Antonio and kill both some of whom are killed.
Ferdinand and the Cardinal. That his plans go awry and he Children – Though they are not named and do not speak, the
accidentally kills Antonio may suggest that it is not so simple to Duchess’s three children appear on stage a number of times.
suddenly become good and moral, but he does willingly The two younger children wind up murdered, but the oldest
sacrifice himself and badly wound the Cardinal and kill survives and under Delio’s care seems likely to inherit his
Ferdinand. mother’s wealth and lands.
Delio – Delio is Antonio’s friend and is of the same social class.
Totally loyal, he is privy to Antonio and the Duchess’ secret
marriage, and he looks after Antonio’s sole surviving son at the THEMES
end of the play. In a break from the Shakespearean tradition of
In LitCharts literature guides, each theme gets its own color-
giving a play’s closing lines to the highest-ranking character,
coded icon. These icons make it easy to track where the themes
Webster gives Delio the play’s final lines. Delio is also a former
occur most prominently throughout the work. If you don't have
suitor of Julia.
a color printer, you can still use the icons to track themes in
Julia – Julia is Castruccio’s wife and the Cardinal’s mistress. black and white.
Julia is the play’s stereotypical fickle female, with constantly
changing affections. Near the end of the play, she becomes
POLITICS AND CORRUPTION
enamored with Bosola, who then uses her to get the Cardinal
to admit his involvement in the Duchess’s murder. When the The Duchess of Malfi takes place in Roman Catholic
Cardinal finds out that Julia betrayed him, he kills her by Italy, which English Renaissance audiences would
making her kiss a poison covered book, but not before Julia have associated with the stereotype of
reveals that she betrayed him to Bosola. “sophisticated corruption.” The play begins with Antonio’s
speech about his recent return from the French court; he
praises France and offers the play’s notion of an ideal royal
MINOR CHARACTERS
state. The French king, Antonio reports, in order to bring
Castruccio – Castruccio is an old Italian lord, and his name is a everything to order, has rid himself of all flatterers and
pun on the word castrated. This pun is furthered by the fact “infamous persons” because he rightly understands that a court
that Castruccio’s wife, Julia, is having an affair with the “is like a common fountain.” Usually goodness flows, but if it is
Cardinal. poisoned near the head (i.e., the monarch), death spreads
Marquis of P Pescar
escaraa – A soldier and courtier in Ferdinand’s throughout the entire fountain (the entire nation). The French
court. Of all the courtiers, he alone seems to have some sense court is especially good because there is a council unafraid to
of honor and independence of mind. inform the King of the “corruption of the times.” Some advisors
Count Malateste –A Roman courtier, friend of Ferdinand. tell rulers what to do, but in France the advisors tell the King
what he should foresee. It’s ideal that France is filled with
Silvio – A courtier at Amalfi. nobles willing to speak against corruption and give genuine
Cariola – The Duchess’s waiting-maid. She is loyal to the advice to rulers.
Duchess throughout, and dies for it. Webster juxtaposes the ideal court of France with the political
Old Lady – A courtier. situation in Italy, whose corruption is exemplified by Duke
Roderigo – A courtier at Amalfi attending the Duchess. Ferdinand and his brother the Cardinal, who deal illicitly
throughout the play. Both men make efforts to appear
Grisolan – A courtier at Amalfi attending the Duchess.
temperate, courtly, and honorable, but inside, they are both evil
Doctor – A Doctor to Ferdinand who diagnoses the Duke with and corrupt. The Cardinal, for example, lays elaborate plots
the disease Lycanthropia. against anyone he is jealous of or doesn’t like, and he surrounds
Madmen – Several insane people sent by Ferdinand to torment himself with flatterers, spies, and “a thousand such political
the Duchess, though she actually finds that they distract her monsters.” He is so corrupt as to have attempted to bribe his
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