The Duchess of Malfi: Interpretations (OCR A Level English Literature)

The Duchess of Malfi: Interpretations

AO5 assesses your ability to understand different ways of reading and interpreting texts. Those different readings can take different forms, from interpretations by critics to watching and analysing different productions of a text.

There are numerous ways to explore different interpretations in order to meet the AO5 assessment criterion, and you must explore a range of secondary reading and perspectives to supplement your understanding of the text. These interpretations can include:

• Exploring critics

• Interpretations over time

• Dramatisations

Exploring critics

Different critics will offеr variеd insights and intеrprеtations of The Duchess of Malfi, and citations will lеnd crеdibility and authority to your analysis. Rеfеrеncing well-known critics demonstrates that your interpretation is groundеd in literary criticism. It will also еnhance thе validity of your argumеnt. By citing multiple critics, you can prеsеnt a morе comprehensive and balanced analysis and demonstrate the different range of perspectives and interpretations surrounding the play.

Below are two notable critics who have commented on The Duchess of Malfi:

Joyce E Peterson: “Cursed Example the Duchess of Malfi and Commonwealth Tragedy” (1978) 

• Joyce E Peterson, a literary critic, defines the Duchess of Malfi as a “commonwealth tragedy”:

  • This means that she believes the play should be regarded via contemporary interpretations of political standards

• Peterson argues that The Duchess of Malfi should be understood in terms of how political figures of the time had a duty to place public life over personal desires

• In this way the Duchess denies the role of her public office when choosing to marry her steward 

• Peterson suggests Jacobeans may have perceived the Duchess as a ruler whose private desires were at odds with her political responsibility

• This theory lends itself to perceiving Webster’s play as predominantly political satire

• Peterson’s arguments portray the Duchess in a negative light:

  • As a result of her "anarchic will" she places her private desire and pridefulness above her public responsibility as a ruler

  • This aligns her with her corrupt brothers

  • Through this lens, the Duchess can be viewed as the “lusty widow” Ferdinand describes her as in Act I

• Peterson suggests that the play explores her “culpability as a ruler, on her responsibility for her own fate, and, worse, for the disruption of her duchy" 

• Her criticisms centre around the Duchess placing her “claims” over her body above the “public claims”

• This refers to what is known as the body politic:

  • This suggests Peterson believes the Duchess’s body and sexuality is surrendered when taking on a position of authority or leadership

Theodora A Jankowski: “Defining/Confining the Duchess: Negotiating the Female Body in John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi” (1990)

• Jankowski argues that the Duchess is an example of a woman objectified by her sexuality and marriage

• She says: “no language exists for women as rulers, yet it did on women within marriage”

• Jankowski points out that it is crucial to note Jacobean audiences would view her character as “unnatural”, as women were expected to be “subservient” 

• In this way, her criticisms of the play suggest the Duchess can be seen as a “threat” to the status quo 

• In light of this, Jankowski argues, the Duchess can be seen as an “uneasy” characterisation for a Jacobean audience

• Jankowski claims there could be parallels with Webster’s depiction of the Duchess and female monarchs of the time:

  • In particular Mary Queen of Scots, who was James I’s mother

  • This can be contextualised when considering the conflict between Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary 

    • Their attempt to establish power in England and Scotland at the end of the 16th century was violent

• Jankowski suggests the Duchess uses “two distinct bodies”:

  • She says the Duchess “attempts to secure herself politically by divorcing her natural body from her political one” 

  • However, her failure is a result of these identities and “bodies” being too “indistinct and perpetually slipping”

  • She suggests she has to deal with “contesting moralities”

  • This suggests her sexuality and agency is fluid and based on external factors

• Her argument is that Webster presents the destruction of the Duchess as inevitable in order to show her limitations in a patriarchal society:

  • This is something the Duchess admits in the play 

  • She says she sees the world as a “tedious theatre” and feels her part in it is not of her own making

• Jankowski sees a “nobility in her death” as she sacrifices herself for her choices

Interpretations over time

Since its first performance in 1614, Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi has been performed across the globe. However, since its first production, society and thinking have changed greatly. Below are some examples of critical reactions that have evolved in relation to the key themes and ideas in The Duchess of Malfi. 

Reactions on early performances 

• Early responses to The Duchess of Malfi were complimentary

• Webster’s drama was considered by fellow playwright Thomas Middleton “A masterpiece of tragedy”

• Webster’s use of props and stage effects were perceived as darkly dramatic:

  • For example, the depiction of the severed hand, the waxwork replicas of the Duchess’s murdered children, and the bleeding eye

• The folio suggests the play was to be “Presented privately, at the Black-/Friers; and publiqely at the Globe”:

  • The Globe was an open theatre whereas Blackfriars was an indoor playhouse

  • Blackfriars afforded Webster the opportunity for dramatic use of staging, especially of the domestic sphere

• These interpretations see Webster’s play as a successful revenge tragedy, a genre popular at the time for its themes of murder and violence within political institutions

• However, reaction to the darker themes, and especially violent scenes, was mixed:

  • Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary in 1666 that it was a “sorry play”

  • It is reported, though, that he saw the play numerous times

• It is indicated that the play was performed in 1618 for Orazio Busino, the chaplain to the Venetian ambassador to England, who complained of the play's treatment of Catholics:

  • In particular, the characterisation of the Cardinal was seen as crass

• Webster’s portrayal of love and sexuality were more pragmatic and sinister than those of his contemporaries:

  • The subjects are hardly ever bawdy, but treated with seriousness

  • The banter between Bosola and the old woman, for example, is less humorous and more bitter than typical Shakespearean tragedies 

• That the Duchess is a central character and one with a powerful position would have been unusual for Jacobean drama:

  • However, her presentation as an instrument of revenge places her in a more traditional role

Reactions by the author

• John Webster’s reactions to the play itself are not known

• However, influence from Greek drama and the darker tragedies of contemporary writers seems evident in his plays

• In the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love, he is characterised as being particularly interested in violent drama:

  • When asked by the actor playing Shakespeare what he thinks of Titus Andronicus, his character replies, “I like it when they cut their heads off. And the daughter mutilated with knives… Plenty of blood. That is the only writing”

• Webster’s two macabre tragedies are based on real-life events in Italy, suggesting his interest in corrupt and violent leadership, particularly murder:

  • His other revenge tragedy, The White Devil, is based on the assassination of the Italian noblewoman Vittoria Accoramboni

  • Webster, in his preface to the 1612 Quarto edition, tells the reader it was a failure when first performed by the Queen Anne's Men at the Red Bull Theatre

  • However, The Duchess of Malfi was received positively when it was performed at Blackfriars and, later, the Globe theatre 

More recent reactions

• Webster’s fascination with the macabre is noted in later responses to the play

• By the early eighteenth century, Webster's violent depictions of the Duchess’s abuse is minimised

• In 1733, Lewis Theobald directed an adaptation of the play called The Fatal Secret:

  • In this version the Duchess is saved in the resolution

  • He also cuts scenes depicting her motherhood to avoid violence

• Victorian critics like William Archer suggest the play speaks to a “barbarous” audience, as the play depicts brutality which makes the “flesh creep”

• Others, such as early 20th-century critic TS Eliot, says Webster is “possessed by death” and “a genius directed toward chaos”:

  • Indeed, other reviewers called the play a “disordered world” of “lust and blood”

• The play was perceived as an effective depiction of the characters’ inner lives:

  • In this way we see interpretations of the time that focus on typically psychological elements of tragedy  

• Twentieth-century interpretations of the play suggest Webster was a “master of scenes”

• Charles Kingsley said “The strength of Webster’s confest mastership lies simply in his acquaintance with vicious nature in general…[who] handles these horrors with little or no moral purpose”

• Contemporary interpretations begin to consider comic elements of the play, such as Ferdinand’s visions and accidental death, which are often portrayed hyperbolically

• Twenty-first-century reviews of the play suggest the play "chillingly captures the moral wasteland of the human soul", commenting on its depiction of inner turmoil

• Catherine Belsey suggests that the play is a “commitment to [the] realism of the post-Restoration theatre”

Dramatisations

Examining various productions on stage and screen of The Duchess of Malfi will enable you to appreciate different interpretations of the characters and themes, and also how they may have evolved over time, reflecting shifts in society and culture.

James MacTaggart’s 1972 film

• The British Film Institute called James MacTaggart’s film production of The Duchess of Malfi a “dazzling” adaptation of the interior stage settings Webster uses to create intrigue

• The review says it reveals “the complexities, both personal and political, of John Webster’s masterpiece”:

  • Scenes inside are dark with subtle lighting or candlelight to emphasise shadows

• A review by Screensplaytv says that Michael Bryant’s Bosola’s monologues translated into interior speech and spoken in voiceover “reinforces his psychological complexity”

• The film uses contemporary sets and costume to highlight the Italian Renaissance setting, perhaps offering a criticism of such societies 

• The film portrays the bare-faced corruption of characters in control:

  • MacTaggart highlights the mercenary nature of Ferdinand and Bosola

  • Ferdinand drops a handful of gold coins on the table noisily

• MacTaggart exaggerates Ferdinand’s extreme character:

  • Ferdinand roars, and is shown as close to tears

  • The Cardinal appears embarrassed at his emotional outburst 

• While earlier productions focus on feminist aspects of the play, MacTaggart focuses on the psychological reading of the drama

• However, the production stresses the innocence of some of the female characters:

  • This is emphasised to show a sense of vulnerability and powerlessness

  • The Duchess wears a white nightgown

  • Julia is naked when she is with the fully-clothed Cardinal

• Unlike earlier productions, MacTaggart plays down the horror and violence

Cheek by Jowl’s 1995 production

• The Cheek by Jowl production premiered in the Theatre Royal in 1995

• It was reviewed: "Declan Donnellan's enthralling production is a true and graphic re-evaluation of the play for our own times" by the London Evening Standard

• In this production the Duchess is presented as a modern, dynamic and more physical character:

  • The actress Anastasia Hille slaps Ferdinand, threatens him with a dagger, then casually pours herself a drink

  • In a later scene, the Duchess, in the role of doctor, restrains Ferdinand in his madness

• The play opens with Antonio revealing the stage by drawing the curtain dramatically 

• On stage the characters are revealed lying flat on what appears to be a chessboard:

  • In this way the Cheek by Jowl version highlights ideas related to fate and personal choice

• In a review conducted by the University of Nottingham, the play was said to portray a “more complex Duchess”

• The play makes use of a glass box to indicate the Duchess’s prison, perhaps highlighting the invisible restrictions on her life:

  • In the scene where she is shown an illusion of Antonio’s corpse, she slams her hands against the glass walls in despair

• Bosola is portrayed more sympathetically than in other productions:

  • His oppression is symbolised in the first act by an animalistic prowling around the edges of the stage

  • His rough clothing and colloquial accent illustrates his lower class

  • His response to Ferdinand is clearly framed as extreme disgust and his actions later in the play are shown as distressing to him

  • The review says “his journey for the rest of the play was one of increasing chaos as he sought some kind of redemption”

• The play’s original criticism of the church is ignored in this production:

  • The Cardinal is not portrayed as religious and appears simply as a villain

• Nevertheless the production makes use of the supernatural element of Webster’s play as the Duchess appears as a ghost after her death

• This production minimises the role of the Cardinal and Ferdinand:

  • Most notably, it shows their death in slow motion 

  • The men fight and finally fall into a pool of black liquid

  • They reach out towards the imprisoned Duchess

  • The scene is said to have been comedic in nature, thus minimising themes of redemption and remorse