ABOUT THE PLAY

In Renaissance tragedy, women who assert their sexual independence often meet a bad end: think of Juliet, Gertrude, Desdemona, and Cleopatra. Webster’s Duchess of Malfi, who secretly marries her steward in defiance of her brothers’ commandments, could be placed in this company, but she also has a unique status as a titular tragic hero, a status she earns through the conviction of her right to act on her erotic desires. This is not to claim that The Duchess of Malfi (1614) is concerned with sexuality alone. If Webster is drawing from love tragedy such as Romeo and Juliet and Othello, he is also drawing on the theatrical styles and ideological concerns of violent revenge tragedy such as Hamlet, of sentimental domestic tragedy such as Heywood’s A Woman Killed with Kindness, and of political tragedy such as King Lear. In the Duchess’ bold assertion of will—“If all my royal kindred / Lay in my way unto this marriage, / I’d make them my low footsteps”—Webster even echoes Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, the archetype of aggressive masculine ambition.

The rich theatrical legacy Webster weaves into his tragedy contributes to the fascinating complexity of the Duchess’ character. Citing the Renaissance stereotype of the “lusty widow,” some have found that the play condemns the Duchess for indulging her imprudent passion for a servant. Although the Duchess conceals her marriage to Antonio for many years, her subjection to p