Key AO3: The Duchess of Malfi
AO3 = Social, Historical and Cultural Contextual References
AO4 (Intertextuality) = Blue
Link to The Duchess of Malfi = Purple
Historical Context
Giovanna d’Aaragona (1478-1511)
- Her father died of poisoning before her birth, so she fell under the authority of her brothers
- She was married off at 12, and her husband assumed the title of Duke of Amalfi
- However, he died 8 years later, and she became both the Duchess of Amalfi and a widow
Webster’s play was based on William Painter’s The Palace of Pleasure
- Webster selectively adapts Painter’s work, using Giovanna’s misfortune to present a radical,
electrifying, critique of Jacobean society
- Webster’s Duchess ‘stains the time past’ as she highlights the immorality of an archaic social
system that denies fundamental human rights to women
- She also ‘lights the time to come’, so her aspirations are what we continue to aspire toward
in modern day society
Women
Witchcraft
- Witchcraft would now be seen as a form of misogyny. It was typically used against poor,
single women in the Jacobean Era who had few people to protect them
- They were blamed for unfortunate natural events, e.g. dying crops
- Elizabeth I passed the 1563 Witchcraft Act allowing a ‘witch’ to be killed
- James I is known for his belief and pursuing of witches, written in Deamonology in 1597
- He introduced harsher laws, punishments and torture methods in his witch hunts, believing
that because women were frailer and weaker than men, they were more susceptible to the
clutches of the devil
Roles and Responsibilities
- Women were expected to obey and respect their husbands
- Inferior to the male ‘superiors’
- Surplus of domestic roles and expectations, so they were unable to reach high achieving
positions, e.g. landowning
Theatre
- In theatre, women played a variety of roles encompassing traits that represented anxieties
surrounding female autonomy
- Despite this, female characters served as a foil to emphasise the male characters’ traits
- Theatre was the only place where ‘cross-dressing’ was not punishable by imprisonment
- Queen Elizabeth was the only royal woman to not get married, going against the societal
norms
‘The male gaze’
, It captures the way in which women are viewed by men, and the purpose with which they are
viewed.
It seems to be a means for encouraging male superiority and the idea that women exist only to
satisfy what their male counterparts have set out for them.
‘Proto feminist’ (Webster)
This describes people who actively put forward feminist ideologies in their opinions and works in a
time with profound patriarchal and misogynistic tendencies.
It is almost as if proto feminists assist with the introduction of feminism into a society that is neither
familiar with it nor inclined to it.
First Genesis Story
- It was believed that Eve was created from Adam’s rib, but this was Adam’s lowest floating
rib and therefore naturally crooked
- Since Eve was created from a crooked rib, many believed she was also defected
- Jacobean works incorporate this idea that women are less potent than men and unable to
reach the masculine standard
- It seems almost as of this interpretation of the Genesis story is relied upon to justify the ill
treatment of women in this period
Patriarchal Frustrations
- There could be things happening inside women’s bodies, both emotional and physical things
that should not and cannot be under male control
- The Duchess tries to harness this idea by concealing her pregnancy and taking control of her
own body
In ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’, Annabella touches on a great mystery of the Renaissance, what goes on
inside women’s minds and bodies. With this Renaissance fascination, corprses were dissected in
lecture halls that uncannily resembled theatres.
1610
- There is a rush of female tragic protagonists such as Webster’s Duchess and Vittoria,
Middleton’s Beatrice-Joanna and Ford’s Annabella
- They focus on the changing ideas about the relationship between the body and the soul,
between men’s bodies and women’s bodies
- Although all these women are beautiful, the men around them approach with fear and
suspicion of what may be concealed inside their minds and bodies
Webster had to introduce a ‘flaw’ in the characterisation of the Duchess, to conform to the
stereotypes of the Jacobean audience.
This is because the role of women and their nature was defined very specifically in this era.
Personality and individuality in a women could suggest they were unfit to successfully carry out their
duties as housekeepers and taking care of the wellbeing of her family.
Duchess vs Cordelia (King Lear, Shakespeare)
AO3 = Social, Historical and Cultural Contextual References
AO4 (Intertextuality) = Blue
Link to The Duchess of Malfi = Purple
Historical Context
Giovanna d’Aaragona (1478-1511)
- Her father died of poisoning before her birth, so she fell under the authority of her brothers
- She was married off at 12, and her husband assumed the title of Duke of Amalfi
- However, he died 8 years later, and she became both the Duchess of Amalfi and a widow
Webster’s play was based on William Painter’s The Palace of Pleasure
- Webster selectively adapts Painter’s work, using Giovanna’s misfortune to present a radical,
electrifying, critique of Jacobean society
- Webster’s Duchess ‘stains the time past’ as she highlights the immorality of an archaic social
system that denies fundamental human rights to women
- She also ‘lights the time to come’, so her aspirations are what we continue to aspire toward
in modern day society
Women
Witchcraft
- Witchcraft would now be seen as a form of misogyny. It was typically used against poor,
single women in the Jacobean Era who had few people to protect them
- They were blamed for unfortunate natural events, e.g. dying crops
- Elizabeth I passed the 1563 Witchcraft Act allowing a ‘witch’ to be killed
- James I is known for his belief and pursuing of witches, written in Deamonology in 1597
- He introduced harsher laws, punishments and torture methods in his witch hunts, believing
that because women were frailer and weaker than men, they were more susceptible to the
clutches of the devil
Roles and Responsibilities
- Women were expected to obey and respect their husbands
- Inferior to the male ‘superiors’
- Surplus of domestic roles and expectations, so they were unable to reach high achieving
positions, e.g. landowning
Theatre
- In theatre, women played a variety of roles encompassing traits that represented anxieties
surrounding female autonomy
- Despite this, female characters served as a foil to emphasise the male characters’ traits
- Theatre was the only place where ‘cross-dressing’ was not punishable by imprisonment
- Queen Elizabeth was the only royal woman to not get married, going against the societal
norms
‘The male gaze’
, It captures the way in which women are viewed by men, and the purpose with which they are
viewed.
It seems to be a means for encouraging male superiority and the idea that women exist only to
satisfy what their male counterparts have set out for them.
‘Proto feminist’ (Webster)
This describes people who actively put forward feminist ideologies in their opinions and works in a
time with profound patriarchal and misogynistic tendencies.
It is almost as if proto feminists assist with the introduction of feminism into a society that is neither
familiar with it nor inclined to it.
First Genesis Story
- It was believed that Eve was created from Adam’s rib, but this was Adam’s lowest floating
rib and therefore naturally crooked
- Since Eve was created from a crooked rib, many believed she was also defected
- Jacobean works incorporate this idea that women are less potent than men and unable to
reach the masculine standard
- It seems almost as of this interpretation of the Genesis story is relied upon to justify the ill
treatment of women in this period
Patriarchal Frustrations
- There could be things happening inside women’s bodies, both emotional and physical things
that should not and cannot be under male control
- The Duchess tries to harness this idea by concealing her pregnancy and taking control of her
own body
In ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’, Annabella touches on a great mystery of the Renaissance, what goes on
inside women’s minds and bodies. With this Renaissance fascination, corprses were dissected in
lecture halls that uncannily resembled theatres.
1610
- There is a rush of female tragic protagonists such as Webster’s Duchess and Vittoria,
Middleton’s Beatrice-Joanna and Ford’s Annabella
- They focus on the changing ideas about the relationship between the body and the soul,
between men’s bodies and women’s bodies
- Although all these women are beautiful, the men around them approach with fear and
suspicion of what may be concealed inside their minds and bodies
Webster had to introduce a ‘flaw’ in the characterisation of the Duchess, to conform to the
stereotypes of the Jacobean audience.
This is because the role of women and their nature was defined very specifically in this era.
Personality and individuality in a women could suggest they were unfit to successfully carry out their
duties as housekeepers and taking care of the wellbeing of her family.
Duchess vs Cordelia (King Lear, Shakespeare)
