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DramaThe Duchess of MalfiJohn WebsterThe Duchess of Malfi

The Duchess of Malfi

John Webster

DramaEnglish
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The young widowed Duchess of Malfi is forbidden by her two brothers, the cruel Duke Ferdinand and the corrupt Cardinal, to marry again, since they want her…

Catalogue details

Author
John Webster
Category
Drama
Language
English
Source
Project Gutenberg

About this book

The young widowed Duchess of Malfi is forbidden by her two brothers, the cruel Duke Ferdinand and the corrupt Cardinal, to marry again, since they want her fortune and her honour kept for the family. She secretly marries her honest steward, Antonio, and bears him children, while her brothers' spy, the bitter and brilliant Bosola, watches her. When the brothers discover the marriage, their revenge is terrible, and it destroys them too.

Context and significance

John Webster (about 1580–about 1632) wrote the tragedy around 1613, basing it on a real Italian story of the early sixteenth century. Dark, poetic and violent, it gives its heroine one of the most dignified deaths in English drama, with the famous line 'I am Duchess of Malfi still'. Compare Shakespeare's King Lear.

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