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The reputation of the English dramatist John Webster (ca. 1580-ca. 1634) rests on two blank-verse tragedies, The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi. He was a painstaking literary craftsman, much concerned with the philosophy and the psychology of evil....

Despite his seminal importance in Jacobean drama (most critics rank him as second only to William Shakespeare as a tragedian), very little was known about John Webster's life until recently. However, the researches of Mary Edmond and the discovery in 198...

Despite his seminal importance in Jacobean drama (most critics rank him as second only to Shakespeare as a tragedian), very little was known about John Webster's life until recently. However, the researches of Mary Edmond and the discovery in 1985 of a f...

The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster John Webster was born in London around 1578, the son of a cart-maker. Probably he was educated at the Merchant Taylors School, and certainly he received legal training at the Middle Temple, one of London’s law...

The Duchess of Malfi is a macabre, tragic play, written by the English dramatist John Webster and first performed in 1614 [1] at the Globe Theatre in London, and published for the first time in 1623. It is loosely based on true events that occurred...

From Edward Albee to John Steinbeck. From Derek Walcott to Oscar Wilde. Then add David Edgar for good measure. Summer may be winding down, but the Stratford Festival of Canada isn't.The repertory theater, with 14 shows now on view, has opened a final, eclectic batch...

In this excerpt, Forker takes a psychological approach to character studies of Ferdinand, the Cardinal, and the Duchess. Forker maintains that the ambiguity of Webster's characters is a mark of his skill in developing individuated, strongly drawn figures.

Below, Luckyj explores how Webster's repetition of large dramatic action sequences in The White Devil and in The Duchess of Malfi "allows [each play's simple linear progression to be de-emphasized and its central experience explored and intensified, " providing at the climactic center of each tragedy, "a clear and sustained dramatic experience [that] incarnates the play's central paradox."]

In this essay, part of a larger study of the repeated image of the dead hand in literature, Rowe discusses the image of the hand as it represents both marriage and the occult in The Duchess of Malfi. Rowe focuses on the scene in which Ferdinand offers the Duchess a dead man's hand in place of his own, considering it within contemporary discourse and beliefs about witchcraft.

Analyzes the character of Bosola from 'The Duchess of Malfi' by John Webster. Debates if Bosola is an entirely convincing character or merely a tool in Webster's structuring of the plot. Describes Bosola's dramatic function in the play?

Essay provides a character analysis of Bosola from the play "The Duchess of Mali."

"The Duchess of Malfi" is an example of a Jacobean revenge tragedy. The Jacobean age was one of questioning and uncertainty about many issues, such as religion, politics and law. The play itself had often been criticised as being weak, confusing, and illogical, containing many inconsistencies within characterisation, plot and structure.