SOURCE: Luckyj, Christina. “Concentric Design: The Duchess of Malfi.” In A Winter's Snake: Dramatic Form in the Tragedies of John Webster, pp. 126-47. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1989.

In this excerpt, Luckyj applies her model of Webster's use of repetition and juxtaposition to the structure of The Duchess of Malfi. Luckyj's analysis attempts to incorporate the fifth act into the structure of the play, responding to the frequent argument that the act fails to conform to the coherent pattern of the first four.

Even more frequently than in The White Devil, Webster organizes scenes in The Duchess of Malfi concentrically, creating a strong, central dramatic focus framed by significantly opposed sequences of action. One of the most obvious examples of this kind of scenic construction is III.ii. The scene is important to the plot, tracing as it does the rapid fall of the Duchess and Antonio, from...