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The Duchess of Malfi: John Webster | University of Oxford Podcasts - Audio and Video Lectures

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In dramatizing a woman's sexual choices in a notably sympathetic manner, this tragedy articulates perennial questions about female autonomy and class distinction.

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Description

This is a first edition of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi. The play - a blood-soaked tragedy - was initially performed before December of 1614, and was published nine years later in 1623.

The play tells the story of the Duchess, a young widow, who marries her steward Antonio for love. The couple know that because they are socially unequal their relationship will not be accepted; therefore they try to keep it a secret. However, the Duchess's two evil brothers find out and become hell-bent on breaking up the union, so much so that they destroy themselves in the process. They employ Bosola, a disillusioned, melancholic scholar/criminal to execute their diabolical schemes. Bosola is a pivotal character, and serves as a quasi-narrator, providing a warped moral commentary on events as they unfold.

The Duchess of Malfi has become one of the most highly regarded and frequently staged plays of the English Renaissance. This is in part due to the strength of Webster's poetic writing, and his unflinching depiction of violent tragedy.

What does the title page tell us about the play?

This title page declares that The Duchess of Malfi was performed first at Blackfriars (to a private audience) and second at the Globe (by the King's Men, Shakespeare 's acting company, to a public audience). The fact that the play went through two separate productions before it was released for printing suggests that it was a popular and therefore profitable piece.

Also included on the title page is the statement that it is the 'perfect and exact coppy', and that in its printed form the play 'would not beare in the Presentment'. This is a light-hearted advertising tactic, implying that because there is so much never-before-seen material included in this edition it would be too long to stage.

Modern scholars believe that this edition contains lines and scenes that were cut from the original performances. This text is the longest printed play that has survived from the Jacobean period, spanning 104 pages.

Webster the writer and editor

Not only did Webster write The Duchess of Malfi for the stage, he also oversaw, edited and proofread the text throughout the printing process. Webster's involvement in the publishing of his plays was unusual. Printers did not require a writer's permission to publish their work (copyright didn't exist), and even if a writer was aware of a printer's intentions it was common practice to simply buy the text for a small one-off sum, thereby denying the author any future rights to the book and the profits made from it. There was also an element of social stigma attached to printing, and other writers from the period, such as John Donne, were wary of appearing in print.

Due to Webster's role in the publishing of this quarto edition it is considered as the authoritative text for modern publications and productions of The Duchess of Malfi.

Webster's career was not solely focussed on drama; he was also well-known for his work editing and compiling books which included passages, poems and stories from other prominent writers of the era. He is recognised as the editor of an expanded edition of Sir Thomas Overbury's 'The Wife' - a popular poem at the time because of Overbury's murder and the notorious court case surrounding it.

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First Edition of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, 1623

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This is a first edition of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi . The play - a blood-soaked tragedy - was initially performed before December of 1614, and was published nine years later in 1623. The play tells the story of the Duchess, a young widow, who marries her steward Antonio for love.

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Recommended editions of books for Literature

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Introduction to Criticism - Postcolonialism

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Introduction to Criticism - Psychoanalytic Criticism

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Introduction to Criticism Liberal Humanism 2

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Contextual reading from the University of Warwick

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This website:

proposes an innovative teaching and learning tool for contextualising the period (see the timeline), and for engaging with the playtexts (see key fragments)

makes available an informed space for academic research on the Jacobethans - focusing both on critical history and performance reconstruction and archiving

invites and provides templates for new forms of assignment for student work on the plays, the playwrights and the period

allows for creative exploration of the performance element in the study of the Jacobethans

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This website: proposes an innovative teaching and learning tool for contextualising the period (see the timeline), and for engaging with the playtexts (see key fragments) makes available an informed space for academic research on the Jacobethans - focusing both on critical history and performance reconstruction and archiving invites and provides templates for new forms of assignment for student work on the plays, the playwrights and the period allows for creative exploration of the performance element in the study of the Jacobethans

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Hi! This is your new A Level Literature padlet. Find reading and more on here!

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Hi! This is your new A Level Literature padlet. Find reading and more on here!