The Duchess of Malfi
by John Webster
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- c. 1613-1614; published 1623
- Form
- Tragedy
- Language
- English
- Length
- Short · 130 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Duchess of MalfiBloomsbury, New Mermaids, 2014Brian Gibbons's fifth edition, the standard annotated student text.
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A Jacobean tragedy based on a true story from sixteenth-century Italy. The widowed Duchess of Malfi secretly marries her steward Antonio against the wishes of her brothers, the Cardinal and the unstable Duke Ferdinand, who set the malcontent Bosola to spy on her. When the marriage is discovered, Ferdinand torments her with madmen and wax corpses and has Bosola strangle her and her children. Ferdinand goes mad, believing himself a wolf; Bosola turns on the brothers, and the last act kills nearly everyone.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Duchess of Malfi are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
