Duchess Of Malf Open Learn - 10864 Words

John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi Introduction 3 Learning outcomes 3 Background 3 Description 4 Act 1: setting the scene 5 Courts ideal and real 5 Discussion 5 Description 8 Bosola the malcontent 8 Discussion 9 Marriage for love: family opposition 10 Discussion 10 Love and marriage: Antonio the steward 13 Discussion 14 Love and marriage: the Duchess 15 Description 16 Description 17 Discussion 19 Act 2: discovery 21 Ferdinand 21 Discussion 22 Conclusion 24 References 24 Further reading 25 Next steps 25 Acknowledgements 26 Figures 26 Don’t miss out 26 Introduction This unit, on the first two acts of John Webster’s Renaissance tragedy The Duchess of Malfi, focuses on the representation of the theme of love and marriage in the Malfi court,†¦show more content†¦The text on it, centred and in a variety of lettering, reads: ‘The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy. As it was Presented privatly, at the Black-Friers; and publiquely at the Globe, By the Kings Majesties Servants. The perfect and exact Coppy, with diverse things printed, that the length of the Play would not beare in the Presentment. Written by John Webster. Hora – Si quid – Candidus Imperti si non his utere mecum. London. Printed by Nicholas Okes, for John Waterson, and are to be sold at the signe of the Crowne, in Paules Churchyard, 1623.’ End of description The Duchess of Malfi was first performed in 1613 or 1614 by the King’s Men, the acting company to which Shakespeare belonged. The play was not printed until around ten years later in 1623, in quarto, a smaller and less expensive edition than the larger folio size used for the first edition of Shakespeare’s complete works. The title page of this edition (shown in Figure 1) tells us that the play ‘was presented privatly, at the Blackfriers and publicly at the Globe’; that is, the play opened at the Blackfriars, the company’s indoor theatre, and then played at the open-air Globe. The title page also informs potential readers that the text of the play is the ‘perfect and exact Coppy, with diverse things Printed, that the length of the Play would not beare in the Presentment’; in other words, the play text includes numerous passages that were cut for performance. The publisher, then, appears to be