the Duchess of Malfi ao3

Question 1

webster context

Answer 1

his father was a carriage maker, his mother was a blacksmith’s daughter, attended a merchant Taylor’s school, married Sara peniall in 1605 (7 months pregnant), began his career collaborating with other playwrights

Question 2

theatre context: revenge tragedy

Answer 2

-revenge tragedy was popular in late elizabethan and early Jacobean period. “the tragedy of blood” (1578)
-common tropes for this includes: hero’s quest for vengeance; murdered kin; haunting ghosts; insanity; play within play; violence

Question 3

Seneca drama

Answer 3

-originated from Romans
-James 1st accession to throne brought a new tone in drama and literature with developing attitudes towards court life
-James didn’t disguise luxury and corruption which lead to satire and stoicism
-violent and sexual themes
-sexist ideologies

Question 4

Blackfriars theatre

Answer 4

first time ‘the Duchess of malfi’ was performed was by King’s men at the indoors Blackfriars Theatre in 1614

Question 5

Giovanna d’Aragona

Answer 5

-real life Duchess of Malfi
-widowed at 19 in 1498
-fell in love with Antonio and married him in secret
-had 3 children before her brothers discovered it and killed her

Question 6

palace of pleasure (1567)

Answer 6

-written by William painter
-contained translation of stories by French, Italian and greek writers including: Francis de Belleforest’s adaptation of Matteo Bandello’s novel (1554)
-Matteo Bandella knew Antonio of Bologna

Question 7

Arabella Stuart

Answer 7

-first cousin to James I
Found the court’s morality to be wicked and cruel
-married William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset in 1610 who was from a lower class and was imprisoned as a result
-Seymour was excused and knighted in 1616, remarried in 1617
-Arabella was caught and died in the Tower of London in 1615

Question 8

Location context

Answer 8

-Jacobean dramas found Italy as the birthplace of Renaissance drama
-centre of Catholicism
-corrupt courts, monstrous desires, ruthless and stealthy slayings, treachery ere all popular themes of drama
-Borgias and medici families
-italy allowed writer to criticise James I

Question 9

James I and his favourites

Answer 9

-Sir Anthony Weldon “the king’s kissing them after so lascivious a mode in public”
-James and Robert Carr (bedchamber gentleman) “his friend, whom he loved above all men living”