The Duchess of Malfi

In a five-act structure, Act IV is the “return/fall.” Tragic forces drive toward Act V’s “catastrophe.” In The Duchess of Malfi, things speed toward the catastrophe via the death of the eponymous Duchess. However, her death is complicated by her strength in the face of Ferdinand’s tortures and the perseverance of her spirit, which further complicates Bosola’s feelings.

This layering of hope and tragedy creates meta-theatrical tension within the text. The Duchess is imprisoned and tortured by Ferdinand, who is in many ways the author of her tragic fate. As punishment for Transcending Societal Expectations, Ferdinand wants to make the Duchess miserable. He asks Bosola how the Duchess is conducting herself while imprisoned, and cries, “Curse upon her!” (IV.1.15) when Bosola says she is bearing herself nobly. The Duchess resists being the tragic figure that Ferdinand tries to make her.

As such, Ferdinand continues to try and make the Duchess more and more miserable. He presents her with a dead hand he claims is Antonio’s; rather than drive her to despair, this simply reconciles the Duchess to death. In his orchestration of increasingly cruel tortures, Ferdinand wants the Duchess to play her part as a tragic and grieving heroine. The Duchess resists this at every turn; she will not fill a stereotypical gender role or let her brother determine her emotions. She tells Bosola, “I do account this world a tedious theatre / For I do play a part in ‘t ‘gainst my will” (IV.1.84-85). This meta-theatrical moment calls into question the premise of revenge tragedy and the gratuitous spectacle of violence-for-entertainment that it demands. The Duchess is a tragic heroine based on a real, historical woman. The action of the play is not only drama, but reality, which can be just as gruesome as fiction. The Duchess brings attention to both the theatrical spectacle and the real horror of her situation by stating how the “world” operates as “theatre.” This calls to mind other similar meta-theatrical moments in early modern theatre: for instance, Jacques’s famous “all the world’s a stage” soliloquy in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It.

However, instead of just pointing out the tragic theatricality of life, the Duchess continues to defy stereotypical gender norms by thwarting Ferdinand’s attempts to demean and upset her. Ferdinand sends a group of people with intellectual disabilities to “act their gambols” (IV.1.130) and prevent the Duchess from sleeping. When they do so, the Duchess instead thanks Ferdinand, for “nothing but noise and folly / can keep me in my right wits, whereas reason / And silence make me stark mad” (IV.2.5-6). She allows the group into her chambers and does not insult them, express fear of them, or complain.

She meets death itself in an equally dignified manner, when Ferdinand sends Bosola in disguise and an Executioner to strangle her. When Bosola introduces her to her executioners, she says simply, “I forgive them” (IV.2.206). When he asks her if she is afraid of death, believing her family to be dead, she says, “Who would be afraid on ‘it?— / Knowing to meet such excellent company / In th’ other world” (IV.2.210-12). At every turn, the Duchess resists Ferdinand’s attempts to make her fearful or beg for her life.

It is unusual that a play’s main protagonist dies in the fourth act. However, the Duchess’s acts of resistance transcend even death. Before she dies, Bosola gives a speech about how all people are ultimately “worm-seed.” To this, she protests simply, “I am the Duchess of Malfi still” (IV.2.141). This declaration perseveres past the death of her body, as she continues to resist the script Ferdinand intends for her. After her initial death, Bosola finds the Duchess drawing small breaths. He asks her to “Return, fair soul, from darkness, and lead mine / Out of this sensible hell” (IV.2.341-42). She revives long enough for him to tell her that Ferdinand tricked her into thinking her family was dead—this is the moment in the return where the audience is hopeful that the Duchess will live. The Duchess then cries “Mercy!” (IV.2.352) and dies. This vague last word gives the Duchess power in her final moments: She speaks this to Bosola, whose conscience has been troubling him, and thus determines his allegiance in the final act. Throughout Act IV, the Duchess has not only transcended societal expectations, but theatrical and generic expectations as well.