“Such a mistake as I have often seen / In a play”: The Duchess of Malfi, a Tragedy of Errors
Sukic, Christine
“Such a mistake as I have often seen / In a play”: The Duchess of Malfi, a Tragedy of Errors - 2018.
72
Many critics have pointed out John Webster’s ambiguities in The Duchess of Malfi: while the Duchess’s brothers condemn her for having married Antonio, she also appears as a model of Stoic virtue in the sufferings that are imposed on her; as for Bosola, he appears from the first as a humoral anomaly, and is both murderer and avenger, turning out to be a complete failure in this last task, and admitting to having killed Antonio “unwittingly.” Errors, in the play, are envisaged from a moral perspective and inform Webster’s depiction of a corrupt society, but more importantly, they are part of the play’s aesthetics, where “fault and beauty” are “blended together” (3.3).
“Such a mistake as I have often seen / In a play”: The Duchess of Malfi, a Tragedy of Errors - 2018.
72
Many critics have pointed out John Webster’s ambiguities in The Duchess of Malfi: while the Duchess’s brothers condemn her for having married Antonio, she also appears as a model of Stoic virtue in the sufferings that are imposed on her; as for Bosola, he appears from the first as a humoral anomaly, and is both murderer and avenger, turning out to be a complete failure in this last task, and admitting to having killed Antonio “unwittingly.” Errors, in the play, are envisaged from a moral perspective and inform Webster’s depiction of a corrupt society, but more importantly, they are part of the play’s aesthetics, where “fault and beauty” are “blended together” (3.3).
Réseaux sociaux