English Literature

Wrong action and its consequences In the world of drama, there are many characters who possess high character traits and status and ultimately fall from that high position because of committing fault. Considering each one as a tragic hero, John Webster's The Duchess is a definite member of this class who falls from her high position or status and dies because of committing a fault. She is beautiful, intelligent, courageous and emotional. And out of her emotion, she gets married with Antonio whose rank and status were lower from that of her's. This marriage was her wrong action and for this she falls from her ultimate status and then dies. Causes of her wrong action: Marrying Antonio was wrong for the Duchess. But the Duchess did that wrong action/took that wrong decision out of her emotion. Actually it is inherent in human being to be emotional. And such emotion causes her damnation. Every man of this world suffers from two types of starvations, physical and mental starvation. ...

�The Duchess of Malfi� by John Webster is a kind of Revenge Tragedy modeled on Seneca, the Latin playwright of 1st century A.D. This play is considered as one of the best plays of Webster and as a Revenge Tragedy, it is considered as the best tragedy after Shakespeare's containing almost all the characteristics of Revenge Tragedy. This play contains the depth of extreme violence, plotting and mostly revenge on the best part which are the chief elements of revenge tragedy. However, The Duchess of Malfi contains full of such terrifying, hair-raising situations from the beginning to the end. However, if we want to consider The Duchess of Malfi as a Revenge Tragedy, we need to know what we mean by revenge tragedy and its major conventions. Revenge Tragedy: The name Revenge Tragedy arose from the Senecan tradition of making revenge the motive force for the action that leads to the tragedy. The characteristics of Revenge Tragedy are: 01. The story should centre on characters of noble bi...