The Duchess of Malfi and John Donne’s poetry there is much passion involved, there are often bitter endings when the passion is introduced, there are also occasions where the ending is not bitter, but remains happy. There are also occasions, mainly in the poetry where the tone is bitter nit the ending.
The Duchess and Antonio, in The Duchess of Malfi, have a very passionate relationship, in that they’re passionate about each other, however the ending of their relationship is bitter due to Ferdinand wanting them both dead, this means that, although their love never ended, the end of both of them was bitter, this shows that when there is passion in literature, there are often bitter ends, showing the worst that can happen.
There is much satire in The Duchess of Malfi, showing exaggeration and irony with many events, the exaggeration about women, that they can be swayed say easily for any male who flatters them, as The Duchess of Malfi, or seem to show lust for any single man, as Cariola does, this shows that the views on women are often negative due to what is seen to happen and how they are shown in the play.
In Petrarchan poetry women are seen as being glorious, often unattainable, however in many of John Donne’s poems the attaining of women is easy due to being mistresses; this shows a mockery of the Petrarchan views. Calling a woman “a mummy possess’d” would clearly show the disrespect, this is completely different to the Petrarchan views on women.
There is some passion that John Donne shows that could be seen as the ‘correct’ passion, this is the passion of true love, loving another person and wanting to be with another woman. This is shown in the Canonization where the persona is passionate about his lover. The Canonization could be seen as a biographical poem due to John Donne’s love with Anne Moor, many people thought their love was wrong and perhaps John Donne is speaking of true