Despite the main female protagonist‚ the Duchess‚ possessing admirable qualities for a woman of the Jacobean Era‚ with Bosola acknowledging her worth‚ stating that her “behaviour (is) so noble/As gives a majesty to adversity”‚ John Webster has created‚ as critic Badendyck describes‚ “a male diseased world” around her; she is forced to live in surroundings where male characters such as her brothers Ferdinand and The Cardinal abuse and humiliate her throughout the play- suggesting that Webster’s play
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SUPERSTIONS AND DREAM INTERPRETATIONS IN THE DUCHESS OF MALFI Superstition‚ a sort of a feeling that takes umpteen number of forms and at times frightens life out of people‚ takes a special pedestal in the life of a person which might make a person float on cloud nine or perish in dungeons. Superstitions are universal and they do exist even now in the 21st century and the plays before three centuries are no exceptions. The plays during the 16th and 17th centuries were abounding with superstitious
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equal relationship with the Duchess has prompted some readers to feel that his importance as a character in the play is limited‚ while others suggest that his main role is as a mouthpiece for Webster’s own judgements and opinions. To assess the importance of his role we need to consider it relation to the Duchess‚ and in the context of the play as a whole. Inequalities of power associated with gender and social status are highlighted in the relationship between The Duchess and Antonio‚ and the reactions
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William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi are fascinating plays with convoluted plots that cause the reader to ponder the possible differences of females roles in 17th century society versus the present day. This is what makes the plays so amazing and interesting‚ as good literature can easily invoke feelings in its reader‚ challenging personal morals and beliefs. " In early Modern England‚ both gender and hierarchy‚ with the man at the top‚ and the husband’s patriarchal
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and I loved her that she did pity them" (Othello‚ I.iii 166-167). William Shakespeare’s tragedy "Othello‚" is pervaded by a dominant theme‚ one of love. Othello‚ the Moor of Venice falls madly in love with a woman named Desdemona. They marry and are very happy together. Othello and Desdemona face many trials during the course of their nine-month marriage. The most notable one occurs when Barbanzio‚ Desdemona’s father accuses Othello of getting his daughter with witchcraft. During
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like Ford’s Vasquez and Middleton and Rowley’s De Flores. In ’The Duchess of Malfi’‚ this is the character of Bosola. A malcontent can be identified by a number of traits. He is a discontented person; a rebel; disaffected‚ satirical and melancholic; bereaved or dispossessed and detached from an often corrupt society by his grievances; he has knowledge and intelligence without status. As one the key characters in ’The Duchess of Malfi’‚ Bosola can easily be studied to see if these traits of the malcontent
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The Duchess and the Jeweler is the story of the world’s greatest jeweler who had promised his mother to become the richest jeweler in the world in his childhood but now that his dream has materialized he does not feel satisfied. So trying to achieve satisfaction‚ knowingly he buys fake pearls from a Duchess in exchange for passing a whole weekend with her daughter whom he is in love with. The purpose of this essay is to show how Virginia Woolf has successfully presented the inner mind of the characters
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Techniques Her short fiction did not afford Woolf the large field for experiment and innovation that her novels did‚ but she usually took at least one important element of the singular style she was developing as a controlling facet. In "The Duchess and the Jeweller‚" it is her concentration on the nuances of the main character that is the predominant feature. As James Wood points out‚ one of her aims was "to unwrap consciousness." "Character to the Edwardians‚" he continues‚ "was everything
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Like Virginia Woolf’s critically acclaimed Mrs. Dalloway‚ her short story The Duchess and the Jeweller is a study about how everyone and everything is connected; the poor to the rich‚ the past to the present‚ the body to the soul‚ man to animal. She does not simply explain that these things are true‚ she shows it through the actions‚ dialogue and very existence of the characters‚ so that the reader will never be presented with irrefutable evidence of her relative theory. In the first paragraph
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“The Duchess and the Jeweller”‚ a story by Virginia Wolf‚ tells the tale of Oliver Bacon a man who grew up very poor but ended up a master jeweler with very rich and titled customers. Although his outward appearance is one of high breeding and richness it hides his insecurity and his longing for something else. Oliver is a tortured soul who cannot enjoy the fruits of his labor and his dissatisfaction with his life causes him to treat those around him with disdain and rudeness. Oliver is a tall
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