As I finish reading The Duchess of Malfi, I cannot help but think that this play has become more and more absurd as it has progressed. In the opening act everything seems as well as it should: Antonio has returned from France and is conveying his observations of the French court to Delio, Delio wants Antonio to put him in the Cardinal's good graces, the Cardinal is managing his underlings (i.e. Bosola), Ferdinand is acting as a man of power, and the Duchess is acting as, well, a duchess. There's nothing that indicates that this play is anything other than a story whose setting and plot will be filled with political intrigue. And when the Duchess rather suddenly marries her steward, Antonio, this initial notion seems to be confirmed. I thought nothing other than, "Well, this ought to shake things up some." In fact, when Ferdinand and the Cardinal make it clear to the Duchess that she should not remarry, I only saw this as a way to set up more political craftiness. "Ferdinand and the Cardinal are interfering in their sister's life as a way of protecting their own reputation and social status or something of the like," I thought, and also, "Oh, now The Duchess has married her steward to slight her brothers." And I suppose, in looking back, that this isn't too far off the mark.
I still think that part of the reason the Duchess married Antonio is to slight her brothers. Sure, she may have had an emotional attachment to him before Ferdinand and the Cardinal began to interfere, but, judging by Antonio's response to the Duchess's marriage proposal, she had made absolutely no indication of the sort (or Antonio is simply missed all the signs, which may be equally likely--he doesn't seem to be the brightest by any measure). I also think that much of this play is concerned with political intrigue. The Duchess is all too aware of what will happen, in the political spectrum, if her brothers or her subjects find out that she has married her steward. Part of the suspense for the play does stem from the notion of, "What will happen to the Duchess and Antonio if their marriage is discovered?"
Even at this point in the play I had yet to think, "Mm, yes. This play is certainly obsessed with the female body and female sexuality," or, "Quite right. This play is indeed hung up on Ferdinand's incestuous, perhaps even madman-like, behavior." Sure, the play does certainly explore these topics, but, again, it all seemed to fit within the scope of a story of political scandal. It seemed to me that this play was still grounded in reality, and nothing had strayed so far from the norm that I it made me think, "Well, that is significantly unusual." The Duchess and Antonio are banished; this is maybe a little bit of an overreaction by Ferdinand and the Cardinal, but then again, the Duchess did commit taboo by marrying her steward, so I guess it could be a reasonable punishment. Perhaps.
And then Act IV rolled around. "Oh, the Duchess is imprisoned? And it's Ferdinand's doing? What, was exile not enough? Maybe Ferdinand is a bit odd." And then Ferdinand gives his sister the hand of a dead man. And that's just not necessary. While I may have had doubts about Ferdinand's mental stability up until this point, lurking in the back of my mind but largely ignored because of the plausibility of the scenes so far, it was at this point that I stopped reading, backtracked a few lines, and went, "Wait. What? He gave her what?" And thus begins the roller coaster of "What the hell"s that characterized the rest of the play for me: "Of course Ferdinand made 'artificial figures' of Antonio and his children. Why didn't I see that coming?"; "Ah, Antonio is using madmen to torture his sister. Classic punishment, am I right?"; "All Ferdinand wanted was to guarantee that he received the fortune that belonged to his sister after her death. It's perfectly normal that he went to all this effort to kill her now."
And so, with the Duchess and her maid dead, we move into the fifth and final act of the play. Now Ferdinand is mad (insane) and is believed to have lycanthropia, Antonio hears the voice of his wife coming from his wife's tomb, and then everyone dies (though, admittedly, I expected this last point simply from the title of the play, The Tragedy of the Duchess of Malfi). This last act seems much more quick-paced than the rest of the play, as if everyone left alive at this point is rushing to their inevitable deaths, which I would argue emphasizes how quickly the entirety of the action of the play, as a whole, has spiraled out of control. Everything builds until the middle of Act III, whereafter the resolution slowly unfolds, then quickens through Act IV, and then bullets through the final scene of Act V.
We have talked in class about how the play is obsessed with the female body and with female sexuality, about how the play explores the question, "What would have happened if Elizabeth had married," and about how the play seems to posture as a play about politics in its opening yet quickly turn into a play about family matters, and with all these opinions I will readily concur. Yet, to me, these points are compartmentalized within the play: the obsession with the female body and female sexuality lasts only until the marriage between Antonio and the Duchess is discovered (or perhaps until the Duchess is killed), the speculating about Elizabeth lasts only until the Duchess is killed (since the "Elizabeth" figure is dead and the fallout seems to no longer be grounded in reality), and the play being about family again seems to dissolve, for the most part, after the Duchess's death. Instead, I think the play is a demonstration of how quickly things can spiral out of control. From the very moment that the Cardinal and Bosola enter in Act I, scene i, it seems obvious that there is going to be conflict. And there is, continually throughout the play. And this conflict, which seems to merely concern two overbearing brothers and their sister, very quickly (especially after the close of Act III) turns into a play about murder and madness. And that, to me, is the true warning this play conveys.
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