The Duchess of Malfi Critics Quotes

The Cardinal knows already that he is in Hell

The radiant spirit of the Duchess cannot be killed

…as a woman, she combines virtue with powerful sexual desire.

[Bosola] is the most unifying element in 'The Duchess of Malfi'

It is clear that the Cardinal's description of the affair [with Julia] expresses only satisfaction of his sexual prowess.

Webster's characters die superbly, asserting their selfhood to the last breath.

Webster was much possessed by death, and saw the skull beneath the skin.

It is... in or near the moment of death that Webster is most triumphant. He adopts the romantic convention that men are, in the second of death, most essentially and significantly themselves.

The final act is designed to show that the way Aragonian brothers is that of madness and damnation…

[Webster's villains] meet their deaths in ways which satisfy poetic justice.

Webster envisages evil in its most extreme form: and he presents it... as far more powerful than good.

Bosola, the chief instrument in the Duchess' betrayal and subjection, also bears the strongest witness to her virtues.