About the Book: The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi is a classroom favourite, with its heroine standing out as
one of the most compelling female characters on the early modern stage. Websters
macabre masterpiece examines the familial bonds that bind the widowed Duchess to
her overcontrolling brothers, foregrounding the intricate networks of connection
that link people to each other and to their environments. Progressively breaking
down the distinction between insides and outsides, humans and animals, the play
reminds us that we are not so very different from all the other creatures on the
earth. An analysis of the play-in-performance foregrounds recent productions
inspired by