Memories of “wretched eminent things” (5.5.113): Remembrance and Posterity in John Webster’s Duchess of Malfi (1613–1614).
One of the key moments of John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi (1613-14) is the writing of the Duchess’s will. On the surface, memory is a state in which princes must consider their own mortality. It is actually the driving force behind the action of the play, illustrated by funeral rites, wills, mon...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Société d'Etudes Anglo-Américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles
2024-12-01
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| Series: | XVII-XVIII |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/1718/13585 |
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| Summary: | One of the key moments of John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi (1613-14) is the writing of the Duchess’s will. On the surface, memory is a state in which princes must consider their own mortality. It is actually the driving force behind the action of the play, illustrated by funeral rites, wills, monuments and tombs. In various ways, the protagonists are present after their deaths, leaving unerasable psychological traces. This article will question this relationship between death and memory in Webster’s Duchess of Malfi: with its plethora of memento mori images and discourses on posterity, isn’t memory a form of vain illusion, pertaining to the luxury and decadence of the aristocracy? If so, why is the Duchess rewarded with posterity, while her enemies are killed in secret and end up forgotten? |
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| ISSN: | 0291-3798 2117-590X |