The Duchess of Malfi (New Mermaids)

by John Webster (Author), Professor Brian Gibbons (Editor)

• Used

  Paperback
  2001

  $3.28

  A major new edition of this important play, completely re-edited for the benefit of today's users, whether students or playgoers or actors. The introduction incorporates much from recent stage productions as well as offering a new and up-to-date stage history and some lively illustrations. Detailed commentary notes are included alongside the play text for easy reference. There is also a list of further reading suggestions to aid research. New Mermaids is a series of over 50 classic plays with an active programme of new editions.

• Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $3.28

  One of the most haunting tragedies written in the Jacobean period, The Duchess of Malfi (1614) adapts the true story of a noble Italian widow who secretly marries her steward and has children with him. Her two brothers, enraged by this act of female self-determination, begin to spy on the happy family, entrap them and subject their sister to fiendish psychological torture before they have her strangled. Unlike his sources, Webster does not condemn the Duchess for lasciviousness, nor does he allow her brothers to live. As the introduction to this edition shows, the play is replete with reverberations of earlier tragedies, most prominently Hamlet and Othello, and has few equals as a skilful and stirring rendition of Jacobean dramatic fashions.

• New

  Paperback
  2004

  $20.70

  Ferdinand forbids his widowed sister to marry again. When he discovers that she is not only married but had a child he is driven mad with fury. The Duchess of Malfi is a study in strong characters, dark deeds and dreadful revenge. This edition includes close textual analysis, notes on different interpretations, interviews with actors and directors and a selection of critical scenes.