Richard David believes that the Duchess is responsible for her own downfall. Fredrick Allen, however, states that the downfall of the Duchess is entirely the responsibility of her evil brothers aided by the murderous Bosola.Consider the relative merits of

The Duchess of Malfi is a revenge tragedy written in 1614. Both Webster’s masterpieces ‘The White Devil and ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ are based on stories of Italian women who fail to conform to society’s perceptions. The play deals with corruption, attitudes towards women and revenge. The Duchess is portrayed to the reader as a stereotypical widow of a patriarchal society. At the time women were seen as weak and frail and so it suggests that the brothers were responsible for the Duchesses downfall however Webster portrays the Duchess as strong and wilful yet also a tragic victim of psychopathic cruelty. Therefore it suggests that both critics are right depending on how they perceive the play. In my opinion I believe that the brothers are mainly responsible for her the Duchesses downfall, nonetheless the Duchess does also play a part; as a result it is a combination of both.

The marriage of the Duchess and Antonio make the Duchess seem very naive and childlike. The secret ma...