Female imprisonment in the Duchess of Malfi

Abstract

Hence in many senses though the Duchess is deemed pure and genuinely bound to love and a fertile marriage with Antonio we can see it is her blindness to the socio-political realities of the true evil of her brothers and the corruption of the court that surrounds her that leads to her inviting her own destruction as she is not cognizant of her subordinated status as a woman in Jacobean times. Therein lies the tragedy, the Duchess wilfully asserts her right to love and marry on the basis of her own preferences disregarding her brothers wishes and is subsequently destroyed by her brothers for what they deem an illegitimate marriage which is an offence to their power.