The Duchess of Malfi

John Webster · c. 1614 CE · Play · English · Renaissance

A young widow forbidden by her two brothers to marry again marries her steward in secret, and keeps the household and the children hidden for years. One brother plants a spy in her service; the other, a cardinal, waits. Jacobean revenge at its most baroque.

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Lineage

• influenced by ↑ Hamlet
  William Shakespeare · c. 1601 CE · Play
• ↓ The Duchess of Amalfi's Steward
  Lope de Vega · 1618 CE · Play — shares sources with this

Attributes

Closest analogues

• The Cenci
  Percy Bysshe Shelley · 1819 CE · Play

  61% · 14 shared
  PlayTragedyPower & CorruptionJustice & RevengeHeroineVillain / TyrantTragic ReversalRevenge CycleBloodvs Personvs SocietyTragicGothicEnglish
• Salomé
  Oscar Wilde · 1893 CE · Play

  61% · 13 shared
  PlayTragedyGothicForbidden LovePower & CorruptionDeath & MortalityVillain / TyrantTragic ReversalBloodvs PersonTragicGothicEnglish
• The Bride of Lammermoor
  Walter Scott · 1819 CE · Novel

  59% · 12 shared
  TragedyGothicForbidden LoveJustice & RevengeVillain / TyrantDoomed LoversTragic ReversalRevenge Cyclevs SocietyTragicGothicEnglish
• Blood Wedding
  Federico García Lorca · 1933 CE · Play

  59% · 12 shared
  PlayTragedyForbidden LoveDeath & MortalityJustice & RevengeDoomed LoversTragic ReversalRevenge CycleBloodvs Personvs SocietyTragic
• Rodogune
  Pierre Corneille · 1644 CE · Play

  59% · 12 shared
  PlayTragedyPower & CorruptionJustice & RevengeVillain / TyrantDoomed LoversTragic ReversalRevenge CycleBloodPoisonvs PersonTragic
• Isabella, or the Pot of Basil
  John Keats · 1820 CE · Poem

  56% · 12 shared
  TragedyGothicForbidden LoveJustice & RevengeDoomed LoversTragic ReversalThe Tombvs Personvs SocietyTragicGothicEnglish