Page "John Webster" Paragraph 9

On the other hand, Webster's title character in The Duchess of Malfi is presented as a figure of virtue by comparison to her malevolent brothers, and in facing death she exemplifies classical Stoic courage.

Her martyr-like death scene has been compared to that of the titular king in Christopher Marlowe's play Edward II.

Webster's use of a strong, virtuous woman as his central character was rare for his time and represents a deliberate reworking of some of the original historical event on which his play was based.

The character of the duchess recalls the Victorian poet and essayist Algernon Charles Swinburne's comment in A Study of Shakespeare that in tragedies such as King Lear Shakespeare had shown such a bleak world as a foil or backdrop for virtuous heroines such as Ophelia and Imogen, so that their characterisation would not seem too incredible.

Swinburne describes such heroines as shining in the darkness.