Webster and the theatre of cruelty : a theatrical context for the Duchess of Malfi

The purpose of this thesis is to examine Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, a representative example of the Jacobean "horror" play, in terms of its possible relationship to Antonin Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty, a dramatic theory chiefly propounded in The Theater and its Double. The introductory section outlines the basic aims and principles of a Theatre of Cruelty as postulated by Artaud, and attempts to show why, in view of recent theatrical experiments, Webster's play might profitably be investigated within this twentieth century context. The first two chapters proceed to a discussion of Webster's complex theatrical form, attempting to show how and why he makes full use of any available dramatic and theatrical device and convention to aid in the presentation of his personal vision of man and society. The play is thus first examined in the context of Total Theatre, a principle basic to a Theatre of Cruelty. The central chapters of the thesis investigate the thematic lines in The Duchess of Malfi, and attempt to show how in spite of the many components from which the play is constructed, there nevertheless emerges a unified and coherent dramatic vision. This vision is seen as being developed in three ways, separable for purposes of discussion but ultimately closely inter-related, namely visual imagery, verbal imagery and characters-in-action. Thematic presentation through visual and verbal imagery is discussed in Chapter III, while Chapter IV deals in more detail with aspects of characterization. The argument advanced in Chapter IV is that Webster's method of characterization is based on what is basically a simple Good and Evil contrast, with the characters developed as opposed Forces or symbols. The characters in action, seen as opposed Forces, constitute a third presentation of the central themes, working with and strengthening the presentation of the themes as explored in the visual and verbal imagery. The final chapter of the thesis examines the play in somewhat more general terms. An attempt is made to relate The Duchess of Malfi to more traditional genres—tragedy, comedy and satire. Webster's particular use of certain features of these traditional forms is discussed. Because the play is imperfect if measured against the accepted conventions of tragedy, the theory is advanced that it might be viewed as related philosophically to the contemporary Theatre of the Absurd, on which the Theatre of Cruelty has had considerable formative influence. Throughout the discussion of themes and characterization, references to Artaud and interpretations of Artaud's ideas are included wherever possible to point out the closeness of the relationship between The Duchess of Malfi and Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty. The thesis advanced throughout is that the play contains within itself elements which were not formally advanced as an approach to drama until this century. In effect, a Jacobean Theatre of Cruelty is being suggested as existing in fact if not in name. Concluding remarks suggest that if the felt relationship between The Duchess of Malfi and the Theatre of Cruelty is seen to be a valid one, an investigation of other works by Jacobean dramatists might prove of use in giving meaning and significance to much of the violence, horror and grotesquery which appears in the plays of the period. The response of the Jacobean dramatists to their times can be seen as in many ways analogous to the response to the human condition in the dramas of the contemporary avant-garde.Arts, Faculty ofEnglish, Department ofGraduat