I feel sorry for the Duchess of Malfi. She’s a woman who isn’t afraid to get what she wants but everything is going against her till the end. She was really a woman ahead of her time. She married for love and without her brothers’ consent. Her husband, Antonio, has a lower social status than she does which is very rare to marry someone below you if you are a woman.
I see her as very heroic because of the actions she takes. She married on her freewill and had children by Antonio. The scenes where she is described as pregnant doesn’t make her less heroic at all. In fact, I see her as a stronger woman. Pregnancy is not the easiest thing to go through. Not that I’ve been through it but from what I heard. It brings her down to “normal” people’s level and not all glorious and beautiful. She is shown as a real woman going through nature’s beauty. Seeing a woman give up important things such as the Duchess’s political role to be a woman is very brave. She isn’t selfish; she is just doing what Mother Nature intended for her to do. I’m pretty sure the Duchess knew that the possibility of her getting pregnant when she remarried was very likely and that she had to put her political duties aside. That has to be a very brave thing to do though. She knew rumors would soon arise when she didn’t focus everything on her duties as a leader but as a woman and a woman with child.
The Duchess of Malfi is a very strong woman and I believe ahead of her time. She took her life in her hands which is very hard for women to do during this time period. I can see the Duchess putting her life on hold for her children. It is such a heroic thing for any women to do and most mothers do. I applaud the Duchess of Malfi for being herself and for answering to no one but herself. It’s just very sad that she lived then and not now as she would fit in so well in modern time.
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I agree, I liked the Duchess too and thought the same. She is a strong woman for going after what she wanted. Also, it may have been different than the interpretation that we have. Women were thought badly of in this period, so maybe the Duchess' expectations as a ruler were low, despite the example of Elizabeth. Maybe this play shows that women as rulers must be independent of family and love, and that when love interferes, chaos ensues.
I think that if she lived today as a ruler, people would be much more empathetic to her situation. Today we like our rulers (politicians and royalty) to seem more human, with flaws and family. We like to see our ruler picking up and hugging their kids. We like to see a politician who is in love with his wife. We like to know when our president is sick. Basically, if the Duchess were here today we'd be more likely to celebrate her humanity and help her to rule her land, than wish to see her unhappy with a lonely unfulfilled life.
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