The Catholic Church: The Duchess of Malfi

After reading Act 5 of the Duchess of Malfi in class on Monday, a couple of things caught my attention in my analysis. Its interesting to think that when the Cardinal confessed to Julia his part in the killing of the Duchess, that this was Webster commenting on the the politics of the Catholic church and Queen Elizabeth. Even after the Cardinal confesses this to Julia he poisons her with a Bible. Both of these actions are references to what Webster seems to claim as the destruction of by way of the Catholic church. Assuming that the Duchess is a representation of Queen Elizabeth, Webster asserts in this play that the Catholics themselves were involved in the death of Queen Elizabeth. This is primarily symbolism suggesting that the Catholic church has threatened and corrupted England undesirably. Similarly, when referring to the instance when the Cardinal kills Julia with a poisoned Bible, I found that this represented the English belief that the Catholic church was a false and poisonous sect, infecting the English people themselves. I found this commentary very intriguing and it certainly helped me understand the historical aspect much more thoroughly.