Advice and Authority

The Duchess is a woman with clear ambition and authority. She actively pursues Antonio in Act I and in Act III she makes the plans and gives the orders for evading her brothers’ grasp. Meanwhile, her brother Ferdinand is unsure of what he wants or how to get it. The following poem reflects a similar gendered relationship:

Among the many rare and speciall gifts,
That in the female sexe are found to sitte,
This one is chiefe, that they at meerest shifts,
Giue best aduise, and shew most readie witte,
But man except hee chewes and thinks, and fifts,,
How euerie part may aunswere to their fit,
By rash aduise doth often ouer-shoote him,
And doth accept the things that doe no
Single illegible letterboote him.
Idem. (Albott, X 3 ^v-X4 ^r )

While the poem speaks to the wisdom of women (seen in the Duchess’ quick hatching of escape plans) and the alternatively indecisiveness and rashness of men (Ferdiand on discovering his sister’s secret marriage), it does not put women in the same position of power as men. The poem states that women give the best advice, indicating that they are advising others rather than making decisions and giving orders themselves like the Duchess. Though they may give good advice, women are clearly not given any position of power.

With this sort of thinking in the air, it is interesting to consider how the audience would have reacted to the Duchess’ decisive and authoritative actions in comparison to the male characters, especially considering the easy comparisons to recent English monarchs. One’s reading of the Duchess in the lens of gender and power is further complicated by the fact the Duchess would be played by a man. The poem makes it clear that there is no easy reading of the power and gender dynamics in The Duchess of Malfi.

Albott, Robert, fl. Englands Parnassus.London, 1600. Early English Books Online. Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. 26 Feb 2009 http://bert.lib.indiana.edu:2286/search/full_rec?action=ByID&source=pgimages.cfg&ID=99835965&VID=203&PAGENO=162&SUBSCRIBER_TCP=Y&FILE=../session/1235701961_27399&SEARCHCONFIG=var_spell.cfg&HIGHLIGHT_KEYWORD=default