Identity in Death

There are a number of subtle echoes that resonate through “The Duchess of Malfi” but I found one in particular to be very intriguing. Very early on in the play, we get the sense that perhaps the Duchess is not meant to live. Throughout the play she seems to face quite a struggle in her attempt to fit in to the land of the living. We first gain this sense when we find her almost nonchalantly writing her will in Act 1. (1.1.376) The abrupt manner in which the Duchess seems to propose and marry Antonio seems only to intensify this notion that she is struggling to maintain a purpose for her life.

The Duchess almost seems to drown out the echo of her fate through Acts 2 and 3, but the echo returns to us in full force in Act 4. While the Duchess is being tortured and prepared for her execution, she shows a great deal of composure. Cariola describes the way the Duchess looks as, “Like to your picture in the gallery,/ A deal of life in show, but none in practice;/Or rather like some reverend monument/ Whose ruins are even pitied.”(4.2.31-34) Although the Duchess is still alive, Cariola sees her as otherwise. She describes the Duchess as something other than living in the sense that she can be observed but has little affect of her own. We finally see the Duchess transition into her element in Act 4 when she is executed. She shows such great resolve in her dying moments that we find ourselves admiring her most at her point of death. Like Cariola’s description, we find the Duchess’ image much more potent when she no longer exists in the flesh than we did for the first three acts of the play.

We see the final resonation of this particular echo in Act 5 as the Duchess seems to haunt everyone involved with her death. This area of the play gives the audience the sense that perhaps the Duchess isn’t dead in the common sense. This concept is strengthened when her echo reaches Antonio. Perhaps the Duchess merely found her identity in her death. Whatever the reason, the Duchess’ echo seems to have more influence than she did in life.