A.L.Shangeetha, S.Manikandan
In the Duchess of Malfi the tragic action once again appears to conclude with the death of the eponymous protagonist. Repeated prolepses have prepared us for just such a catastrophe, starting with the very first scene, where her brothers' lecture upon the iniquity of remarriage viciously inverts the familiar conceit of eroticised death-as-wedding to make the widow's marriage a kind of death. This one concludes with a mimesis of tragic closure, as Bosola, who earlier in the scene has brought the Duchess her coffin as ‘a present from your princely brothers’, begins the preparations for her funeral. As this chapter intends to show, the full significance of the Duchess's death is hardly comprehensible outside the context created by the fifth act, and in particular by the crucial third scene, in which Antonio and Bosola visit the site of her tomb.
Malfi, Tragic Action, Death, Mimesis, Tragic Closure, Duchess, Funeral