Of course, while I call aspects of Shakespeare and Webster modern, we still feel the Duchess' frustration sometimes that "The birds that live I[n] th[e] field / On the wild benefit of nature, live / Happier than we, for they may choose their mates, / And carol their sweet pleasures to the spring" (III.v.17-20). These lines, which are reminiscent of Lear's vermin live while my daughter is dead monologue, may bridge the English Renaissance to the new renaissance that I believe is coming for our modern era, this time perhaps not hindered by geographical concerns. In the next renaissance, we should look back to the Elizabethans for guidance (although we should avoid searching outright prescription) just as a previous renaissance looked to the classical era. When we do, we should remember that Shakespeare, while certainly lovable and laudable, is not the only writer of that great era worth love, and Webster and his Duchess may simply be the road less traveled.
Work Cited
White, David Allen. "John Webster." Critical Survey of Drama. Ed, by Frank Magill. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem, 1985, 2006-2011.
Webster, John. The Duchess of Malfi. Reprinted in English Drama 1580-1642 edited by C. F. Tucker Brooke and Nathaniel Burton Paradise. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath, 1933, 645-686.
Bibliography
Note: The link to Brockett's History of the Theatre is to the seventh edition, but I used the sixth edition for my research.
Gassner, John. Masters of the Drama. 3rd ed. Dover.
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