In The Duchess of Malfi Webster follows this discursive trajectory, but his understanding redirects its development for this playwright, who had an extensive legal education, lycanthropy is an issue raising the question of sovereignty as a lacuna formed within the constitutional body. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theatre, then before a more general audience at The Globe, in 1613-14. A macabre, tragic play, John Websters 'The Duchess of Malfi' was written in 161213. With the rise of a reformed belief that emphasized rationality, werewolf discourses were wedded with medical discourses, particularly those of humoralism, and scholars believed that lycanthropy was a result of excessive black bile, or melancholy. The Duchess of Malfis description of a world bereft of moral values on its highest levels fascinates and scandalises us to this day. The lycanthropic imagination underwent significant changes in the seventeenth century. In The Duchess of Malfi Webster follows this discursive trajectory, but his understanding redirects its development for this playwright, who had an extensive legal education, lycanthropy is an issue raising the question of sovereignty as a lacuna formed within the constitutional body.ĪB - This article surveys discourses of lycanthropy in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi. With the rise of a reformed belief that emphasized rationality, werewolf discourses were wedded with medical discourses, particularly those of humoralism, and scholars believed that lycanthropy was a result of excessive black bile, or melancholy. N2 - This article surveys discourses of lycanthropy in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi. by David Bevington and others (New York: Norton, 2002). 1 All quotations from and citations to John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi are from English Renaissance Drama: A Norton Anthology, ed.

* I would like to express my gratitude to the anonymous reviewers of Parergon for their comments and corrections. * This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2019S1A5A2A01036978).

T1 - Early modern discourses of lycanthropy and john webster's the duchess of malfi

The duchess of malfi by john webster