Oxford Literature Companions: AS / A Level: The Duchess of Malfi
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Easy to use in the classroom or as a tool for revision, Oxford Literature Companions provide student-friendly analysis of a range of popular A Level set texts. Each book offers a lively, engaging approach to the text, covering characterisation and role, genre, context, language, themes, structure, performance and critical views, whilst also providing a range of varied and in-depth activities to deepen understanding and encourage close work with the text. Each book
also includes a comprehensive Skills and Practice section, which provides detailed advice on assessment and a bank of exam-style questions and annotated sample student answers. This guide covers The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster and is suitable for the most recent AS/A level
specifications.
- Contents
- Introduction
- Plot and Structure
- Plot
- Structure
- Context
- Biography of John Webster
- Historical background
- Women in Jacobean society
- Marriage in Elizabethan and Jacobean society
- Webster’s sources
- Theatrical context
- Genre
- Tragedy
- English revenge tragedy
- Characterisation and Roles
- The Duchess
- Ferdinand
- The Cardinal
- Antonio
- Bosola
- Minor characters
- Language
- Verse, prose and rhyme
- Language and character
- Symbolic language and concrete visual symbols
- Fables
- Themes
- Revenge
- Secrecy and deceit
- Spying / eavesdropping / voyeurism
- Reward and punishment / salvationand damnation
- Identity and sense of self / madness
- Performance
- The director’s role
- Theatre design: setting
- Theatre design: costume
- Selected production history
- Critical Views
- Reading positions and approaches
- Skills and Practice
- Exam skills
- Sample questions
- Sample answers
- Glossary
