Twelfth Night / The Duchess of Malfi Comparative Analysis

“The Duchess of Malfi” is very polarized from “Twelfth Night.” One obvious difference is the genre of each play. “Twelfth Night” is a comedy, which involves having a happy ending which resolves in marriages. “The Duchess of Malfi,” however, is a tragedy, which has a sad ending which resolves in death. There is an interesting subject that these two plays share, however, and that  is marriage. Although “Twelfth Night” and “The Duchess of Malfi” use the subject of marriage in extremely different ways. In “Twelfth Night” marriage is the thing that is sought out throughout the entire play and it is only through marriage that the characters will be happy. Also In “The Duchess of Malfi” marriage is what begins the events that will lead to the tragic ending of the characters. Gender and societal norms are challenged in each of these plays as well. Women are shown taking the lead in relationship matters in both, “Twelfth Night” and “The Duchess of Malfi.” Although in “The Duchess of Malfi” societal norms are challenged with The Duchess marrying outside of her station, which began the series of events that leads to the tragic ending. “Twelfth Night” and “The Duchess of Malfi” share some of the same subjects, such as marriage, and going against gender and societal norms, but each play employs the subject matter in very different ways.

The glaring difference that “Twelfth Night” and “The Duchess of Malfi” is the genre. The former play is a Shakespearean Comedy, which is classified as having a light hearted tone and having a happy ending, that involves having marriages between unmarried characters that match up together. The latter play is a tragedy, which is classified as having an ominous tone and having a tragic ending with all the main characters dying.

Although “Twelfth Night” and “The Duchess of Malfi” are from completely different genres, they share marriage as a main subject in both of the stories. In “Twelfth Night” each of the characters are seeking marriage. Orsino is trying to marry Olivia: “O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first” (I.i.28), Viola is trying to marry Orsino: “Whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife” (I.iv.41), and Olivia is trying to marry Viola: “Mine eye too great a flatterer for my mind” (I.v.296). In the end each character ends up with a person that matches them well. Olivia and Orsino are married, Viola and Sebastian are married, and Maria and Sir Toby are married. Unlike in “The Duchess of Malfi,” The Duchess marries Antonio who is well below her station, “Bless, heaven, this sacred gordian, which let violence / Never untwine!” (I.iii.180-181), and this marriage is what sets the tragic events of this play into motion.

“Twelfth Night” and “The Duchess of Malfi” also share strong female characters. It seems that in each of these plays the women are wearing the pants (literally, in Viola’s case). Viola takes charge in “Twelfth Night” and dresses up as a man in order to work under the Orsino and she ends up falling in love with him. She then drops hints that she is in love with the duke while he asks her for love advice. She replies to Orsino, “A little, by your favor. [...] Of your complexion. [...] About your years, my lord” (II.iv.23-27). She drops those not so subtle hints to the duke even if she is dressed up as a man. That shows real initiative on her part. In “The Duchess of Malfi,” The Duchess takes initiative by being the one to marry Antonio. She also is portrayed as not being afraid of death when her brother, Ferdinand threatens to kill her. She seems to take everything like a man, so to speak, in “The Duchess of Malfi.”

Although “Twelfth Night” and “The Duchess of Malfi” seem very different, they share the same themes of marriage and strong female roles. “Twelfth Night” has a light-hearted tone, while “The Duchess of Malfi” has a dark tragic tone. Each play share the commonality of marriage as a subject matter. Although in “Twelfth Night” marriage is a happy occasion, unlike “The Duchess of Malfi” where marriage begins the tragic events. Each play also share strong female characters, Viola in “Twelfth Night” and The Duchess in “The Duchess of Malfi.” Each of these plays challenge gender and societal norms in their own way.