Article ID: CBB001421603

Wax Magic and The Duchess of Malfi (2014)

unapi

“Wax Magic and The Duchess of Malfi” argues that wax magic provides the best way to understand how the Duchess is affected by the presentation of the wax corpses representing her husband and children as a kind of torturous spectacle. The article reads John Webster's play alongside historical accounts of wax magic, especially the 1578 attack on Queen Elizabeth. While Ferdinand's attack on his sister is not intended as a magical attack, wax magic proves a powerful conceptual model for how art can impact the early modern subject through sympathetic identifications that trouble the boundaries between subjects and objects. Ultimately, the essay argues that both the success of Ferdinand's spectacle and the power of theater itself can be better understood through the possibilities of wax magic. Keywords Duchess of Malfi, Webster, wax, magic, witchcraft, theatrical practices, art, gender, Ferdinand, the Duchess

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Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001421603/

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Authors & Contributors
Bailey, Michael David
Bever, Edward Watts Morton
Clark, Stuart
Clucas, Stephen
Coudert, Allison P.
Dupré, Sven
Journals
Albion
French History
Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science
Social History
Publishers
Palgrave Macmillan
Firenze University Press
Cambridge University Press
Ashgate, Variorum
Cornell University Press
Oxford University Press
Concepts
Occult sciences
Witchcraft; demonology
Natural magic
Magic
Science and religion
Science and gender
People
Bruno, Giordano
Dee, John
Della Porta, Giovan Battista
Glanvill, Joseph
Kepler, Johannes
Locke, John
Time Periods
17th century
16th century
Early modern
Renaissance
15th century
Ancient
Places
Europe
Great Britain
France
United States
Holy Roman Empire
India
Institutions
Royal Society of London
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