Teacher video summaries of Acts 1-5 The Duchess of Malfi

                                    Act 1                                        

Act 2 

Act 3

Act 4

Act 5

The Duchess of Malfi Act 1 Teacher summary on what you should know

 Summary of main themes and characters in Act one. I also discuss the presentation of women in Act one and what makes this a tragedy. I make comparisons with Chaucer's The Merchant's Tale

The Merchant's Tale and Duchess of Malfi Contexts

Here are student made videos on each of the contexts of both texts. 

 1. The Literary context of The Merchant'sTale and Duchess of Malfi

2. A Sense of Place: The Importance of location in Duchess of Malfi and Merchant's Tale

3. A Woman's Place: Merchant's Tale and Duchess of Malfi

4. The Secular Hierarchy

5. The Literary Context of Fableau and Tragedy

6. The Poet's and Playwright's life and work

7. The Secular Hierarchy

8. A sense of place in both texts

9. A woman's place in The Merchant's Tale and Duchess of Malfi 

10. Chaucer: His life and work

11. The Literary Context of Chaucer's Merchant Tale and Duchess of Malfi

Mr O'Shea revision tutorial on The Merchant's Prologue and Tale and The Duchess of Malfi

This tutorial covers comparisons between the two texts, contexts and important themes you should know about both texts.

Introduction to The Duchess of Malfi Act 1

 This covers Act 1 and specific contexts in the play (A03). I also look at conventions of Revenge Tragedy (A03) and comparisons with The Merchant'sTale (A04)

Dr Emma Smith's podcast on The Duchess of Malfi

We had a good turn out for Dr Smith's lecture yesterday. If you were not able to make it here is her full podcast exploring the play in which she goes into more detail. You may wish to listen to her Tempest podcast posted here earlier.

The Merchant's Tale and Duchess of Malfi context videos

These videos are useful for revising the various contexts of The Merchant's Tale and The Duchess of Malfi. This first one covers many different contexts and the following are more specific.






1. The Literary Context.


2. In Sickness and in Health




3. The Position of Women.


3.a The role of women in The Merchant's Tale and The Duchess of Malfi.


4. Pre and post Reformation


5. Religion in The Merchant's Tale and The Duchess of Malfi

6. The life and works of Chaucer and Webster

8. The Literary context of Chaucer and Webster






9. The Secular Hierarchy in The Merchant's Tale and The Duchess Of Malfi