Ferdinand’s self-hood: lycanthropy and agency in the Duchess of Malfi

John Webster’s play The Duchess of Malfi subverts early modern hierarchical
structures of matter and life by characterizing the human body as fundamentally
deceptive and inferior to the animal body. Through close readings of Bosola’s meditations and Ferdinand’s lycanthropy, I consider how Webster constructs animals as simplistic creatures that enjoy a desirable existence, where body and soul are continuous. Within Webster’s play, the dualist conflict between human body and human soul is a primary subject of discourse. Various human characters see animal existence as preferential, as they view animals as automated creatures that do not suffer the self-consciousness that humans do. This model of animal existence further increases the thematic significance of Ferdinand’s lycanthropy, which I argue is an escape from the discontinuity between the human body and human soul.