Nature of Obsession: A comparison between Ferdinand and Angelo

Abstract

With their own weaknesses and hypocrisies, Angelo and Ferdinand are the two villains of the two contemporary plays, namely, Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare and The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster where they rule severely without any leniency and marginalize the life of two outstanding heroines of English theater, Isabella and the Duchess by Name, through manipulating their stately positions. Our categorization of Angelo as villain is only half unjust. Though pinning him down to his erotic base, we can call him no less a villain. Ferdinand, however, is a villain complete, though again, compared to the Cardinal he appears to be the lesser one. Measure for Measure and The Duchess of Malfi are catalogued by the Wikipedia under the heading ’English Renaissance plays’ which were written in England between 1576 and 1642 pointing out that the fret one was written in 1603 and The Duchess of Malfi was first performed in 1614 at the Globe Theater in London. The plots of these two plays revolve round these two characters so far as they instigate the evil powers, generate ill motives, and locates sexual obsession as one prime motive of villainy. This paper attempts to show resemblances in the two characters in villainy and sexual obsession towards the two central female characters of the aforementioned plays.