The Duchess Of Malfi Bosola Essay

In the play, The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster, Bosola is a a paradoxical character who is torn between idea of a villain or a tragic hero. It is one of the most complex characters in Jacobean Drama. Anand Prakash says that “Bosola embodies the typical Jacobean aspect of human behaviour, a motivation strongly influenced by evil.” Yet, in our reading of the play we must suspend judgement and see how Webster builds the character of Bosola. He is a spy, a murderer hellbent on carrying out orders but at the same time he never fails to express his bouts of guilt for the sins he commits.

We are introduced to Bosola by Delio as “a fellow seven years in the galleys for a notorious murder” which builds his character as an evil one who has committed murder and served his time in jail. Ironically, Antonio perceives him as a potentially valiant character. Thus, the ambiguity is seen since the beginning. Bosola is seen to posses some goodness in him but it is overshadowed by his “close rearing”. The idea of a nature of goodness overpowered by by “black malcontents” is the result that is Bosola. Bosola is torn between full understanding of the social and moral shortcomings of the aristocratic system and an innate desire for social advancement that binds him to it.

The language that he uses is crude with grotesque. His crudeness does hold a certain truth at times and one realises that it is Bosola's own encounter with life that gives him such bitter cynicism. Indeed, one realises that Bosola's character is not brought about by a stark change in character, but an uncovering of the facade of coarseness and evil to reveal his true character, one who only works to be paid and who when taken advantage of seeks to find his own justice because there would be no other way to achieve