An Extension of the Self, that the Self Cannot Rule

Twins during the Early Modern period were of high interest to the public. People enjoyed hearing and learning things about twins, whether they were conjoined twins, identical twins, or fraternal twins, such as Ferdinand and the Duchess in Webster's The Duchess of Malfi.

Twins share a more intense bond than that of ordinary brother and sister, suggesting a splitting of the self, or one being reflected in two separate bodies. As such, one would expect twins to think similarly to each other and therefore act and behave similarly. One would not assume substantial discord in twins' views, such as what is presented in the differing opinions of Ferdinand and the Duchess.

In Act I, Scene 3 of the play, Ferdinand expresses his desire for his twin sister, the Duchess, to not marry. He explicitly instructs her not to do so, and this direct approach is met with the Duchess's agreement, which upholds the idea of synonymous thinking. However, immediately after this conversation, she marries Antonio, an action which is sure to displease her brothers. Act II, Scene 5 shows Ferdinand's response when he finds that she has had a child; the response is outrageous anger and loathing for his sister accompanied with vast disgrace.

Ferdinand's disgust is highly predictable, however the cause behind it is more than the surface conflict of her disobeying his expressed wishes. As a twin, the two shared a womb before birth and emerged into the world together -- as one, yet as two. Splitting into two bodies, there is still a strong connection, which is clearly felt by Ferdinand. The Duchess's actions make her brother uncomfortable because he feels as though they reflect on him. He does not understand why his sister, as a part of him, is not being properly controlled by his mind, as though she is merely an extension of his body. Despite the fact that the two have been separate human beings from birth, with separate lives and separate growing minds, he still feels that they should be as one. His confusion of why part of his body is acting against his beliefs, noble or otherwise, manifests itself into madness and obsession. Her sexual promiscuity in his eyes is something that he feels he should have control over, and leads him into a downward spiral.

The violent images presented by this scene display his desire to regain control of his other half. Ferdinand's desire is now to purge his sister of her own thoughts and person, to empty out her mind, so that either he can step in and save what is left or completely get rid of her, and thus end the struggle in his own self. Webster's word choices and imagery are full of allusions to this emptying. Ferdinand speaks of rhubarb, as a laxative to purge her. He talks of "rooting up" her territory, suggesting that he even wants to get rid of her political life. He wants to use a "smarting cupping glass," to physically drain her of blood.

Ferdinand speaks as though the reason the Duchess is bad is because she is woman, for nature has placed "women's hearts so far upon the left side," (Act 2, Scene 5, Lines 32- 33) which makes them evil. He is accommodating, making excuses for what went wrong when the twins split into two separate bodies, which makes him feel better about his own self.

He displays his madness and plan to cause tragedy in Lines 48-49, "'Tis not your whore's milk that shall quench my wild fire, But your whore's blood." Ferdinand admits to the fire inside him caused by his anger, and speaks to the woman inside his twin, referring to her as a whore, and expressing his desire to kill her in order to calm his rage.

In these lines, the sole reason of Ferdinand's lifelong internal conflict is addressed: not being able to control his "other half," in that she is woman. A main difference between men and women is woman's ability to produce milk in nurturing children. Anything that does not stop fire only feeds it. If it does not destroy the fire, it becomes consumed by the fire and in turn becomes the fire. Showing that while milk is a liquid, will do nothing but add to Ferdinand's fire, while her blood, her lifeline, will destroy it, shows that he must take her life in order to live his peacefully.

Ironically, Webster uses the word "quench" in destroying the fire. Quench, to me, is more often linked to thirst. If Webster has a double meaning to these lines, which would go along with the twinly theme of two, it expresses the alternate side to Ferdinand's hate. The fire represents his hate, and the opposite of hate is love. Her womanhood, expressed by her milk, does not extinguish the hate, and therefore must extinguish the love.

Either way, Ferdinand is troubled by his inability to control his twin sister in a way that only twins can feel. Webster's portrayal of this character's desire to see her dead in order to feel whole again foreshadows Ferdinand's madness, which arises from the human inner conflict that arises from the idea of wishing another human dead.