Wax Magic and The Duchess of Malfi

“Wax Magic and The Duchess of Malfi” argues that wax magic provides the best way to understand how the Duchess is affected by the presentation of the wax corpses representing her husband and children as a kind of torturous spectacle. The article reads John Webster’s play alongside historical accounts of wax magic, especially the 1578 attack on Queen Elizabeth. While Ferdinand’s attack on his sister is not intended as a magical attack, wax magic proves a powerful conceptual model for how art can impact the early modern subject through sympathetic identifications that trouble the boundaries between subjects and objects. Ultimately, the essay argues that both the success of Ferdinand’s spectacle and the power of theater itself can be better understood through the possibilities of wax magic.