The Duchess of Malfi (New Mermaids) Paperback – April 24, 2014

This is not a great edition if you are not already familiar with Renaissance drama conventions or even this play in particular. I assigned it in a Renaissance drama seminar, and was disappointed by the cursory critical introduction and especially the lack of depth in the footnotes. Where the footnotes were useful was Shakespearean comparison, but my students struggled with a lot of the other references. For example, the significance of apricots as diuretics/labor inducing was never explained, and the pun in the original manuscript (where it is spelled as apricocks) is at best alluded to. Similarly, there is no explanation of madmen as entertainment - either as a literary trope or a reference to Bedlam Hospital. In short - the text itself is perfectly fine, but for newcomers, there will be some fairly inexplicable scenes and incidents.

Bought this book for my college english class. It is in like new condition and was half the price of my college bookstore. Very satisfied!

Great price on a schoolbook. Always try to get them on amazon.

Love it. This classic play is well presented and the extra material was very helpful in understanding the characters and plot.

The title character is what we refer to in modern parlance as a BAMF. This has everything you could want in a play: love, sex jokes, stage combat, and an awesome pre-death monologue.

Perfect condition as I wanted

Really good quality book, arrived quickly and undamaged. The story itself is an extremely underrated piece of literature, overshadowed by Shakespeare, ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ provides a comical yet shocking drama with language not so difficult to follow for an early modern text. I had to study this text for A-Level coursework and found the recorded theatre adaptations very useful in distinguishing characters at the start. Definitely worth the read

I bought this as it was part of the syllabus for my degree and, having never heard of it previously, I was absorbed by the textured characters and the winding and well paced plotline.

Good quality, no problems, floppy pages 10/10

Fantastic and interesting book loved learning about it for a level

Fast delivery and great guide.