John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi is one of the classic English Renaissance dramas. It's also an example of Senecan tragedy, a type of plays named after the Roman poet Seneca that emphasizes vengeance and brutal, dramatic bloodshed. Like many of his contemporaries, Webster was influenced by both Seneca and Euripides, another Greek tragedian. The Duchess of Malfi is about a powerful woman who loses everything because of her jealousy. The play features some extremely violent scenes of bloodletting and dismemberment. Like many tragedies written before Shakespeare's time, The Duchess of Malfi has no clear hero or villain. All we know for sure is that the main character, Ippolito, is a proud man who refuses to admit he's been wronged until it's too late. He dies without reconciling with his wife, who has been completely innocent all along. Her name is Giulietta and she is Ippolito's mistress. They have two children together but Ippolito never loved Giulietta; he used him as a way of getting back at his husband Ferrante, who had rejected him in favor of Ippolito. After Ferrante's death, Ippolito sets out to destroy his wife because he believes she is responsible for his loss.