The Duchess of Malfi takes place in Italy in the early 1500s. At the play’s beginning, it is 1504, and the characters assemble in the court of Malfi—which is modern day Amalfi, on the coast of Italy. The Duchess has a palace in Malfi, though it is not far enough to escape the influence of her brothers.
The Duke Ferdinand and the Cardinal are distant in the play’s beginning, though they appear, they mostly reside in Milan, and their influence is limited. However, as the play goes on, many scenes are from other places in Italy; Loreto—a religious commune on the eastern coast—Rome, and Milan. The influence and power of Ferdinand and the Cardinal is expansive, and the characters in each location must be cognizant of their wrath. Additionally, because the play is primarily set within the court, there is a class and power system embedded in the setting itself.
The play’s temporal setting is also significant. The play runs from approximately 1504 to 1510, and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church is substantial during this decade. That the play is set during the beginning of the Italian Renaissance is a significant factor in the social structure and the way that the characters relate to each other. The influence of religion on the brothers’ desire to control the Duchess is impacted by both the physical and temporal setting; the Cardinal’s status as an important religious figure only exacerbates the combined impact of the Roman Catholic church and the play’s time period.
