Homo Homini Lupus: Webster's The Duchess of Malfi and the Vicissitudes of a Political Adage

Abstract

This article contextualizes John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi within early modern usage of the adage "homo homini lupus" in the period's political philosophy. Webster draws on sixteenth-century usage of the phrase in the work of Scottish and French resistance thinkers to depict tyranny, but then he extends its meaning through Ferdinand's lycanthropy. The Duchess of Malfi anticipates representations of human nature typical of seventeenth-century contract theory but is skeptical of political solutions to human brutality. The play exploits the human negative exceptionalist logic that is implicit within "homo homini lupus" to create a deeply pessimistic depiction of human nature and the future of politics.