Webster's Machiavellian antagonist, Ferdinand, demonstrates a decline into madness in "The Duchess of Malfi" by displaying signs of uncontrollable emotions, fixations on his sister and incestuous desires, and the development of lycanthropy. .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'? Get the original essay Ferdinand's explosive fits of rage and his passionate plot against the Duchess when he discovers her secret marriage reflect a man without control over his own behavior. An example of this can be found when he considers dipping his children in "sulfur" and "lighting them like a match." In this scene, Ferdinand delivers numerous long monologues in which he describes the murder of the Duchess and her children, while the Cardinal speaks only one or two lines at a time; the contrast between the two highlights Ferdinand's uncontrollable passion and anger, while the Cardinal proves to be much more in control of his emotions despite feeling the same anger at the Duchess's betrayal of the brothers. Later in this scene, Ferdinand addresses his incestuous desires for his twin sister; he demonstrates a literal loss of control of his thoughts when he asks the Cardinal to distract him, otherwise his "imagination will lead him to see her in the shameful act of sin." By asking the cardinal to do this, Ferdinand shows how angry his subconscious is at his sister being intimate with another man rather than at the revelation of her pregnancy and her bastard children, because he cannot help himself. prevent him from imagining his sister in a sexual light. In the 2016 Cambridge interpretation of the play, the actor who played Ferdinand showed numerous physical losses of control towards the Duchess, such as flinching to touch her and even kissing her corpse, which could indicate to the public that his mental state now controls him and that he actually has no control over his actions. Ferdinand's anger in this conversation is directed at the Duchess's sexual activity, insinuating that he is jealous of his lover rather than angry at her betrayal. This is further demonstrated when he imagines who she slept with physically as a "strong-thighed sailor", Ferdinand's fixation on who his lover is physically rather than socially or emotionally reflects how he is obsessed with the physical element of his sister's relationship. Ferdinand's inability to accept that his incestuous desires are his own failing rather than that of the Duchess is manifested in his decision to murder her and her children rather than deal with his own personal and mental problems related to incest. By blaming the Duchess for his own problems, Ferdinand demonstrates arrogance and a lack of personal conscience, this could also have been influenced by the patriarchy during which "The Duchess of Malfi" was written, which could lead to to blame women for the wrongs of men. In Renaissance England, when "The Duchess of Malfi" was written, werewolves had connotations of an unbalanced relationship between a human's body and mind. Contemporary audiences of the play in the Jacobean era were more likely to believe that lycanthropy was a real illness and to believe more in the supernatural. However, modern audiences are more likely to see Ferdinand's "transformation" into a wolf as a more comical element in the play. Although lycanthropy is sometimes considered a literal transformation of man into the world, it also generally referred to someone who was deluded enough to believe that they were capable.