The Malcontent

It is widely regarded as one of the most significant plays of the English Renaissance; an extensive body of scholarly research and critical commentary has accumulated around it.

The Malcontent was entered into the Stationers' Register on 5 July 1604, and published later the same year in quarto in three states, the second and third containing the additions by Marston and the induction by Webster.

[2] The Induction to this revised version is a metatheatrical one, in which the play's actors and its onstage spectators comment on the drama that is to follow and discuss the "bitterness" of its satire.

He suggests that the boys (compared to a sextodecimo sheet) had stolen a King's Men's play, possibly a sequel to Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, and so they stole Blackfriars's Malcontent for their folio-sized actors.

While not in his chamber performing discordant music, Malevole spends his time openly criticizing the court and its courtiers, steadfastly refusing to engage in any sort of flattery.

While this earns him the ire of many, he is embraced by Pietro, as he "gives good intelligence" to his spirit, and makes him "understand those weaknesses which others flattery palliates."

Malevole further incites Pietro against the pair by declaring the situation most unnatural, as cuckolding is a creation of woman rather than God, and by highlighting the incestuous nature of the adultery.

It is revealed that Malevole is, in fact, Altofronto, the former Duke of Genoa, deposed in a political coup staged by Mendoza on behalf of Pietro, made powerful through an alliance with Florence solidified by his marriage to Aurelia.

Malevole, with the help of his spy Celso, has been learning the strengths, weaknesses, and secrets of his enemies, biding his time in the usurper's court until the opportune moment to strike presents itself.

He convinces the Duke to break into Aurelia's chambers; if he should find Ferneze there, and he attempts to flee, that should serve as proof of their adultery.

After Pietro's murder and his dukedom secured by Aurelia, he will publicize her infidelities and subsequently have her banished, making room for him to take Maria as a wife in order to solidify his claim over Genoa.

Maria is subsequently proved faithful when she rejects Mendoza's offer of riches for her hand in marriage, declaring that regardless of circumstances, Altofronto is her true husband.

The Malcontent tells the story of the deposed duke Altofront, who has adopted the alter ego of Malevole, a discontented parasite, in order to try to regain his lost dukedom.

There was a professional staging in 1973 by Jonathan Miller,[5] and further student productions in 1980, by RADA and featuring John Sessions, in 1983, by the ADC Theatre in Cambridge (performed in modern dress), and in 1998 by the English Department at Boston University.