He drops a few into the beginning of the play, when Delio and Antonio introduce us to the protagonists of the tragedy. Webster enjoyed writing 'Characters', a popular 17th-century genre which described a particular type in society, usually satiric in nature.
There are a number of uses that this range of patterns serves, one being to illustrate character. These are manifest in a variety of image patterns related to witchcraft, diabolism, animals, night, astrology, knowledge, and female virtue. The Duchess of Malfi contains a network of imagery related to light and darkness. For many, the night was associated with horror. In The Terrors of the Night, the writer Thomas Nashe tells us that the 'night is the devil's black book, wherein he recordeth all our transgressions'. The Duchess of Malfi contains a network of imagery related to light and darkness
