John Webster is much less famous than Shakespeare and The Duchess of Malfi is the only one of his plays widely-known, so any reference to his works will almost always be a reference to it.
Literature
- Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie features a line from The Duchess of Malfi ("Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle; she died young"). The murderer quotes this over his victim's body. A witness overhears him. Years later she attends a performance of The Duchess of Malfi, hears the line again, and is reminded of the murder.
- Cover Her Face, 1962 novel by PD James, uses a line from The Duchess of Malfi as its title.
- The Skull Beneath the Skin, also by PD James, is a sort of reference of a reference. Its title comes from T. S. Eliot's poem (see Poetry section below), where Eliot is describing Webster.
- Call for the Dead, John le Carré's first novel, has Smiley quoting The Duchess of Malfi in his sleep.
- Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice also uses the line "Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle; she died young".
Live-Action TV
- Miss Marple (1984): One episode adapts Sleeping Murder (mentioned above) and has a brief scene from an in-universe production of The Duchess of Malfi. Confusingly, a character speaking about the play misidentifies Ferdinand as "the Jew". There are no Jewish characters in the play. Someone didn't do their research!
Music
- Echo & the Bunnymen mention both The Duchess of Malfi and The White Devil in their song "My White Devil".
Poetry
- "Whispers of Immortality
" by T. S. Eliot opens with two verses praising Webster.Webster was much possessed by death
And saw the skull beneath the skin...
