the white devil unit 5 topic 1
TRANSCRIPT
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Lesson 8
THE WHITE DEVIL
The Author
With Webster and other Jacobean playwrights, the problem was to assert
their individuality in an ambience totally dominated by the incomparable
Shakespeare and to a certain extent by a few university wits. So much so,
even biographical details are sketchy and incomplete. In Websters case,
even the date of his birth is no more than a conjecture. He should have been
born sometime in the 1570s and might have survived till 1624 Not much of
his early life is known except the he began his career as a clerk before joiing
Merchant Taylors company for whom he wrote tragedies. Scoffed at by
several reveiwes, he still managed to win appreciation from discerning critics.
In the beginning, Webster, collaborated with others, particularly Dekker in the
production of plays Caesars Fall and The Two Harpeis are instance in point
Lady jae. In the writing of which Webster had a part, has a cluster of fellow
contributors. His appreiceship over, Webster set out on his own and between
1610 and 1618, he produced the White Devil and The Duchers of Malfi, the
two works on which his reputation tests.
The Content
Franciso Medists, Duke of Florence, sends word to count Lodovico that he
had been banished. Lodovico accused of intrigue and murder does not
consider himself sinless but wonders why others of his ilk arenot punished,
even though their misdemeanors are more worthy of reprimand. The Duke of
Brachiano, for instance, has been trying to seduce Vittoria Corombona, the
young wife of elderly Camillo. Vittorias blood brother Flaminco, an
unscruptlous opportunist, assist the lecherous duke in his schemes. She
should be given unfettered freedom to keep her chaste. Camillic agrees. With
nothing to deter her pusuit of clandestile amour. Vittoria gets intimate with
Brachiano. On one occasion, she even makes the suggestion that her
paramour should put both his wife, Isabella and Camilo out of the way to
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facilitate unhindered fulfillment of their passion. Vittorias mother overhearing
this denocuces her daughter as well as her lover. She also announces the
arrival of Isabella in Rome.
Isbellas brother Franciso and Cardinal Monticelso try to dissuade Brachiano
from his craving for Vittoria. Brachiano refuses to obglie. Even when his son
Giovanni pleads with him, the man is adamant. Even a one to one face off
with Isabella fails to dissuade Brachiano
who even banishes his wife from his bed, To ease the situation and to
prevent a bloody conflict. Isabells declares that she had, of her own olition.
snapped off marital ties with her husband. For all her pains, she is
denounced as a jealous, suspicious wife who had made a mountain of a
molehill.
Francisco and Monticelso order Camillo and Marclio. Vinorrar brother to be in
joint charge of an operation against the banished Lodovico and his hand of
pirates. Monticelso allays Camillos fears of Vittoria being unfaithful during he
lusbands absence. He offers to keep an eye on her. The real intention is to
give Vittoria. unresttnincd access to Brachiano so that lie might land in a
scandal from which he could never extricate himself.
Brachiano has plans of his own. He hires Fiamir o to murder Cainillo and
pays Julio. a physician to bring about the death of Isabella. She is made to
kiss the portrait of her husband after it had been smeared with a coat of
poison. Like the perfectionist he is, Brachiano with the help of a magician is
able to watch his nefarious plans carried out by hirelings.
Vittoria is brought to trial before a jury of ambassadors n Rome. Monticenso
presides over the court. Victtoria, accused o murdering her husband, pleads
innocence. However Brachianos testimony goes against her interests, He
admits to have spent the night of the murder at Vittorias place.
Circumstantial evidence and her own image as a woman of easy virtue result
in her being sentenced lo confinement in a home for reformed prostitutes.
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Giovanni comes with news of his mothers unnatural death, Suspicion
immediately turns on Brachiano but Francisco and his brother could not
agree on the means of revenge. 1sahella host appears before Francisco who
promptly deises a trick. He writes a easrionatc letter. professing love for
Vittoria and directs his servant to deliver it, making sare it would fall into thehands of Brachiano or his men. Brachiano accuses Vittoria of infidelity but
the lady protests her innocence. in the end. there is a reconciliation and
Brachiano. more infatuated than even before, offers to get Vittoria released
and then marry her. Franciscos wish is that Brachiano, should marry a
prostitute and disgrace himself. His lust for revenge not et abated. Francisco
orders Lodovico, now a pardoned prodigal to murder Brachiano.
Monticelso, now elected Pope excommunicates Brachiano and his bride. He
forbids the murder of Brachiano and warns Lodovico of his displeasure,
Francisco outwits his brother by sending the hired killer a thousand crowns in
his brothers name. Lodovico is conirneed that the sanctimonious Pope had
been putting on airs.
Francisco, anxious to watch Brachiano die, disguises himself as a moor and
proceeds to Padua accompanied by Lodovico and Gaspero both passing off
as knights of Malta. The unsuspecting Brachiano receives them cordially,
ignorant of what lay in store for him.
Before the plot could be executed another murder takes place. Flamineo kills
his brother Marcello in a fit of jealousy. Both had made advances to zarche,
Vittorias Moorish maid. Brachiano sits in judgement over his son and, even
as he holds court, Lodovico empties a phial of poison over his head.Brachiano becomes raving mad. Lodovico, and Gaspero enter his bed
chamber dressed as capuetins. There they reveal their real identities before
strangling him to death.
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Flamineo insists that his sister should compensate him for his Loyalty.
Vittoria rebuffs him. Incensed Flamineo produces two pistols saying that the
game was up and both of them should die. He had promised Broachino as
much. Vittoria suggests that Flamineo should die first but, as he had already
removed the bullets she is thwarted in her attempt to shoot Flamineo dead.
Before Flamineo could react, Lodovico and Gaspero rush in and kill Vittoria,
Flamined and the Moorish maid. Gavianno who reaches the place with a
group of ambassadors finds the murderers standing over the corpses.
Lodovico confesses his crime and says that Francisco had set him up to it.
Gavionni swears vengeancee.
From the beginning till the very end, the sequence of events are laced by
revenge.Not one of the characters is free of malice or subterfuge. Vittoria, the
central character is no paragon and so are the rest of the characters
schemers, plotters and evil men. So, the stagelittered with corpses at curtain
fall is an appropriate ending.
The White Devil as a Revenge Play.
Seneca is said to have been the one who defined the parameters of a
Revenge Play. In a Revenge Play, revenge is the chief motivator. Men,
thirsting for vengeance, often perpetrate the most heinous crimes
imaginable. And revenge leaves matters as they had been before. There is
no real fulfilment in revenge. However, as a motivator of human exertions,
revenge has few equals.
Kyd in Spanish Tragedy and Shakespeare in Hamlet have handled the
revenge motif with considerable skill. However, the revenge pattern suits an
Italian background perfectly. And Webster, bearing this in mind. has given hisplay an Italian backdrop. which is one of the contributory factors to the
success of the play.
There are certain common features in all revenue plays. the characters are
drawn mostly from the patrician segment. None of them is a paragon. On the
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contrary everyone of them is unscrupulous, opportunistic and quite capable
of subterfuge. Morality is always at a discount. Unbridled violence, artistically
contrived murders. sorcery, unabashed self interest, the necromantic inputs
and an abundant averment of chance and the supernatural are features of a
Revenge Tragedy. it is just as well that no one conceives of a Revenge
Comedy for revenge always ends in tragedy, revenge itself is the tragedy of
the human spirit. A revenge play depicts courtly intrigue and immorality in
high places. The central character, Vittoria is the wife of an elderly courtier
who suspects her constancy every minute of his life. In other words, he
knows he is too old (and feeble) for his youthful wife and therefore it was
natural for her to seek fulfillment in younger, more virile company. He is
typical of Italian aristocracy who marry women half their age just to show off
and then spend a lifetime spying on them. Vittorias brother Flamineo is
prepared to play the pimp for Brachiano even though the target of
clandestine amour in Vittorja her5 elf Flanineos own sister. Such decadence,
so common in patrician society fits the revenge play requirements perfectly.
Brachiano thinks nothing of courting some one elses wife or of betraying his
own marriage vows. Immorality was the middle name of most Italian
aristocrats who feature in revenge plays. The manner in which he plans and
executes his murder plan is typical of courtly intrigue, a feature of all revenge
plays. Duke Francisco and his brother a cardinal who subsequently
becomes pope are two sides of a decadent coin. The former, a duke of therealm is more interested in Brachianos reputation than in helping a wronged
sister. Instead of trying to end Brachianos affair with Vittoria, he wants to
ensure its sublimation so that he could show Brachiano up as a lecher and
philanderer. How he plans Brachiar.os murder is typical of the obsession
with revenge that characterised Italian aristocracy. Brachiano himself sets
new standards in villainy. As in all revenge plays, the protagonist gets rid of
all impediments by hook or crook. An accidental fall from a horse for old
Camillo and a portrait smeared with poison for Isabella are typical of theRevenge play methodology.
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Among the woman characters. Vittoria, the anti-heroine fits the revenge
pattern perfectly. Preferring a younger paramour to an enfeebled spouse,
she persuades her lover to get rid of both impediments, his wife and her
husband and the besoytled Duke obliges.
The Trial Scene in The White Devil
The Trial Scene in Websters White Devil is the standout show piece of the
entire play. It rivals The Inquisition in G.B Shaws St. Joan in the manner it
exposes the unacceptable, though conventional banality of the offender
casting the first stone. it is not possible to identify sinless people so that they
could be trusted to sit in judement over others. With ambassadors as jurors
arid observers it is more of an inquisition, rather than a trial, presided over
Monticelso. a cardinal, soon to he elected Pope. As the Cardinal had already
prejudged the case and had made un his mind as to the nature of the
punishment, the proceedings are no better than a farce in which fairness and
equity have no place.
This Trial Scene is significant for a variety of reasons. It is an occasion for
Webster to display his extraordinary genius as a dramatist and master of
diction. It plays a vital role in the evolution of Vittorias character, It shows up
the other characters for what they are. Timeserves, opportunists and men of
straw. It is also indicative of sacerdotal vanity and clerical perfidy. This scene
brings to light the extent of Italys moral decadence and an abysmal fall in
juridical proprieties.
A lawyer engaged by the court to prosecute her, begins the proceedings with
vituperative references to Vittoria character. it l unrestrained abuse and
condemnation which discredits the lawyer completely. Vittorsa matches himthroughout. in a battle of vits in which she comes off best. She makes no
bones of her utter contempt for the cardinal and others, who, like those who
arraigned the woman before Christ. were all sinners themselves.
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After a brief exchange between Vittoria and the prosecutor. the Cardinal
takes over. Even he launches a diatribe against the womans character
instead of pinning her down to specifics. With great relish, incongruously out
of place in a celibate, he makes a catalogue of whores of various hues, a
prelude that ends with his assessment of Vittoria the whore. Vittoria puts the
Cardinal on a spot. repeatedly reminding him that accusations are not proof.
In a telling rejoinder she says that tile Cardinal was spitting against the wind.
When the Cardinal confronts her with what he thinks is clinching evidence,
her tryst with Brachiano on the night of the murder of Camello and Isabella,
Brachiano interjects with a confession that he was with Vittoria that night.
Before the court could infer the obvious, the Duke claims that he Lal only
gone there to comfort Vitforia after the death of her husband, needed advice
on what should be done about the estates. When the Cardinal reads out a
love letter, presumably authored by the Duke, Vittoria challenges him to
prove that it confirmed the charge of adultery. She declares openly that she
was a fun loving woman with a taste for fine clothes and rich food. If a young
woman is occasionaly tempted, it cannot be assumed that she has
succumbed to it. Brachiano makes no secret of his contempt for the Cardinal
and the rest of the company of sanctimonious hypocrites He ticks them off
with the most violent invectives ever hurled against clergymen.
Vittoria is finally consigned to a home for reform d prostitutes. Vittoria who
had from the very beginning challenged the moral authority of the Cardinal
and others to sit in judgement over her, declares that, with her arrival, that
very house of shame would be transformed into a holy place, far far worthy of
reverence than the Popes palace.
All in all, the Trial Scene is the one in which all loose ends are tied up. All
characters achieve a fulness and form, scarcely noticeable elsewhere in the
play. It is also a satire on human fallibiliby, human wickedness and human
injustice. It is a comment on the most despicable form of male chauvenism,
its gender bias, and pretensicns. its dramatic significance is truly great.
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Websters Portraiture of Vittorias Character
To speak of some one as The White Devil is suggestive of several things. It
is rare for a fair skinned person to be devilish, particularly a woman of
European stock. So, when one renegade is identified they damn her as a
devil. Websters play is named after the heroine Vittoria, condemned by her
peers as the white devil. From the evidence of the text, it is evident that
Webster does not share this view.
Vittoria is depicted as a young ambitious, resoirceful woman who loves the
good things of life. Unfortunately for her, Camillo, her husband isnt one of
those good things. He is old and enfeebled and most certainly not the answer
to a maidens prayer. In a marriage of convenience, Vittoria loses out on themost essential part of marriage, sexual gratification. In a mans world there is
instantaneous justification of male indiscretions on the ground of female
frigidity At the same time, a woman is expected to stifle her desires and be
constant to an impotent husband. The same was expected of Vittoria.
The process is set in motion not by Vittoria snaring her paramour but by her
own brother pimping shamelessly for Brachiano who is hell bent on seducing
some one elses wife.Viuorias indiscretion should be viewed from this
prelude. A faithless husband seeks a lectherous liaison with another mans
wife and the.omans own brother. shamelessly, plays the go between. The
setting is complete as Carnillo, the possessive imbecile spends a life time
suspecting his wife.
When Brachiano, the philandering nobleman enters her life, Vittoria is on the
horns of a dilemma. It cannot he that she had a sentimental sense of loyalty
to a possessive husband. A he had never been a husband if the real sense,
the marriage vows tended to lose their validity. Suppressed emotions and
unfulfilled desires could play havoc with a womans mental balance in the
choice between the right and the wrong, particularly if the s right had nothing
to offer except frustration and loneliness. So, Vittoria becomes Brachianos
other woman and shares half the blame. That is the ay Webster perceives
her fall.
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Having taken the first step, Vittoria decides to go the full distance. Webster
does not seek to justify her infidelity. However, by juxtaposing Brachianos
betrayal of his wifes confidence and Vittori& unfaithfulness, he tempers
judgement with fairness. Like most women in her position. Vittoria wants the
decks cleared as early as possible. Legitimate or not, a relationship willendure only when all encumbrances are removed. So, she asks Brachiano to
get rid of both impediments, a wife, his and a husband, hers. Brachiano acts
upon the suggestion with great alacrity as if he had only been waiting for her
to mention it.
Vittoria, accused of instigating and abetting the crime puts up a brave
defence at the trial. Her demeanour at the trial shows her as a woman of
great learning, argumentative skill, admirable wit and gift of repartee. In a
manner that would have drawn praise from an avid feminist, she blasts to
smithereens all those chaivinistic claims of male supremacy. She admits her
failing but considers herself far superior to the men who presumed to sit in
judgement over her. She doesnt spare even the presumptuous Cardinal.
She claims herself to be a diamond and that the Cardinal and his cohorts
were using glass hammers against her. She declares that with her arrival, the
home for reformed prostitutes would assume a heavenly aspect when she
moved in. Webster portrays her as an imperfect woman but also as one more
sinned against than sinning, particularly in the trial scene.