The White Devil

John Webster, Benedict S. Robinson

• Publisher: The Arden Shakespeare
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781904271741
• eBook ISBN: 9781408140208
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Adultery, intrigue, murder, revenge: the densely-packed plot of The White Devil touches on topics that are representative of the atmosphere of Jacobean tragedy. Part tragedy, part satire of a corrupt political world, the play explores the relations of the powerful to the disempowered; the opportunities and constraints of women trying to survive in a male-dominated society; the complex distribution of social hierarchy by birth, wealth, gender, race; and the way the skills licensed by the theatre itself – including disguise and both the performance and interpretation of character – become crucial survival skills, in a world of hidden motives and concealed intentions. Now comprehensively re-edited, with an introduction that addresses issues of performance, cultural and historical context, and interpretation, exploring the dark energy that has impelled audiences and scholars to return to this play again and again across four centuries. Arden Early Modern Drama editions offer the best in contemporary scholarship, providing a wealth of helpful and incisive commentary and guiding the reader to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the play. This edition provides:
A clear and authoritative text
Detailed on-page commentary notes
A comprehensive, illustrated introduction to the play's historical, cultural and performance contexts
A bibliography of references and further reading ARDEN EARLY MODERN DRAMA
General Editors: Suzanne Gossett, John Jowett and Gordon McMullan
Visit the Arden website at www.ardenshakespeare.com

THE WHITE DEVIL

[1.1] Enter Count LODOVICO, ANTONELLI and GASPARO.

LODOVICO

Banished?

ANTONELLI It grieved me much to hear the sentence.

LODOVICO

Ha, ha! O Democritus, thy gods

That govern the whole world: courtly reward

And punishment! Fortune’s a right whore.

5 If she give aught, she deals it in small parcels

That she may take away all at one swoop.

This ’tis to have great enemies, God quit them.

Your wolf no longer seems to be a wolf

Than when she’s hungry.

GASPARO You term those enemies

Are men of princely rank.

10 LODOVICO Oh, I pray for them.

The violent thunder is adored by those

Are pashed in pieces by it.

ANTONELLI Come, my lord,

You are justly doomed. Look but a little back

Into your former life: you have in three years

Ruined the noblest earldom.

15 GASPARO Your followers

Have swallowed you like mummia and, being sick

With such unnatural and horrid physic,

Vomit you up i’th’ kennel.

ANTONELLI All the damnable degrees

Of drinkings have you staggered through; one citizen

20 Is lord of two fair manors called you master

Only for caviar.

GASPARO Those noblemen

Which were invited to your prodigal feasts,

Wherein the phoenix scarce could scape your throats,

Laugh at your misery, as fore-deeming you

25 An idle meteor which, drawn forth the earth,

Would be soon lost i’th’ air –

ANTONELLI Jest upon you,

And say you were begotten in an earthquake,

You have ruined such fair lordships.

LODOVICO Very good.

This well goes with two buckets: I must tend

The pouring out of either.

30 GASPARO Worse than these,

You have acted certain murders here in Rome,

Bloody and full of horror.

LODOVICO ’Las, they were flea-bitings.

Why took they not my head, then?

GASPARO O my lord,

The law doth sometimes mediate, thinks it good

35 Not ever to steep violent sins in blood.

This gentle penance may both end your crimes

And in the example better these bad times.

LODOVICO

So. But I wonder, then, some great men scape

This banishment. There’s Paolo Giordano Orsini,

40 The Duke of Bracciano, now lives in Rome

And by close panderism seeks to prostitute

The honour of Vittoria Corombona –

Vittoria...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title Page
• The Editors
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• General editors’ preface
• Preface
• Introduction
• Quarto preliminaries
• The White Devil
• Commentary Notes and Textual Notes
• Appendix: the Fugger newsletter
• Abbreviations and references
• Index
• Copyright