John Webster's The White Devil depicts an inherent brutality in the human condition that, although humanity may strive to do good, ensures its ultimate destruction . He draws on authentic fears of the Jacobean era to attribute immorality to all aspects of human life, alluding to the inexorable nature of evil. The elusive King James I did not prevent the emerging power of superstition and deception within society, encouraging it in some way, for example through his studies of witchcraft. This approach made it possible to accelerate equivocation, as well as to create a vulnerable society, at the limit of meritocratic tendencies. Webster uses these societal fears to question the political and religious systems of the early 17th century, considering the challenges posed to Catholicism and the emerging power of the papal office. He also questions the influence of illness, suggesting that all his characters are infected by a moral illness from which only their death can cure them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The White Devil depicts evil as an accepted part of aristocratic society. It is a putative part of “court life; Brachiano’s “close pandarism” is indeed known, and Lodovico’s past murders are common knowledge” (May 1963). Webster suggests that these crimes are masked by those who commit them, with Lodovico reducing his murders, "bloody and full of horror", to "flea bites". Likewise, the existence of silly shows demonstrates Webster's attempts to highlight the evil of humanity, with theater being essential for both information and entertainment in the Jacobean era. Both the depicted audience and the actual audience are made complicit in the voyeurism, demonstrated to critics by Brachiano's mostly monosyllabic responses. Through the deception contained in the crime, the playwright perhaps wishes to alert his audience to the corruption within his own societal leaders, because, for him, “politics has no relationship with power” (Machiavelli, 2003) . Webster further illustrates the immorality of the upper classes with consistent use of bestial imagery. He presents them as the “wolves” of society, governed by their primal instincts for power. This idea is introduced with the first scene of the play, indicating its importance; Webster states that a "wolf only seems to be a wolf when it is hungry"; presenting hunger as a motif of female sexuality, underlined by the pronoun “she”. This sexuality, however, is presented as a means of climbing the social class system, which implies that the characters are "hungry" for power and must satisfy this need to reaffirm their humanity, avoiding becoming "wolves". The need to conquer power then becomes an integral part of humanity, suggesting that this instinctive brutality is inherent both to the play's characters and its audience. Webster suggests that immorality spreads through the class system, with the rich influencing the less powerful. He considers the “princes… whose regular example is so strong”, having already illustrated the moral ambiguity of the powerful. He makes a similar claim in The Duchess of Malfi, exploring how "the court of a prince/Is like a common fountain from which should flow/The drops of pure silver in general." His point is underlined by his links to the working class vernacular of 'common', 'in general' and 'regular', demonstrating the extent of the repercussions that a corrupt higher power can have, their influence reaching even to thelowest levels of society. Flamineo's Machiavellian attributes are then somewhat justified, because although he acts as a "flatterer" between Brachiano and Vittoria, essentially prostituting his sister in order to improve his own situation, he is innocent in the sense in which he was led to sin by the leaders of society, and not by one's own interests. own doing. In Jacobean England, "many subjects from the lower ranks of the nobility and even the merchant classes strove to improve their own situation" (Barker, 2005), indicating the emergence of a meritocratic society. Shakespeare also evoked these societal changes in King Lear, through Edmund's reluctance to accept his lack of power: "why 'bastard'?" Why “basic”? By attempting to rape Cordelia, Edmund demonstrates his need to gain power, in the same way that Flamineo does by using his sister as a "trumpet". It can be argued, however, that Flamineo and characters like him only wish to gain power to gain access to the freedom of the upper classes, who are not constrained by moral, societal, or religious laws. He, along with his social-climbing counterpart in The Duchess of Malfi, Bosola, threatens to destroy the entire structure of society through his actions, while focusing only on his own desires. In this regard, “all activities are tainted with sin”; every inclination of Webster's characters is linked to a distorted sense of morality that originates with and is manifested by their illegal rulers. The White Devil's women are victims of men, demonstrating the evil inherent in masculinity. Their sexuality is often presented as something to be consumed, compared to "the butter trap" and the "taste of new wine", which demonstrates that the evil that lies dormant in Flamineo, which often orchestrates this misogyny, corrupts even idealized purity. of love and sexual relations. For Flamineo, "it's like a summer birdcage in a garden: the birds that are outside are desperate to get in, and the birds that are desperate and afraid because they'll never get out." He bestializes women, believing that they belong in a “cage” and, as “birds,” their voices are not heard by society. This could also suggest that Flamineo realizes that women are trapped in a patriarchal society, but exploits the fact that they are susceptible to mistreatment, which again highlights his need to gain power to abuse his position. The fragility of the "cage in a garden" is linked to the sublime and authoritarian humanity which, with the delicate balance between inside and outside, again alludes to the vulnerable position of society as Flamineo threatens to destroy traditional values. Women are important, however, because they are used by men in their attempts to “achieve and maintain their position” (May 1963); given this, their abuse by male hands is even more barbaric. However, “for Webster and his audience, Vittoria's catalog of misfortunes [in particular] is seen as less than tragic due to cultural and dramatic conventions of class and gender” (Waudby, 2010); Because she is not a man or of a higher class, she may not have been seen as a victim at all, particularly because she understands that women see the masculinity in a symbiotic way, hoping to use it to improve their own situation. arguably presents the women in his play as sinners. All the characters are influenced by corrupt figures of the nobility and are therefore part of an immoral society. Given this, "the adults in the roomare all corrupt, acting only out of self-interest and effectively destroying our faith in justice and truth” (Aughterson, 2001). This suggests that women desire power just as much as men, and this is proven by Vittoria; “Her husband is the lord of a poor fortune/Yet she wears cloth,” dressing above her station, indicating that she seeks power from Brachiano just as her brother does. In fact, the women lack the innocence that an audience may attribute to femininity, with Isabella excusing Brachiano's crimes and only becoming the idealized passive woman by deceiving herself and her society, and Cornelia, although presented as innocent through her religious condemnations of others, considers "the curse of children", disavowing her descendants, instead of correcting their crimes. This may suggest that the entire generation is a "curse", rejected by Cornelia due to her own "willful sinking" into immorality. Cornelia can then be innocent, but surrounded by sin; “Vice and virtue share a common place since evil is everywhere. The characters cannot avoid living in this situation because it is the world to which they belong” (Fernández, 1996). Webster depicts the immorality of characters often associated with justice and honesty, simultaneously criticizing two countries, suggesting that each is capable of evil. He “creates the atmosphere of distrust which permeates the Italian Court” (May 1963), situating the tragedy in Italy, as with Othello and Romeo and Juliet. This allows the playwright to critique British culture while ensuring his personal safety, but it also connects Francisco, who becomes pope, to the papal office of Vatican City. This was often seen as corrupt, which posed significant challenges to Catholicism in the 16th and early 17th centuries. The White Devil demonstrates this through Monticelso, who exercises his political power through Francisco's use of the "black book" to enable his revenge against Brachiano. Webster also criticizes British society by setting his tragedy "in Rome". The "princes...whose regular example is so strong", if they are considered members of royalty, superior to the nobility of Lodovico, Brachiano, Monticelso and Francisco, are absent from the text, unable to defend their honor or to eliminate crime from the room. This is comparable to the absence of King James I from society during Webster's lifetime; although he made appearances at executions, his reputation was primarily that of an elusive king. The White Devil describes sin as a disease, infecting the minds of all who encounter it. This would explain why the influence of the aristocracy corrupts the rest of society, but would also suggest that the society Webster describes is incurable. In many ways, "the sickness of [this] world arises from [the characters'] inability to distinguish appearance from reality" (May, 1963), this applying to women as much as to the facade of the religious and political world. systems in England. The characters all carry a moral illness that ensures their brutality, causing the seductive beauty of femininity to conceal their barbarity and the authority of those in power to remain unquestioned. Webster constantly refers to “poison,” indicating this moral illness. “There’s hemlock on [Francisco’s] breath” and Brachiano “spits…poison,” associating their verbal insults with an inherent sense of mental corruption. They are arguably not responsible for their own faults if they become infected, and yet they can never be virtuous while living in this society. The society presented in The White Devil offers only suffering to its characters, a trait manifested by the.