context Flashcards
(16 cards)
John Webster
1580-1630
new monarch
King James I of England
he loved arts and theatre
DOM first performance
Blackfriar’s theatre in 1614
Civil War impact
1642-1651
long parliament led by Puritans who viewed theatre as immoral behaviour
1642
Puritan ascendancy put an end to public performance of plays until restoration in 1660
the tragic heroine
Duchess power wealth sensuality– male theatre goers and readers might have found unnerving threatening
woman roles in theatres
played by men – contradicts the Power of the character Duchess
Theatrical parallel
Shakespeare’s Cleopatra who shared same traits as Duchess
Italian setting
for audience Italian court represented corruption and deception
reputation from distrust of Catholic Church
Characters symbolism of court
Delio and Duchess honourable to court
Ferdinand, Cardinal, Bosola deeply involved in corruption
Websters use of horror
confronts audience directly with physical violence and psychological torture
what are scholars left wondering
whether Webster was a exploiter of audience shock or a nihilistic denier of human value
The white devil
Webster employs a anti catholic sentiment in the stereotypes in the white devil
Jacobean view of widows
seen as lustful, remarriage frowned upon as expected to stay faithful to husband
“lusty widow”
“like a tame elephant”
Machiavellian
any means cane used to maintain political power
Aristotle
concept of tragic hero – should have a hermartia a person of eminence
