Webster’s note ‘To The Reader’
and epilogue
Conceptually speaking,
what impact might
their inclusion have on
a reader as opposed to
an audience?
Insight into the writer’s
intentions?
Sets up our
understanding of the
play’s main themes?
Metafiction?
Some key ideas to bear in mind
• The White Devil was Webster’s first play to be
performed, although he had been writing for some 10
years.
• The White Devil was not the sort of play with which the
Queen's Men habitually satisfied their audiences. Their
chief theatre, the Red Bull at Clerkenwell, was frankly
“a plain man's playhouse, where clownery, clamour,
and spectacle vied with subject matter flattering to the
vanity of tradesmen” (L. B. Wright, Middle-Class Culture in
Elizabethan England (1935), p. 609.).
• The intimate, claustrophobic atmosphere of the Sam
Wanamaker playhouse...
Guided reading of Webster’s note on
the text
1. What excuses does Webster make for the bad reception of
the play in its first performance?
2. Do you think Webster is genuine in his self-effacement?
Why (not)?
3. Consider this section: “for mine own part, I have ever truly
cherished my good opinion of other men’s worthy labours,
especially of that full and heightened style of Mr.
Chapman, the laboured and understanding works of Mr.
Johnson, the no less worthy composures of the both
worthily excellent Mr. Beaumont and Mr. Fletcher; and
lastly (without wrong last to be named), the right happy
and copious industry of Mr. Shakespeare, Mr. Dekker, and
Mr. Heywood, wishing what I write may be read by their
light”. Why does Webster deliberately flatter his
contemporaries and seek comparison with them?
Martial
• A Roman poet, famed for writing ‘epigrams’,
brief, memorable and often satirical
statements. (Derived from the Greek: ἐπίγραμμα
epigramma "inscription" from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein
"to write on, to inscribe”)
• The works of Martial became highly valued
on their discovery by the Renaissance, whose
writers often saw them as sharing an eye for
the urban vices of their own times.
• Bearing in mind Webster set his play in the
Renaissance, his allusions to Martial
successfully posit his play in this setting.
Webster’s use of Martial’s epigrams
• In what ways does Martial’s writing echo that of Webster?
(Hint: consider sententiae)
Latin
nos haec novimus esse nihil
Nec rhoncos metues,
maligniorum, / Nec scombris
tunicas, dabis molestas
non potes in nugas dicera plura
meas: ipse ego quam dixi
Haec hodie porcis comedenda
relinques
non norunt, haec monumenta
mori
Translation
we know these things are
nothing
you [i.e. my books] shall not fear
the snouts of the malicious, nor
provide wrapping for mackerel
you cannot say more against my
trifles than I have said myself
What you leave today will be for
the pigs to eat
These monuments [i.e., great
works] do not know how to die
Webster’s epilogue
• Haec fuerint nobis praemia, si
placui.
• These things shall be our reward, if I
have pleased you.
For the action of the play, 'twas generally
well, and I dare affirm, with the joint
testimony of some of their own quality (for
the true imitation of life, without striving to
make nature a monster,) the best that
ever became them: whereof as I make a
general acknowledgment, so in particular I
must remember the well-approved
industry of my friend Master Perkins, and
confess the worth of his action did crown
both the beginning and end.
Why does Webster use these Latin
tags in his preface and epilogue?
• Consider:
– The status of Latin as a language (today, in the 17th
Century, in the Renaissance, as a result of the
Reformation)
– The classical world and its influence on literature
– The use of Latin in Vittoria’s trial scene
– (Is it ironic that Webster is using Latin for a similar
reason as the Lawyer/Monticelso? If so, what’s
the effect?)
Typical examination-style questions
• “It is a woman’s lot to be marginalised and
despised.”
• In the light of this view, discuss ways in which
writers portray the role of women in society.
In your answer, compare one drama text and
one poetry text from the above lists.
Typical examination-style questions
• “Personal gain always lies at the heart of
human interactions”.
• In the light of this view, discuss ways in which
writers portray the idea of personal gain. In
your answer, compare one drama text and one
poetry text from the above lists.
Typical examination-style questions
• “Human nature is unchangeable: even if moral
lessons are put forward, ultimately, these
lessons are never learnt.”
• In the light of this view, discuss ways in which
writers use moral lessons in their writing. In
your answer, compare one drama text and one
poetry text from the above lists.