Manchester University Press
9 ‘Ha, O my horror!’ Grotesque tragedy in John Webster’s The White Devil
Abstract
This chapter argues that John Webster’s The White Devil is grotesque by design, because it attempts to fuse two opposing philosophical polarities: the heightened emotions of the pleasure-seeking Epicurean with the undemonstrative façade of the Stoic. This fusion is acted out throughout the play’s dialogue, and embodied by the rival-murderers Lodovico and Flamineo. Webster’s ultra-violent finale becomes, in this reading, a dramatisation of Lucretian (Epicurean) physics – in which clashing bodies become swerving atoms, and Flamineo’s comically prolonged experience of death is informed by a hybrid acceptance of both ancient schools of thought.
Abstract
This chapter argues that John Webster’s The White Devil is grotesque by design, because it attempts to fuse two opposing philosophical polarities: the heightened emotions of the pleasure-seeking Epicurean with the undemonstrative façade of the Stoic. This fusion is acted out throughout the play’s dialogue, and embodied by the rival-murderers Lodovico and Flamineo. Webster’s ultra-violent finale becomes, in this reading, a dramatisation of Lucretian (Epicurean) physics – in which clashing bodies become swerving atoms, and Flamineo’s comically prolonged experience of death is informed by a hybrid acceptance of both ancient schools of thought.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Introduction 1
- 1 De casibus tragedy 11
- 2 Biblical tragedy 29
- 3 Closet tragedy 51
- 4 Tragedy of state 68
- 5 Domestic tragedy 84
- 6 Roman tragedy 100
- 7 Satiric tragedy 115
- 8 Revenge tragedy 132
- 9 ‘Ha, O my horror!’ Grotesque tragedy in John Webster’s The White Devil 148
- 10 She-tragedy 166
- 11 Ford’s Perkin Warbeck as historical tragedy 184
- 12 Caroline tragedy 196
- Selected bibliography 213
- Index 216
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Introduction 1
- 1 De casibus tragedy 11
- 2 Biblical tragedy 29
- 3 Closet tragedy 51
- 4 Tragedy of state 68
- 5 Domestic tragedy 84
- 6 Roman tragedy 100
- 7 Satiric tragedy 115
- 8 Revenge tragedy 132
- 9 ‘Ha, O my horror!’ Grotesque tragedy in John Webster’s The White Devil 148
- 10 She-tragedy 166
- 11 Ford’s Perkin Warbeck as historical tragedy 184
- 12 Caroline tragedy 196
- Selected bibliography 213
- Index 216
