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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.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Notes on contributors vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. 1 De casibus tragedy 11
  6. 2 Biblical tragedy 29
  7. 3 Closet tragedy 51
  8. 4 Tragedy of state 68
  9. 5 Domestic tragedy 84
  10. 6 Roman tragedy 100
  11. 7 Satiric tragedy 115
  12. 8 Revenge tragedy 132
  13. 9 ‘Ha, O my horror!’ Grotesque tragedy in John Webster’s The White Devil 148
  14. 10 She-tragedy 166
  15. 11 Ford’s Perkin Warbeck as historical tragedy 184
  16. 12 Caroline tragedy 196
  17. Selected bibliography 213
  18. Index 216
The genres of Renaissance tragedy
This chapter is in the book The genres of Renaissance tragedy
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526138262.00013

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Notes on contributors vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. 1 De casibus tragedy 11
  6. 2 Biblical tragedy 29
  7. 3 Closet tragedy 51
  8. 4 Tragedy of state 68
  9. 5 Domestic tragedy 84
  10. 6 Roman tragedy 100
  11. 7 Satiric tragedy 115
  12. 8 Revenge tragedy 132
  13. 9 ‘Ha, O my horror!’ Grotesque tragedy in John Webster’s The White Devil 148
  14. 10 She-tragedy 166
  15. 11 Ford’s Perkin Warbeck as historical tragedy 184
  16. 12 Caroline tragedy 196
  17. Selected bibliography 213
  18. Index 216
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