John Webster's the White Devil
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JOHN WEBSTER’S THE WHITE DEVIL: A LITERARY ARTIFACT OF THE JACOBEAN STRUGGLE FOR POWER BY KING, POPE, AND MACHIAVEL by KATHERINE JEANNETTE MOODY CAREY (Under the Direction of Charles B. Davis) ABSTRACT This past century, playwright John Webster has gained in prominence within the canon of English Renaissance dramatic literature. Webster published his first independently written play, The White Devil, in 1612. The play’s title proves enigmatic because no single character within the text is identified as the white devil. Re-examining the play’s title in terms of historical and cultural significance, I posit that Webster’s elusive white devil is the papacy fraught with corruption and abuse of absolute power. I also wish to examine Webster’s play as a comment on the corruption and abuse of absolute political power within the reigning monarchy of James I. Jacobean England’s power structure was evolving from a medieval feudal system toward a class structure including a thriving professional stratum with earning potential, land purchase opportunities, and municipal government representation. Corruption and abuse of power threatened this new-found bourgeois power. If James and the Catholic Church were to realign, divine right absolutism could destroy England’s evolving class structure. Literary anthropology and new historicism offer an avenue for discourse on The White Devil as a seventeenth-century literary artifact. Both James and the papacy claimed divine right absolutism to rule, both considered themselves above subjugation to human law, both demanded complete obeisance of subjects, and both abused their power. Because censorship restricted playwrights’ comments on the reigning monarch, anti- Catholic rhetoric could be enacted onstage, offering the same warning in a safely veiled package. Webster was free to attack the papacy and Italy as the seat of the Holy See, utilizing dialogue and visual imagery to portray the pope as the Antichrist. Drawing upon the previous generation’s memory of Mary Tudor’s reign of terror while attempting to realign England with Rome under the papacy of Pope Paul IV, Webster offers his audience a loathed enemy dressed in brilliant white and adorned with a triple crown, an enemy who has excommunicated the English to eternal damnation, an enemy who seats himself equal to God. As a propagandistic tool, Webster’s play becomes a mirror for his audience, for characteristics of this staged enemy can be seen as well in their absolutist king. INDEX WORDS: John Webster, The White Devil, Jacobean drama, Absolutism, Anti-Catholic rhetoric, Machiavel JOHN WEBSTER’S THE WHITE DEVIL: A LITERARY ARTIFACT OF THE JACOBEAN STRUGGLE FOR POWER BY KING, POPE, AND MACHIAVEL by KATHERINE JEANNETTE MOODY CAREY B.A., Georgia State University, 1986 M.A., Central Washington University, 2002 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2006 © 2006 Katherine Jeannette Moody Carey All Rights Reserved JOHN WEBSTER’S THE WHITE DEVIL: A LITERARY ARTIFACT OF THE JACOBEAN STRUGGLE FOR POWER BY KING, POPE, AND MACHIAVEL by KATHERINE JEANNETTE MOODY CAREY Major Professor: Charles B. Davis Committee: David Z. Saltz Freda S. Giles William L. Power Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia December 2006 DEDICATION This work is dedicated to God, the source of all power and love, through whom all things are possible. This work is also dedicated to my husband Tim Carey and to my children Ryan and Erin whose love and patience support my endeavors. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS So many people have contributed to the fabric of this work and have blessed me along this journey. First I want to thank Dr. Wesley Van Tassel of Central Washington University, major professor for my master’s thesis, for encouraging me to pursue my doctorate and Prof. Brenda Hubbard for honing my research skills. Next, I wish to thank Dr. Clark Lemons of Oxford College of Emory University for being my mentor and my friend for so many years. I wish to thank the University of Georgia for granting me a teaching assistantship which allowed me to continue my beloved classroom teaching. I am so grateful to my major professor Dr. Charles B. Davis for his leadership since day one and to my dissertation committee of Drs. David Saltz, Freda Giles, and William Power for their wisdom and guidance which has made me a better scholar. The entire faculty and staff of UGA’s Department of Theatre and Film Studies have graciously guided and encouraged me in my research and studies. Much love to my other doctoral colleagues Cheryldee Huddleston and Lauren Sexton for their emotional support during the journey. I owe much gratitude to Dr. Frances Teague in the English Department who challenged me and who continues to amaze me with her knowledge of and passion for English Renaissance drama. I am grateful for the prayers lifted up on my behalf by friends and loved ones. Finally, I want to thank my extended family who lived with me through this journey. I will be reminded of your support each time I don my academic regalia. Dad, I know you are with me today. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 Presentation of Thesis ...................................................................................1 Previous Scholarly Work...............................................................................8 Historical Account of Event........................................................................17 Brief Summary of the Play..........................................................................19 Jacobean Tragicomedy Form ......................................................................22 Anthropological Function of Literature ......................................................28 2 WEBSTER’S WORLD....................................................................................41 Webster’s Place in Society..........................................................................41 Dissemination of Printed Material ..............................................................45 Theatre as Seventeenth-Century Mass Media and the Spectator as Participant..............................................................................................46 The Jacobean Audience...............................................................................49 3 POWER—MONARCHY AND PAPACY......................................................54 England’s Secession from the Roman Catholic Church .............................54 England’s Brief Return to the Catholic Church ..........................................56 Elizabeth I and the Return of the Church of England .................................58 vi A Strained Stuart Ascension to the English Throne....................................60 James’s Tolerance/Intolerance of English Catholics...................................63 King James Bible.........................................................................................64 Divine Right Absolutism—James ...............................................................65 Renaissance Views of the Role of the Monarch..........................................69 Divine Right Absolutism—Pope.................................................................70 Father-figure and the Image of God ............................................................72 Jacobean Masques and Image of Power......................................................74 Corruption and Scandal...............................................................................76 Erosion within Jacobean Justice and Economic Systems ...........................82 Venality of Titles.........................................................................................83 Deterioration of the Aristocracy and Emergence of a New Class Structure ...................................................................................................84 Chaotic Social Structure Reflected in Jacobean Dramatic Comedy ...........87 Maintaining Appearance of Control—Punishment or Mercy? ...................89 Possible Return to Catholicism?..................................................................91 Marriage between England and Spain? .......................................................95 4 ANTI-PAPAL SENTIMENT........................................................................100 Inquisition..................................................................................................100 Webster’s Inquisitional Scene ...................................................................104 Conclave....................................................................................................112 Webster’s Conclave Scene ........................................................................115 Paul III.......................................................................................................123 vii Paul IV.......................................................................................................124 Pius IV and Pius V ....................................................................................129 Sixtus V .....................................................................................................129