JOHN WEBSTER'S THE WHITE DEVIL: A LITERARY ARTIFACT OF THE JACOBEAN STRUGGLE ...

230 Pages·2006·0.47 MB·English

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.

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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
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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
Clement VIII..............................................................................................132
Paul V........................................................................................................132
Seventeenth-Century Anti-Papist Rhetoric...............................................134
Anti-Papist Iconography............................................................................138
Anti-Papist Sentiment in Webster’s Colleagues’ Writings.......................140
Other Anti-Catholic References in Webster’s Works...............................147
5 SECULAR POWER—MACHIAVEL .........................................................151
The Italian Other.......................................................................................151
Machiavelli and Secular Political Power...................................................156
Fight to Attain Absolute Power among Common Characters—the
Machiavel............................................................................................162
6 ANTI-CATHOLIC REFERENCES IN THE WHITE DEVIL.....................166
Black Book................................................................................................166
Visual Catholic Imagery within The White Devil.....................................168
Visual Imagery via the Dumb Show Convention......................................170
7 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................176
WORKS CITED..............................................................................................................184
APPENDICES.................................................................................................................206
A NAME CHANGES FROM HISTORICAL PEOPLE TO WEBSTER’S
CHARACTERS.........................................................................................206
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