Product Description

This volume offers John Webster's two great Jacobean tragedies, The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, together with his brilliant tragicomedy, The Devil's Law-Case, and the comedy written with William Rowley, A Cure for a Cuckold. Webster is a radically and creatively experimental dramatist. His tragedies deploy shifting dramatic perspectives which counteract and challenge conventional moral judgements, while the predominantly gentler tone of his comedies and tragicomedies responds inventively to contemporary changes in dramatic taste and fashion. All four plays display the provocative intelligence of a profoundly original playwright. Under the General Editorship of Michael Cordner of the University of York, the texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. In addition, there is detailed annotation, a glossary, and a critical introduction which traces Webster's artistic development, defends him against charges of over-indulgence in violence, and explores his sophisticated staging and scenic forms.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #359257 in Books
• Published on: 1998-05-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

About the Author
René Weis is Senior Lecturer in English at University College, London.

Customer Reviews

Hell is murky
The two tragedies in this collection (which also contains "The Devil's Law Case") are Webster at his finest, and "The Duchess of Malfi" stands as an unquestionable classic.
The language is almost fetid in its power, dank with atmosphere and bestial allusions and it tells a story of the Duchess whose two brothers choose to destroy her rather than allow her to remarry. The play ends in madness, death and mistaken murders, amidst a whelter of confusion, regret and betrayal. Redemption seems a far more remote prospect in Webster's tragedies than it does in Shakespeare's, and these tragedies are more muscular, dirtier and bestial than Shakespeare's work. Definitely needs to be read by anyone who has an interest in drama and literature, and those who like a corking good story.

Compellingly dark
Malfi is Webster's masterpiece, a dark tragedy set in a world that is brooding, bloody and corrupt. None of the characters come off well: not the incestuous and mad Ferdinand who imagines himself a werewolf; the adulterous Cardinal; the vacillating Antonio; or even the Duchess herself who woos and marries a courtier who serves her.

Despite Webster's attempt to offer hope and redemption at the end, this is a play that is soaked in blood. The light shines through it in Webster's jewel-dark poetry and the unrelenting pace, and this is fitting companion piece to the best of Marlowe and Shakespeare.