John Webster

Webster, John (1580–1634) English dramatist whose reputation rests upon his two great tragedies: The White Devil (c.1612), and The Duchess of Malfi (1614). Both plays explore the theme of revenge using macabre language.

John Webster 1580?-1634, English dramatist, b. London. Although little is known of his life, there is evidence that he worked for Philip Henslowe , collaborating with such playwrights as Dekker and Ford. Webster's literary reputation rests almost entirely on his two great tragedies, The White Devil (c.1608) and The Duchess of Malfi (c.1614). Violent and sensational, both plays treat the theme of revenge and generate a brooding, somber mood. Webster's highly poetic language and profound understanding of human suffering create a true tragic pathos and force.

Bibliography: See his works (ed. by F. L. Lucas, 4 vol., 1927); studies by C. Leech (1951, repr. 1970), R. Berry (1972), R. F. Whitman (1973), L. Bliss (1983), and C. Forker (1986).

Webster, John (c.1580–1634), English dramatist, whose fame rests almost entirely on two plays, The White Devil (1612) and The Duchess of Malfi (1614). Both are founded on Italian novelle and are passionate dramas of love and political intrigue in Renaissance Italy, compounded of crude horror and sublime poetry. Indeed, in the latter respect Webster approached Shakespeare more closely than any of his contemporaries. Both plays have held the stage, providing scope for great acting and fine settings, and as poetic drama remained unsurpassed by any later work, except that of Otway, until a new conception of tragedy was imported into European literature by Ibsen. Webster's other plays, some of which were written in collaboration, were of little importance. Practically nothing is known of his life, but he may have been an actor, perhaps the John Webster who appeared with the English Comedians in Germany in 1596.