earticle

영어

John Webster’s revenge plots in The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi are quite different from those of earlier revenge tragedies in the English Renaissance period. Most revenge plots of earlier tragedies focused on the political meaning, as a kind of punishment of corrupted rulers. But in Webster’s revenge plots, the revengers are rulers of high political position, and the objects of revenge are liberal women. Therefore, the surface meaning of Webster’s revenge plots seems to be the patriarchal punishment of liberal women. However, Webster compares the courage and heroism of the women characters with the hypocrisy and corruption of the aristocratic and religious rulers. The revenge plots paradoxically reveal the revengers’ corruption and irrationality. What is common in the revenge plots of The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi is the presence of liberal women and the anxiety of the male-centered social order. In The White Devil, Vittoria is a very different kind of woman from Isabella, who has traditional female values. Vittoria has masculine rhetorical skill and courage, and isn’t controlled easily. The titular character of The Duchess of Malfi is also a similar sort of woman. She is a brave woman who disregards the threat and warning of her brothers, and proceeds with a secret marriage regardless of hierarchy. Webster used the revenge plot, which was popular in the contemporary theater, but created a new kind of revenge tragedy through the presence of a new kind of women.