So I've been on a renaissance literature kick now since I discovered that Thomas Middleton was a nice alternative to Shakespeare. It's really like Shakespeare had a slightly less talented brother (or sister!) and wrote a whole bunch of plays. So naturally I decided to read the other dramatists of the time, and not only that, I decided to stick solely to tragedy. I ordered the complete Middleton, which contains all 30+ of his plays and his long poems and masques, but it is taking such a long time to get here, so I have had to find my renaissance fix elsewhwere. Which leads me to John Webster, whose play, The White Devil was my latest foray into ren. lit., and to be quite honest my mirth is drained. If tragedy is cathartic, as Aristotle assures me daily, then I think I have overdosed on catharsis.
The play starts off normal enough for a tragedy, most of the main characters are either evil, sadistic, or whores (which is how women are addressed in the play. I wonder if this was a term of endearment Webster used frequently?) Even the characters that are supposed to be good tend to be annoying, or have some flaws. Flamineo was the funniest character despite being evil incarnate. He managed to kill his brother in front of his mom and then make his sister think she killed him and then tried to kill his sister. All the while cracking jokes and pandering his sister to a duke. And when his sister thought she killed him, she was cackling and mocking him in his supposed death. This was a long play, with each scene chocked full of insults, anger, hatred, duplicitous behavior, and everything else that stings of a ren. tragedy. My urge to read another tragedy at this point is waning fast. Please Middleton, why is Amazon being so slow in getting you here? Will I have to read another Webster to pass the long days? Get here soon. I miss you.
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