John Webster

Abstract

Webster, said Eliot, was much possessed by death and saw the skull beneath the skin. The remark has obvious truth, but it would fit the author of The Revenger’s Tragedy much more exactly than Webster himself; for Webster’s two great tragedies show less concern with death - in the sense of mortality and decay- than they do with the art of noble dying. More than any of his predecessors, Webster finds that the heroism which redeems nature from its frailties and vices is the constancy with which a violent end is accepted. Everything else in the lives of his principal characters seems preparatory to this final test; in it, they are brought to accept the huge burden of pain, frustration, and mystery which is life itself.