JOHN WEBSTER AS A MORALIST

Abstract

This apt and clearly drawn contrast between Elizabethan. and Jacobean drama ought to prevent the student of Webster from 'falling into the error of confusing the sentiments expressed by the characters of Webster's plays with the sentiments of the author himself. Yet modern critics of Webster persist in building up from the sentiments, thoughts, actions, and passions of the characters a world that it labels 'Webster's World'. This is, of course, an extremely vague phrase and might well be taken as referring to the type of character and situation that Webster prefers to depict. Hereward T. Price seems to be using the phrase in this sense when, referring to the scene in which Isabella takes upon herself the blame for her husband's t,mnatural condm:t, writes Webster's world is so corrupt that goodness itself tends to deceive' 2 • There would seem to be little doubt, however, that both Clifford Leech (in spite of the reasonable position he takes up in the above quotation) and Ellis-Fermor use the phrase to mean Webster's conception of the world and of life in general. 

Keywords

• JOHN
• WEBSTER
• MORALIST

JOHN WEBSTER AS A MORALIST

Abstract

This apt and clearly drawn contrast between Elizabethan. and Jacobean drama ought to prevent the student of Webster from 'falling into the error of confusing the sentiments expressed by the characters of Webster's plays with the sentiments of the author himself. Yet modern critics of Webster persist in building up from the sentiments, thoughts, actions, and passions of the characters a world that it labels 'Webster's World'. This is, of course, an extremely vague phrase and might well be taken as referring to the type of character and situation that Webster prefers to depict. Hereward T. Price seems to be using the phrase in this sense when, referring to the scene in which Isabella takes upon herself the blame for her husband's t,mnatural condm:t, writes Webster's world is so corrupt that goodness itself tends to deceive' 2 • There would seem to be little doubt, however, that both Clifford Leech (in spite of the reasonable position he takes up in the above quotation) and Ellis-Fermor use the phrase to mean Webster's conception of the world and of life in general.

Keywords

• JOHN
• WEBSTER
• MORALIST

References

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