Sin In Benét's The Devil And Daniel Webster

This play, The Devil & Daniel Webster, was written by playwright Stephen Vincent Benét in 1937 in the United States Of America. Benét was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States on 22nd July 1898. He wrote his published his first book when he was 17 and won a M.A( Master of Arts) award. During his early years, Benét developed a sense of interest in heroic fiction and poetry, he also admired those with patriotic values. Since he was brought up in a military family, Benét lived and applauded the values of honor, courage, duty and patriotism. However, the main focus point that I’ll be discussing would be how Benét manages to use music to illustrate the concept of sin.

The play discusses about an unlucky famer, Jabez Stone, who sold his

For example, in the beginning of the play, during Jabez’s wedding, the fiddler plays a lively music for everyone to dance. This matches with the atmoshphere as everyone is happy and having fun. The music played by the fiddler during Jabez’s wedding is square dance. It was considered a sin by some religious people. However, towards the middle of the play, the fiddle becomes more and more dysfunctional. Benét uses this to hint the entrance of Scratch. The first hint is when Webster says that he’s here to “pay my humble respects “to the “most charming lady “and her very “fortunate spouse”. At this point, a twang of a fiddle string breaks. Next, when Webster also says that Stone wears “no man’s collar, there is a discordant squeak from the fiddle. The third fiddle is when the fiddler says that “Hell’s delight – excuse me, Mr Webster”. “Hell’s delight” means great trouble or difficulty in this context. Now, the entrance of Scratch gets closer as Benét uses words like “Hell”. Right when the fiddler says that the “very devil’s got into that fiddle of mine” Scratch makes his appearance. What fiddler is actually trying to say is that he is unable to play the fiddle and he is unsure why. Benét uses this to hint to the audience about the devil’s appearance, which also brings about the concept of