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Webster's The White Devil

372 Words2 Pages
Act III Scene II of The White Devil or The Life and Death of Vittoria Corombona the famous Venetian Curtizan is the centre of the narrative action of the play, presenting the trial of the historical figure Vittoria Accoramboni. The scene features a discourse laden with duplicity, hypocrisy and false rhetoric, the language and spatial arrangement exhibiting Webster’s legal experience. These ideas form the basis of the dramatic structure, linking to the title The White Devil with connotations of deceit as Webster presents an injustice perpetuated by a flawed political and judicial system: ‘yes you have ravished justice’ - Vittoria’s defeat represents the defeat of her gender and of social inferiors. ‘This society rests on a system of patronage
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