John Webster

Biography

John Webster (c. 1580–c. 1632) was an English dramatist of the Jacobean era whose two great tragedies, The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, are among the finest plays of the English Renaissance after Shakespeare. Little is known of Webster’s life—he was probably born in London and associated with the theatrical world of the early seventeenth century. His reputation rests almost entirely on these two plays, both of which explore the corruption, violence, and moral darkness of Italian court life with a poetic intensity and psychological depth that have secured their place in the dramatic canon. Webster’s verse combines lyrical beauty with savage irony, and his characters—particularly his heroines—display a moral courage that shines against backgrounds of extraordinary depravity. T.S. Eliot famously described Webster as one who “saw the skull beneath the skin,” capturing his unflinching vision of human corruption and mortality.