The White Devil September 19, 2008

'The White Devil' (1612) is a revenge tragedy by the English playwright John Webster. The story itself is loosely based on a real event that occurred in Italy 30 years prior to the play's composition: the murder of Vittoria Accoramboni in Padua on 22 December, 1585. Webster's dramatization of this event turned Italian corruption into a vehicle for depicting "the political and moral state of England in his own day," particularly the corruption at the royal court.