The Illusion of Authority and the Power of Iconoclasm : A Reading of The White Devil

그리스올드(Wendy Griswold)는 르네상스 시대 영국의 복수 비극 장르가 세네카비극에서 나타나는 스토아적 비관주의와는 달리 질서와 정의에 대한 믿음을 드러낸다고 지적한다. 그에 따르면 복수 비극은 타락한 궁정을 배경으로 삼지만, 결말에 반드시 복구 장면(restoration scene; 92)을 넣음으로써 극악한 세계에 대한 비전을 일종의 확고한 정치적 낙관론(a sturdy political optimism; 93)과 결합시킨다. 그는 웹스터(John Webster)는 낙관론과는 거리가 먼 사람이지만 『하얀 악마』(White Devil)의 마지막 장면에서 신생 군주 지오반니(Giovanni)를 등장시킴으로써 이러한 복구의 관습(restoration convention; 99)을 차용하고 있다고 말한다. 지오반니의 개인적 도덕성이 문제가 되더라도 어쨌든 통치자의 죽음으로 통치는 살아남는(a ruler must die so the Rule could live; 99) 영국 복수비극의 전형적 패턴이 등장함으로써 작가 자신의 회의론(skepticism; 99)이 상쇄된다는 것이다.This paper explores the theme of iconoclasm expressed in John Websters The White Devil to discuss the ways in which the play diverges from the conventions of Renaissance revenge tragedy and suggests an ethics of destruction as a way of depicting and criticizing the Machiavellian world. A conventional Renaissance revenge tragedy adopts a conclusion that shows faith in future restoration of order and justice. In this convention, the corruptions of court and multiple murders depicted in revenge tragedy are offset by the final scene that promises reconciliation and peace in the next generation. Some critics have analyzed The White Devil within such a frame. However, I argue that the play does not rest on suggesting an alternative to the corrupted world. Instead, Webster shows his ethical vision in the play ironically by revealing the world as an image of a ruin that is fragmented and beyond redemption. In The White Devil, the world is described as a place where any uniting virtue of community such as state, family, love and religion turns out to be mere illusions that serve to cover the ultimate law of the world: Machiavellianism. Instead of building another illusory reconciliation on the world of ruins, Webster focuses on the very places where such illusions show their limits, thereby depicting the world with a more objective point of view. In this respect, characters who can be called malcontents are important and relevant subject of analysis in this paper. The consecutive deaths in the final scene of The White Devil open up an expanded scope of perception by displaying the deaths of malcontent characters who contemplate the world through their discontented gaze. They contribute to setting up a different ending from the conventional one in other Renaissance revenge plays which by extirpating the evils from the stage, concentrate their utopian yearning on the future sovereign