Page:Grierson Herbert - First Half of the Seventeenth Century.djvu/137

Rh The "politic" princes and churchmen, the cynical bawd and informer driven by poverty into reckless paths, the courtesan, and the pure and loving woman, are themselves in every phrase that falls from their lips. But Webster has not got much beyond the type, and some of these types belong only to the stage. The Italian politician may have had his counterpart in real life, but Webster has not convinced us of it; and his sardonic and even sentimental villain is somewhat melodramatic. His women characters are his greatest. Vittoria is a splendid representative of her class. She has not the infinite variety and charm of Cleopatra, but is a more intense and tragic figure. Could the poet have carried her through the play as Shakespeare does Cleopatra, a centre of ever fresh and abounding interest, not Shakespeare himself would have produced a greater character. But Webster gives us the impression of being able to etch a few fine poses, rather than to delineate a character who is alive and interesting in every situation. The Duchess of Malfi has perhaps more variety than Vittoria. She combines more qualities, is bold and timid, loving and proud,—

"Whether the spirit of greatness or of woman               Reign most in her I know not,"—

infinitely pitiful in her death, yet infinitely noble and queenly. The White Devil is a swifter and intenser play than The Duchess of Malfi,—some critics greatly prefer it,—but the character of the Duchess seems to