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Webster's "Worthyest Monument": The Problem of Posterity in The Duchess of Malfi

Webster's "Worthyest Monument": The Problem of Posterity in The Duchess of Malfi Webster’s “Worthyest Monument”: The Problem of Posterit y in The Duchess of Malfi by Brian Chalk OR john Webster, death was not merely an artistic preoccupation; it was a fundamen tal part of the family business. Webster’s father F   ran a successful coach transport firm and was a prominent mem- ber of the Guild of Merchant Taylors. Coach makers had no guild of their own but were admitted to the Taylor’s Guild on the grounds that there was “a close and obvious connectio n between tailors ,who made trappings for funerals, plays and pageants, and the men who provided hearses for coffins. ”1 While Webster’s father did not participate directly in the royal funerals that his more celebrated son occasionally com- memorated poetically ,he likely provided hearses to transport plague victims to burial pits. Webster inherited this enterprise, and his contem- poraries in the theat rical commu nity were clearly well aware of this and even amused by the overlaps between the two professions. Henry Fitz- geffrey ’s nickname for Webster—“Crabbed (Websterio) / The Play- wright, Cart- wright”—alludes directly to the family business and strongly sug- gests that Webster himself took more than a passing interest in running http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Studies in Philology University of North Carolina Press

Webster's "Worthyest Monument": The Problem of Posterity in The Duchess of Malfi

Chalk, Brian.
Studies in Philology , Volume 108 (3) – Jul 2, 2011
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Publisher
University of North Carolina Press
Copyright
Copyright © The University of North Carolina Press.
ISSN
1543-0383

Abstract

Webster’s “Worthyest Monument”: The Problem of Posterit y in The Duchess of Malfi by Brian Chalk OR john Webster, death was not merely an artistic preoccupation; it was a fundamen tal part of the family business. Webster’s father F   ran a successful coach transport firm and was a prominent mem- ber of the Guild of Merchant Taylors. Coach makers had no guild of their own but were admitted to the Taylor’s Guild on the grounds that there was “a close and obvious connectio n between tailors ,who made trappings for funerals, plays and pageants, and the men who provided hearses for coffins. ”1 While Webster’s father did not participate directly in the royal funerals that his more celebrated son occasionally com- memorated poetically ,he likely provided hearses to transport plague victims to burial pits. Webster inherited this enterprise, and his contem- poraries in the theat rical commu nity were clearly well aware of this and even amused by the overlaps between the two professions. Henry Fitz- geffrey ’s nickname for Webster—“Crabbed (Websterio) / The Play- wright, Cart- wright”—alludes directly to the family business and strongly sug- gests that Webster himself took more than a passing interest in running

Journal

Studies in Philology – University of North Carolina Press

Published: Jul 2, 2011

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