WEBSTER, JOHN

(ca. 1578-ca. 1625)

English dramatist, best known as the author of two violent and melodramatic revenge tragedies, and the probable author of several others. He was the son of a prosperous London coachmaker and merchant tailor, was ap-prenticed to his father's trade, and was admitted to the Merchant Tay-lors' Company in 1603. But at least a year earlier, he seems to have been already involved in the theatrical world, perhaps as an actor and probably as a collaborator with other dramatists. Two of the three plays generally ascribed to him are now regarded as works of highest quality,The White Devil(1612) andThe Duchess of Malfi(1614). A third play, the tragicomedyThe Devil's Law Case(ca. 1617-1619), is also highly regarded. The attribution of another tragedy,Appius and Virginia(ca. 1608), is debated; it may have been written in collabo-ration with John Heywood. Several comedies have also been ascribed either to Webster or to him and other collaborators, includingNorth-ward HoandWestward Ho(ca. 1605-1606, both probably collabora-tions with Thomas Dekker),Any Thing for a Quiet Life(ca. 1621, perhaps withThomas Middleton), andA Cure for a Cuckold(ca. 1624, ascribed to him and William Rowley).