Gendering Pathos on the Early Modern Stage: Persuasion and Passion in John Webster’s The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi

In the early modern drama of John Webster, representations of pathos invite the interrogation of rhetorical theory as a comprehensive account of the role of emotion in persuasion. A White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi reveal unexpected trajectories of passionate appeal and persuasive effect, particularly in the ways female rhetors undercut early modern rhetorical advice regarding the deployment of pathos. While contemporary rhetorical treatises, such as Thomas Wilson’s The Art of Rhetoric, insist that arguments based on emotion render immediate and undeniable the connection between rhetor and audience, the female rhetors’ male audiences do not acknowledge emotional persuasion as confirmation of consensus or likeness. Instead, gender difference elides the possibility for commiseration, rendering any effectiveness of female passionate appeal the product of male evaluation, and not its source. This article charts a nuanced understanding of gendered pathos in Webster’s drama by employing an analysis of the treatment of pathos in rhetorical theory and the considerations of pathos in representing female sexual desire on the early modern stage.