The White Devil Terms

A beaver (also known as a “bevor”) was the front part of a metal helmet, designed to protect the throat and mouth. In The White Devil, Lodovico dabs some poison onto the beaver of… read analysis of Beaver

The Capuchins are a particularly strict order of Catholic monks, one of several groups modeled in the Franciscan tradition (after St. Francis of Assisi). Beginning in the 16th century and gaining popularity in the early… read analysis of Capuchin Monks

Throughout the English Renaissance, the word “cuckold” was used to describe any man whose wife had committed (or was suspected of) infidelity. Often, a ram’s horns were used to symbolize cuckoldry. Frequently, “cuckold”… read analysis of Cuckold

Throughout The White Devil, various characters fall into “distraction,” meaning that because of an extreme emotional or physical state (grief, anger, poisoning), they temporarily descend into madness. For example, Cornelia becomes… read analysis of Distraction

A house of convertites is, as Cardinal Monticelso himself defines it, a house for “penitent whores.” Though there is no real record of such a thing existing outside of John Webster’s play, Webster imagines that… read analysis of House of Convertites

To call someone “Machiavellian” is to compare them to Niccolò Machiavelli, a Renaissance Italian philosopher famous for writing the political doctrine The Prince. In The Prince, Machiavelli argues that princes should focus on… read analysis of Machiavellian

The term Moor was used as a catch-all to refer to people who were either (or both) Black and of North African descent, or Muslim. Zanche is described as a Moor. read analysis of Moor