John Webster

John Webster (c. 1580–c. 1634) was an English dramatist of the Jacobean period. The son of a London coachmaker, he was a member of the Merchant Taylors' Company and spent his early career collaborating with Dekker, Heywood and others on city comedies and histories. His fame rests on two tragedies, The White Devil (1612) and The Duchess of Malfi (c. 1613), Italianate dramas of lust, revenge and corruption written in verse of concentrated power; a third, The Devil's Law-Case, is a tragicomedy. Little is known of his life, and the dates of his birth and death are uncertain.