Devil And Daniel Webster

The play "The Devil and Daniel Webster" was written by Stephen Vincent Benét in 1938. Stephen Vincent Benét was born in 1898 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. His education came from Yale University and the Sorbonne in Paris, France. "The Devil and Daniel Webster" has a wide array of characters, each with a distinguished personality, yet an overall temperament that would be fitting of a New England community. The main character is Jabez Stone, a wealthy New England statesman whose position was the state senator of New Hampshire. He had started out as a farmer though, but moved up in life and, when he was about thirty years of age, married the fair woman, Mary Stone- who was in her early twenties. The fiddler, though not incredibly important, was
A very key character in this play is the devil himself, which took the name of Scratch (for that was what he was called in New England communities). He had come to steal the soul of Jabez Stone, claiming that he had a right to Jabez because of a legal contract. <br><br>Last- but most certainly not least in this story- is the great Governor of New Hampshire, loved by all, Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster was not only the governor, but an excellent orator. He had a way of using words to pursued the opinion of others, sometimes by conveying feelings or emotion. The play starts out in the ornate home of Jabez and Mary Stone, right after their wedding has taken place. The Fiddler, who sat upon a Cider Barrel, played a tune on the Fiddle, and all of the guests danced to it. Basically, it was a wedding reception. At first, there was nothing more than small talk going on, but by using even this smalltalk,
One man cried out, "Vote the Whig ticket!" and another, "Hurray for Daniel Webster!" Of course, political disfavor was also shown, as Scratch (the devil) portreyed himself as a lawyer from Boston, implying that the political party from Boston was disfavored. Later on, after some forshadowing by both Jabez and Mary, it is learned that Jabez had sold his soul to the devil. He had done this because of the dessolite land he had to farm, it was entirely baren, and had an abundance of large stones there. In return, the devil brought him prosperity- for a time. Jabez had become state senator, married a wonderful woman, and had friends in high places. But it did not last forever.<br><br>A small climax- more like a turning point- occurred when Scratch had driven all the guests away from fear. He then left for a short time, preparing to come back at a later time to