Coutly Love in The White Devil

The courtly world of The White Devil is fraught with duplicitous language and deeds. The power of words and appearances are therefore thrown into question. With words and kisses, vows are made, but then with similar words and kisses, those vows are just as easily broken again. Count Lodovico is banished, but with money and political maneuvering is pardoned. Whispered asides and schemes to murder, cheat, steal and rendezvous move the plot along much more often than official, public decisions do. Brothers plot against sisters, the Duke of Florence disguises himself as a moor to exact revenge; women of questionable purity wear their hair down for their weddings as though they were virgin brides. By the time the reader reaches Vittoria’s arraignment, it is hard to trust anything that is said outside of soliloquy as fact or true emotion. In this world where any character might be given to have poison in their breath, the desire for power and wealth comes into conflict with the desire for human love and companionship. Which relationships in The White Devil evince actual affection, if any? If it is difficult to trust courtly love, what might Webster be saying about love in general?