I am interested in the character of Giovanni and the representation of childhood in The White Devil. Bracciano compares his son to a "Forward lapwing!" (2.1.126) and Giovanni's few scenes reveal a strong willed, shrewd, precocious youth. Several of Marlowe's tragedies depict similarly precocious, politically aware princes (see II Tamburlaine and Edward II). Is there a connection between the genre of tragedy and the figure of the young prince responsible for political reconstitution? While there are many familiar plotlines and concerns in the play, why is Giovanni mostly an absent-presence until play's end?
Like Hamlet Sr. and Banquo, we have two ghosts that walk the stage in The White Devil. Francisco essentially conjures Isabella's ghost while meditating on his revenge and Bracciano's spirit appears as Flamineo feels the pangs of his guilty conscience. Both characters note that these visions are projections of their imaginations, however. Francisco goes so far as to stage-direct Isabella away: "Remove this object;/ Out of my brain with't!" (4.1.109-10). What power does imagination have in The White Devil? As a political drama, how does its power compare/contrast to the tangible, worldly forces of power politics? What can we say about the relationship between imagination and notions of interiority in the play? Between imagination and the recognition characters are "supposed to" arrive at in tragedy?
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