Essay/Term paper: The devil and daniel webster

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Cliff Notes

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 temperment that would be fitting of a New England

community. The main character is Jabez Stone, a wealthy

New England statesman whose possition 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 key character in that he provided

foreshadowing. When he said, "But the very devil's got into

that fiddle of mine.", he was forshadowing the coming of the

devil to disturb the merriments. 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. Last- but

nost 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 excelent 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, Benét very

accurately described the lifestyles of the New England

residents. As the play progressed, political favor of the day

was expressed as Daniel Webster arived, associating himself

with Jabez Stone. 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. 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 reclaim

his "prize". Daniel Webster, however, felt confidant that he

could defeat Scratch in a fair trial and/or debate. As it turned

out, both happened. When Scratch came back, they had a

trial- a trial with a biased jury of the undead. A great oratory

debate soon followed between Scratch and Daniel Webster.

It was a fierce debate, though it did remain civil. Webster

used his cunning intellect against Scratch, but in every case,

either Scratch would refute his claim, or the judge at this

trial, Judge Hawthorne of the Salem Witch Trials, would

over-rule Daniel Webster- no matter how logical he had

been. For instance, when Daniel Webster claimed that "Mr.

Stone is an American citizen, and American citizen may be

forced into the service of a foreign prince.", the devil replied

that he was no foreigner with "...when the first wrong was

done to the first Indian, I was there. When the first slaver put

out for the Congo, I stood on her deck...". Such a trial was

impossible to win, until Daniel Webster used his words to

bring back memories of the undead jury- of when they had

been alive and human. He appealed to them, one by one,

and slowly changed the sway of the biased jury of the

undead. In the end, the verdict was "not guilty", and old

Scratch was finally flung out the door. Overall, I thoroughly

enjoyed this play by Stephen Vincent Benét, and I would

recommend reading it.