Lay this unto your breast: Old friends, like old swords, still are trusted best.

One explanation for this change is that only after the horrors of war in the early twentieth century could their desperate protagonists be portrayed on stage again and understood. Also in 1604 he adapted John Marston's The Malcontent for staging by the King's Men. On the other hand Webster's title character in The Duchess of Malfi is presented as a figure of virtue by comparison to her malevolent brothers and in facing death John Webster exemplifies classical Stoic courage.

1580 – c. John Webster (c.