1. Why is Stephen Vincent Benét's The Devil and Daniel Webster so
Relevant to our Present Situation?
Who was Stephen Vincent Benét? To those who cannot confess to knowinganythingabout him
I hasten to affirm that until very recentlyI was one of their number.Many years ago I was
browsingthrough an anthologyofshort stories and came across one entitled The Devil and
Daniel Mortimer.So inattentivewas I at that time that I failed to note its author but a certain
passage in the story must haveimpressed me quite deeply,so much so that years later I felt a
need to read the story again,but this time more closely, and learn somethingabout its author.I
was surprised to learn that in the 1920s and 1930s Benét was more popular than writers like
Robert Frost whose reputation has not faded until now.His John Brown's Body, a historyof the
Civil War in verse achieved a higher rate of sales than Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha and
Evangeline.Even to this day Benét is still considered to be the author ofthe best work devoted
to the American Civil War.However Benét is remembered chieflyon account of his short story
entitled The Devil and Daniel Webster.
Benét's path to fame was longand arduous but his powers of perseverance and his wife, who
shared his interest in poetryand the arts,pulled him through.His liberal politicaloutlookled
him to support the policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and oppose the trend towards fascism,
racism and religious intolerance that affected the United States as well as Germanyand Italy.
His great interest in American historyextended to the antebellum period when Daniel Webster
played a leadingrole in politics and in this regard he was greatly helped byhis oratorial skills
and his expert knowledge of the law. He even had his eye on the Presidency of the United
States.His high reputation became somewhat tarnishedbyaccusations that he compromised
his high abolitionist ideals at a certain point in his career and allowed himselfto be overawed
by those with power and influence.As far as his suitabilityfor treatment as a character
portrayed in a literarywork was concerned,it was his eloquence combined with his devotion to
the Union ofall American states that commended him to Benét when he set out to write The
Devil and Daniel Webster.
Any mention ofthe Devil in connection with a real person with a place in the annals of history
brings us to a discussion ofthe 'art fairytale' for which Romanticauthors are well noted,and
among these, Adelbert von Chamisso,the author of Peter Schemihls Wundersame Gechichte
(Peter Schlemihl’s Wonderful Story)about the man who sold his shadowto the Devil, but not
his immortal soul.Chamisso followed the tradition set bythe legend of Don Juan and the story
of Dr. Faustus,originallya cautionarytale expressinga Lutheran denouncementofthe black
arts. Marlowe and Goethe elevated Faust first to the role of a doomed tragic hero and then to
that of God's erringservant who finallyreaches a state of grace. It can be no small matter that
verses from the Bookof Job are cited in The Devil and Daniel Webster.
2. Published in 1937 this short story was short indeed, about fifteen pages in length. The story
begins by introducingus Jabez Stone, a humble farmer in New Hampshire close to borders of
Vermont and Massachusetts.He bemoans the fact that he is beingthwarted by bad luck in his
life until encounters Mr.Scratch, the Devil in the guise of an urbane and wily lawyer. In previous
works of literature we find similar treatments ofthe Devil as personified bythe obsequious
Mephistopheles or the unctuous 'man in a grey coat' in 'Peter Schlemihl.' Mr. Scratch offers
Stone a way out of his troubled state on conditionthat the hapless farmer sells Scratch his soul,
for Stone a mere figment of no great importance.He will receive a limitless supplyofgold coins
over a period of seven years. Scratch regards the transaction a mortgage contract,possiblyof
the subprime variety.On the expiration ofthe agreed term Stone gets cold feet and in despair
hires the legal services of Daniel Webster,who accepts the challenge even though the fate of
his own soul is thrown into the bargain.
The case for the defence seems hopeless.Webster cannot denythat Stone accepted the
conditions ofcontract without demure and signed the requisite document with his own blood.
So far so good for Scratch but onlywithin the bounds ofprivate legal arrangements.Webster
raises an objection in the light of the American Constitution .On this basis Webster argues that
as a American citizen Stone cannot be forced to place himselfunder the jurisdictionofa foreign
state.Scratch then pleads that he is also an American citizen,or at least one intimatelyinvolved
in the historyof America from the day the first blackslave arrived on its shores.Similarly,the
jury in this case should consist onlyofAmerican citizens,albeit onlythose to be drawn from the
depths of hell and onlythose who were guiltyof the heinous crime of treachery against the
American Union.The members of the jury dulyappear at midnight.General Arnold does not
turn up despite expectations as he has other engagements.Arnold was perhaps the most
infamous traitor ofall despite leadingPatriot troops to victoryat Saratoga Springs. He deserted
to the British side at a later stage of the war.
Webster begins his plea in a defiant and bombasticmanner onlyto realize that the negative
energy he released adds fuel to the resident evil in the minds of the jurors as revealed by their
fire-glintingeyes. He then changes his approach entirelyand eloquentlyevokes the blessings of
nature in an American environment which even the jurors had enjoyed in childhood and youth..
Former memories flood into their minds and soften their hearts so much that they find for the
defendant,much to Scratch's chagrin.
Does the storycarry a message to us today?I suggest it does so in three ways.
First, it exposes the dangers that arise from unchecked escalation,which accordingto a recent
analysis byFriedrich Glasl proceeds through nine stages which end in total negation and self-
destruction. Second,it reveals the futilityof equatingyour enemy with total evil,thereby
making the chance of any sensible compromise with him virtuallyimpossible. Third,it reveals
the need to lookbeyond pettylegalities and seek the basis for an inclusivesettlement of
3. disputes.
Link to the film The Devil and Daniel Webster / All that Money can Buy (1941)
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=The+Devil+and+Daniel+Webster+1941&&view=detail
&mid=9B36B9CAA57040FBE05C9B36B9CAA57040FBE05C&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2
Fsearch%3F%26q%3DThe%2BDevil%2Band%2BDaniel%2BWebster%2B1941%26FORM%3DVDM
HRSFriedrich
Glasl's nine-level model ofescalation https://greator.com/en/escalation-levels/?fbclid=IwAR3I-
z2G1507n20XFs4M2Tz0H3tspn9ovam7GFC-3SEHWCpVy2sAeUzrKsk
In the filmic interpretationofthe storythat was released in 1941 initially under the title All that
Money can Buy General Arnold is admitted to the jury in the trial of Jabez Stone and the actor
who played Daniel Webster’s was Edward Arnold byname.
