The Devil and Daniel Webster

An allusion is a reference either to another work of literature or to a well-known person, event, period, etc. While the historical figures that populate the story are not themselves allusions (allusions are typically brief and unexplained), their presence occasions many such references. For example, when Stone approaches Webster with his problem, Webster replies, “I’ve got about seventy-five other things to do and the Missouri Compromise to straighten out, but I’ll take your case” (4). The reference to the Missouri Compromise, an attempt to preserve the Union by satisfying both the states that permitted enslavement and those that did not, is in large part comedic; Webster’s offhand reference to “straightening it out” downplays its significance for humorous effect. The allusion also sets up Scratch’s prediction that Webster’s reputation will suffer as a result of his support for the Compromise of 1850—a prediction expressed via another allusion, this time to Webster’s “Seventh of March Speech.” These allusions to the role Webster played in mediating between North and South reflects the story’s broader interest in The Devil in America: uniquely American and morally compromising “bargains” made in the name of profit, progress, etc.

The story’s depiction of the Devil also alludes to its inspiration, Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker.” There are various parallels between the two stories, but the most significant is the Americanization of the Devil himself. Scratch’s account of himself in Irving’s story closely resembles his trial speech in “The Devil and Daniel Webster”: “This woodland belonged to me long before one of your white-faced race put foot upon the soil. […] I amuse myself by presiding at the persecutions of quakers and anabaptists; I am the great patron and prompter of slave dealers, and the grand master of the Salem witches” (Irving, Washington. “The Devil and Tom Walker.” Tales of a Traveller, Project Gutenberg, 2004). However, where Irving’s Scratch describes himself as having been allied with Indigenous Americans, Benét cites the genocide of Indigenous Americans as an example of America’s sins.

Hyperbole is a form of extreme exaggeration. It is particularly notable in the opening description of Daniel Webster, which contains several implausible claims:

They said, when he stood up to speak, stars and stripes came right out in the sky, and once he spoke against a river and made it sink into the ground. They said, when he walked the woods with his fishing rod, Kill all, the trout would jump out of the streams right into his pockets, for they knew it was no use putting up a fight against him; and, when he argued a case, he could turn on the harps of the blessed and the shaking of the earth underground (1).

While not literally true, such claims emphasize various aspects of Webster’s character: his devotion to his country, his persuasive skills, etc. More than that, the hyperbole underpins the story’s examination of Patriotism and the Limits of Loyalty. The secondhand account of Webster’s greatness shows how nations and national heroes become mythologized, their faults smoothed over and their virtues idealized. With its ironic but also admiring portrayal of Webster, Benét’s story both critiques and participates in this tradition.