29 pages • 58 minutes read
The Devil and Daniel Webster
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Character Analysis
Jabez Stone
Unlike other Faustian figures, including Irving’s Tom Walker, Jabez Stone does not feature in the story’s title and only emerges as its main character after the narrator spends a few paragraphs solidifying the myth of Daniel Webster. There is very little depth to Stone’s character. He is described as “a religious man” but enters into his deal with Scratch with little to no objection (2), suggesting a degree of hypocrisy; the idea that he accepts Scratch’s terms out of a sense of honor, having “passed his word” (2), rings hollow in light of his later attempts to renege on the deal. These attempts instigate the story’s main conflict, as Stone seeks the guidance of Webster, who becomes the driving narrative force from that point onward as he faces Scratch on Stone’s behalf.
Nevertheless, Stone is not merely a vessel to connect the Devil and Daniel Webster. Stone is described as almost cosmically unlucky:
If [Stone] planted corn, he got borers; if he planted potatoes, he got blight. He had good enough land, but it didn’t prosper him; he had a decent wife and children, but the more children he had, the less there was to feed them. If stones cropped up in his neighbor’s field, boulders boiled up in his (1).
Stone’s rotten lot in life almost justifies his deal with Scratch and is key to the story’s critique of the US; contrary to the American mythos, Stone cannot get ahead in society or even maintain his current standard of living simply through hard work.
However, if Stone’s motivations are more sympathetic than those of the traditional Faust character, who sells his soul for wealth and pleasure, his hypocrisy and cowardice prevent him from being a straightforwardly heroic character. His name too is an indictment. Jabez is a figure from the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Chronicles who prospers because of his faith in God; the irony of a figure who profits by dealing with the Devil bearing this name underscores Stone’s opportunistic relationship with religion.
Daniel Webster
Webster’s legend is established as soon as the story begins. The narrator grants him almost godlike status, extolling his oratorical skills and his patriotism and suggesting that even death has not subdued Webster’s spirit: “Yes, Dan’l Webster’s dead—or, at least, they buried him” (1). Beyond that, Webster is described as “a man with a mouth like a mastiff, a brow like a mountain and eyes like burning anthracite” (1)—all details that paint him as a strong, steadfast, and even elemental force.
Much of Webster’s characterization comes from history. Living from 1772 to 1852, Daniel Webster was a renowned lawyer and statesperson, serving as the secretary of state under three different US presidents. Webster’s “legendary” role dovetails with the very real legacy that the man left behind, but as Scratch observes, that legacy is not without controversy. Webster was a member of the Whig Party and in his early career opposed both the enslavement of Black Americans and US expansion into formerly Indigenous lands, However, his overriding concern was preserving the US itself, and this led him to back the Compromise of 1850—a last-ditch attempt to appease both the North and South by (among other things) requiring that free states cooperate in returning fugitives from slavery to their enslavers.
Benét’s Webster cheerfully accepts the blow his reputation will suffer as a result of his support for the Compromise of 1850, saying, “[B]y the thirteen original colonies, I’d go to the Pit itself to save the Union!” (9). The irony of this statement in the context of a story directly and literally concerned with the Devil points to Webster’s role as a complex symbol of American patriotism and justice. Scratch is clearly a villainous character, not least because he represents the worst of America. Webster’s defeat of the Devil in court suggests the triumph not merely of Stone over Scratch but also of the American ideal over its sins; in his defense of Stone, he grants the wrongs the US has done but also speaks passionately about freedom, hard work, and the possibility of a better future. However, his victory is partially undercut by its circumstances: It is an appeal to emotion rather than to justice, and it succeeds by recruiting the sympathies of morally bankrupt jurors and assuring them of their importance (“[E]verybody had played a part in [America], even the traitors” [8]).
Scratch (The Devil)
Scratch joins Webster as the other titular character in “The Devil and Daniel Webster” and is the story’s antagonist. In keeping with the story’s Faustian origins, Scratch is a Mephistopheles-like figure, an appealing but unambiguously evil force: While Scratch is initially described as “a soft-spoken, dark-dressed stranger” (2), his true nature emerges as he bares his teeth, reputed to be pointed like fangs. His name, Scratch, is a common nickname for the Devil that features in Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker,” thus cementing Benét’s debt to that story. Benét’s Scratch is more refined in appearance than Irving’s, underscoring his relationship to wealth; indeed, he describes Stone’s contract with him as a “mortgage,” as though he himself were a banker. He embodies the ill-gotten prosperity Stone himself will attain—a perversion of but also commentary on the American Dream. Similarly, he aligns himself with the darkest episodes of US history, including the genocide of Indigenous Americans and the enslavement of African Americans, arguing that his hand in these events makes him archetypically American.
Scratch reappears throughout the first half of the story to remind Stone of the ticking clock that is their contract, but it is his court battle with Daniel Webster that most fully illustrates his character. Despite requesting quite a large bounty, a human soul, in exchange for riches and influence, the character of Scratch does not come off as particularly unreasonable. Stone enters into his contract with Scratch of his own free will, and Scratch even agrees to extend Stone’s original contract to 10 years. This nonchalant attitude reflects Scratch’s confidence in his endeavors: He does not mind extending his contracts, nor feel the need to coerce Stone, because he is confident that he will ultimately prevail. Scratch’s reasonableness is also important to his role as a truth-teller: The picture he paints of the US is not wrong, and his general air of forthrightness bolsters the credibility of his critique.
Scratch’s designs are thwarted when Daniel Webster delivers his testimony to the jury of the damned, Webster’s appeal to patriotism apparently winning out over Scratch’s indictment of the US. Scratch takes his loss with good grace, “smiling wryly”—perhaps an indication that he sees Webster’s victory as a tainted one. It is only when Webster resorts to physical force that Scratch’s confidence truly dwindles; he must grovel and bargain to avoid being physically punished by Webster. In the end, Scratch is sent running back to Hell, but not before needling Webster for betraying his principles with his support for the Compromise of 1850, suggesting Webster’s triumph is not so complete as it might seem. Indeed, the mere fact that Webster ultimately relies on violence rather than justice or even oratory in his dealings with Scratch suggests that this might be the real root of America’s power.
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