The white devil

Posted by Smokey Stover on April 17, 2005

In Reply to: The white devil posted by Ali on April 16, 2005

: What does the proverb 'the white devil is worse than the black' mean? I'm studying 'the white devil' - any relevent (FACTUAL) interpretation would be good.

Google revealed: 'Luther used to say, "You need to fear a white devil twice as much as a black one."

The white devil of self-righteousness is more
dangerous to the Christian than even the black
devil of open sin! -Spurgeon'
Google also pointed out numerous references to John Webster's play, "The White Devil" , a revencge tragedy based on a notorious criminal conspiracy in Renaissance Italy, involving Paolo Giordano Orsini, a rich and extremely vicious villain, at least as bad in real life as in Webster's play. I don't know how much license Webster took with the facts, but some of the relevant Websites barely get within striking distance of the true facts.

There has been at least one movie, "Black God, White Devil" , and I think another one, "White Devil." As I recall, the devil of the latter was the female lead. (And that's all she wrote!) SS