Where It All Goes Down
16th Century Italy
Webster sets his play in 16th Century Italy—only in the recent past, as far as Webster was concerned, since he was writing at the beginning of the 17th Century. Remember, Webster was living in Protestant Britain, and he imagines Italy—a Catholic nation—as being full of corrupted clerics like Monticelso and murderous, self-interested noblemen and women like Brachiano and Vittoria. Even the friggin' pope is out ordering hits in the play. Webster depicts Italy as a hotbed of intrigue and lust. It's a location for scandal and decadence—sort of like Las Vegas would be considered today.
It's not that England was any less scandalous, though. But by setting his play in a slightly exotic location (the Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights, like Shakespeare, loved to set plays in Italy), Webster is able to comment on corruption in the Church and the government. He puts it at a safe distance, though, by making it someone else's church and someone else's government. At the time, you really couldn't criticize the government in your own country. (Ben Jonson and Thomas Nashe got in trouble for writing a play, The Isle of Dogs, which was deemed seditious and slanderous). But it only requires a little effort to imagine that what Webster is saying about people in Italy is true about people everywhere…including in England.