The White Devil is characterized by a violent and dark mood that befits its status as a revenge tragedy. Violence is a prominent feature of the play. The characters in The White Devil often resort to extreme measures, including murder and assassination, to achieve their goals and seek revenge. These acts of violence are depicted graphically and, at times, brutally, contributing to the overall mood of darkness and cruelty. Flamineo kills his brother-in-law Camillo, for example, by breaking his neck and posing the body to appear as if the death was caused by a horse-riding accident. The play's unflinching portrayal of violent actions underscores the pervasive sense of moral decay and ruthlessness in the society it portrays.
The characters themselves are morally complex, and their self-interested actions frequently lead to violent confrontations. Betrayal, manipulation, and deceit are common in the Italian court of the play; when Marcello decides to murder his brother Flamineo for "pandering" or prostituting their sister, for example, Flamineo is only saved because he was himself already planning to kill his brother, and does so first. The intricate and twisted revenge plots, driven by personal vendettas that divide sibling from sibling and husband from wife, are rife with emotional and psychological violence, further darkening the play's mood.
