The Witch of Edmonton
The Witch of Edmonton

Author: John Ford

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2014-06-13

Total Pages: 158

ISBN-13: 1408144247

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It is a historical phenomenon that while thousands of women were being burnt as witches in early modern Europe, the English - although there were a few celebrated trials and executions, one of which the play dramatises - were not widely infected by the witch-craze. The stage seems to have provided an outlet for anxieties about witchcraft, as well as an opportunity for public analysis. The Witch of Edmonton (1621) manifests this fundamentally reasonable attitude, with Dekker insisting on justice for the poor and oppressed, Ford providing psychological character studies, and Rowley the clowning. The village community of Edmonton feels threatened by two misfits, Old Mother Sawyer, who has turned to the devil to aid her against her unfeeling neighbours, and Frank, who refuses to marry the woman of his father's choice and ends up murdering her. This edition shows how the play generates sympathy for both and how contemporaries would have responded to its presentation of village life and witchcraft.

The Witch of Edmonton
The Witch of Edmonton

Author: John Ford

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-06-18

Total Pages: 158

ISBN-13: 1408144239

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It is a historical phenomenon that while thousands of women were being burnt as witches in early modern Europe, the English - although there were a few celebrated trials and executions, one of which the play dramatises - were not widely infected by the witch-craze. The stage seems to have provided an outlet for anxieties about witchcraft, as well as an opportunity for public analysis. The Witch of Edmonton (1621) manifests this fundamentally reasonable attitude, with Dekker insisting on justice for the poor and oppressed, Ford providing psychological character studies, and Rowley the clowning. The village community of Edmonton feels threatened by two misfits, Old Mother Sawyer, who has turned to the devil to aid her against her unfeeling neighbours, and Frank, who refuses to marry the woman of his father's choice and ends up murdering her. This edition shows how the play generates sympathy for both and how contemporaries would have responded to its presentation of village life and witchcraft.

Three Jacobean Witchcraft Plays
Three Jacobean Witchcraft Plays

Author: Peter Corbin

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780719019531

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For Jacobean society, witchcraft was a potent and very real force, an area of sharp controversy in which King James I himself participated and a phenomenon that attracted many dramatists and writers. The three plays in this book - Sophonisba, The Witch and The Witch of Edmonton - reflect the variety of belief in witches and practice of witchcraft in the Jacobean period. Jacobean understanding of witchcraft is illuminated by the close study of these contrasting texts in relation to each other and to other contemporary works: The Masque of Queenes; Dr Faustus; Macbeth and The Tempest. The introduction and detailed commentaries explore the considerable theatrical potential of plays which, with the exception of The Witch of Edmonton, have been hitherto lost to the dramatic repertory.

The Witch of Edmonton
The Witch of Edmonton

Author: Lucy Munro

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2016-12-15

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1408140187

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On 19 April 1621, a woman named Elizabeth Sawyer was hanged at Tyburn. Her story was on the bookstalls within days and within weeks was adapted for the stage as The Witch of Edmonton. The devil stalks Edmonton in the shape of a large black dog and, just as Elizabeth Sawyer makes her demonic pact, the newlywed Frank Thorney enters into his own dark bargain in the shape of a second, bigamous marriage. Torn between sympathy for Sawyer and Thorney and a clear-eyed assessment of their crimes, the play was the finest and most nuanced treatment of witchcraft that the stage would see for centuries. Lucy Munro's introduction provides students and scholars with a detailed understanding of this complex play.

The Witch in History
The Witch in History

Author: Diane Purkiss

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-09-02

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1134882386

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'Diane Purkiss ... insists on taking witches seriously. Her refusal to write witch-believers off as unenlightened has produced some richly intelligent meditations on their -- and our -- world.' - The Observer 'An invigorating and challenging book ... sets many hares running.' - The Times Higher Education Supplement

A Storm of Witchcraft
A Storm of Witchcraft

Author: Emerson W. Baker

Publisher: Pivotal Moments in American Hi

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 415

ISBN-13: 019989034X

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Presents an historical analysis of the Salem witch trials, examining the factors that may have led to the mass hysteria, including a possible occurrence of ergot poisoning, a frontier war in Maine, and local political rivalries.

The Witch of Edmonton
The Witch of Edmonton

Author: Thomas Dekker

Publisher: Broadview Press

Published: 2021-11-22

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 1770488294

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At the center of this remarkable 1621 play is the story of Elizabeth Sawyer, the titular “Witch of Edmonton,” a woman who had in fact been executed for the crime of witchcraft mere months before the play’s first performance. Described by the authors as a tragi-comedy and drawn in part from a pamphlet account of the trial then circulating, the play not only offers a riveting account of the contemporary superstitions embodied by the figure of the witch, but also delivers an implicit critique of the society that has created her. This edition of the work offers a compelling and informative introduction, thorough annotation, and a selection of contextual materials that helps set the play in the context of the “witch-craze” of Jacobean England.

Scepticism and Belief in English Witchcraft Drama, 1538-1681
Scepticism and Belief in English Witchcraft Drama, 1538-1681

Author: Eric Pudney

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789198376869

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This book explores the representation of witchcraft in early modern drama, situating it within the discourse of scepticism and credulity that characterised the witchcraft debate, and the historical events which inspired much witchcraft drama. It covers the drama of the Elizabethan period and the Restoration as well as Jacobean witch plays.