The Witch of Edmonton Paperback / softback
by John Ford, Thomas Dekker, William Rowley
Edited by Arthur F. Kinney
Part of the New Mermaids series
Paperback / softback
Description
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.
Information
-
Out of stock
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:160 pages, c 5 photographs/line drawings
- Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication Date:31/07/1998
- Category:
- ISBN:9780713642537
Other Formats
- Paperback / softback from £9.49
- Hardback from £20.95
Information
-
Out of stock
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:160 pages, c 5 photographs/line drawings
- Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication Date:31/07/1998
- Category:
- ISBN:9780713642537
