It is a historical phenomenon that while thousands of women were beingburnt as witches in early modern Europe, the English – although therewere a few celebrated trials and executions, one of which the playdramatises – were not widely infected by the witch-craze. The stageseems to have provided an outlet for anxieties about witchcraft, aswell as an opportunity for public analysis. The Witch of Edmonton(1621) manifests this fundamentally reasonable attitude, with Dekkerinsisting on justice for the poor and oppressed, Ford providingpsychological character studies, and Rowley the clowning. The villagecommunity of Edmonton feels threatened by two misfits, Old Mother Sawyer, who has turned to the devil to aid her against her unfeelingneighbours, and Frank, who refuses to marry the woman of his father’schoice and ends up murdering her. This edition shows how the playgenerates sympathy for both and how contemporaries would have respondedto its presentation of village life and witchcraft.
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