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The tragedy of Elizabeth Sawyer of Edmonton: an evaluation of the female

role of the witch in Rowley, Dekker and Ford’s The Witch of Edmonton.

CHAPTER 1: A SHORT INTRODUCTION.

April 19th 1621, Elizabeth Sawyer of Edmonton is sentenced to death for witchcraft. The
account of her trial is recorded (and thus left for posterity) by Henry Goodcole, a clergyman who
visited the convicted woman in prison and published an eighty page long pamphlet about the
proceedings against her within days from the execution. The reasons for such a hasty publication
are to be found in the Authors Apologie to the Christian Readers of said pamphlet, entitled The
wonderfull discouerie of Elizabeth Savvyer a witch late of Edmonton, her conuiction and
condemnation and death (1621), where Goodcole states:

The Publication of this subiect whereof now I write, hath bin by importunitie extorted from me,
who would haue beene content to haue concealed it, knowing the diuersitie of opinions
concerning things of this nature, and that not among the ignorant, but among some of the learned.
[…] Another reason [for publishing the booklet] was to defend the truth of the cause, which in
some measure, hath receiued a wound already, by most base and false Ballets, which were sung at
the time of our returning from the Witches execution.1

The “diuersitie of opinions” which the clergyman refers to and the “base and false Ballets”
inspired by the story of Elizabeth Sawyer are explicit references to the contemporary varied
attitudes towards witchcraft, which did not only arouse the morbid curiosity of the lower class
but also spark off the intellectual debate between the educated. Witch beliefs in the early modern
period have been since thoroughly investigated by scholars and various studies on the topic will
prove to be incredibly relevant for the purposes of this short essay on Rowley, Dekker and
Ford’s The Witch of Edmonton, a play loosely based on the obscure events described by
Goodcole.
As it may be easily imagined, in fact, the mysteries of witches, magicians and devilish
spirits were bound to catch the attentions of theatre audiences too. It may suffice to name just a
few, famous examples of early modern English plays dealing with witchcraft and black magic
such as Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus or Shakespeare’s Macbeth to understand the popularity and

1
Henry Goodcole, The wonderfull discouerie of Elizabeth Savvyer a witch late of Edmonton, her conuiction and
condemnation and death. Together with the relation of the Diuels accesse to her, and their conference together.
Written by Henry Goodcole minister of the Word of God, and her continuall visiter in the gaole of Newgate.
Published by authority. (London, 1621), p. A3. <http://eebo.chadwyck.com/> [accessed 09 March 2015]
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dramatic potential of such stage tropes. Unlike the aforementioned plays and most of the
witchcraft plays of the period, however, The Witch of Edmonton deals with real life
contemporary events turned into drama and hence takes a very different approach on the subject,
depicting beliefs more closely related with those of 17th century village folks. Even so, Rowley,
Dekker and Ford’s witch stands out from other examples of village witches portrayed by
Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights as these few pages will try to clarify.
The aim of this brief study is indeed to analyse and contextualize the problematic portrayal of
Elizabeth Sawyer as the witch of Edmonton in Rowley, Dekker and Ford’s drama. In order to do
so, a first chapter will offer a (necessarily abridged) evaluation of the early modern intellectual
discussion on witchcraft and the contrasting, more lively world of popular beliefs. The following
chapter will then move on to work more closely on the play, trying to outline the figure of the
witch conveyed by the text. Thanks to the contextual information provided, this paper should
hopefully equip the reader with a broader understanding of the complexities of this often
underestimated early modern play.
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CHAPTER 2: WITCHCRAFT IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND.

As was just pointed out in the introduction above, a general (if simplified) knowledge of
the discourse on witchcraft in early modern England is an indispensable tool for a thorough
investigation of Rowley, Dekker and Ford’s play.
A brief history of witchcraft beliefs in the English Renaissance is traced by James Sharpe
in the first part of the excellent Instruments of Darkness (1996). After a general introduction on
the wider subject of demonology in continental Europe, Sharpe purposefully moves on to deal
separately with the topics of popular beliefs and the educated opinion on witches and dark
magical arts; such a division is commonly maintained by the majority of the scholars and this
study will be no exception. This chapter will be therefore divided into two sections: using
Sharpe’s book as a main source, the next few paragraphs will review the events and thinkers that
shaped the demonology debate in early modern England; the focus will then shift to the figure
and role of the village witch in popular culture, with particular regard to the gender issue.

2.1. INTELLECTUAL DISCUSSION ON WITCHCRAFT: REGINALD SCOT’S DISCOUERIE OF WITCHCRAFT

AND KING JAMES I’S DAEMONOLOGIE.

When compared with the longer and more complex tradition of demonologic thinkers in
Europe, the English history of the subject immediately stands out for its peculiarity. It may
suffice to say that the first demonology treaty ever published in Britain is Reginald Scot’s The
discouerie of witchcraft (1584), a text renowned for its sceptical approach to the matter;
nevertheless, evidences of witchcraft cases survive dating back to the 13th Century accounting
for a culture in which witches and magic were definitely deemed real.
Despite what the dating of the aforementioned records might suggest, however, no
official statute for the regulation of witchcraft allegations was issued before 1542. Sharpe argues
that the coming of the Reformation might have played a crucial role in the change of attitude in
the educated clergy and upper class. If up to that point England had had no examples of mass
witch-hunts nor any serious demonology treaty, the 1542 statute marked a significant
development. Indeed, the second half of the 16th Century witnessed an increased interest in
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magic among the learned circles: not only necromancy, the dark art associated with the devil, but
also astrology and alchemy started to be investigated.
Scot’s Discouerie, published more than forty years after the 1542 Witchcraft Act, adopts
a sharply critical approach towards the intellectual interest in magic shown by his
contemporaries. The title of the first edition of the book, which has been continuously
republished ever since under slightly different headings, reads:

The discouerie of witchcraft vvherein the lewde dealing of witches and witchmongers is notablie
detected, the knauerie of coniurors, the impietie of inchantors, the follie of soothsaiers, the
impudent falshood of cousenors, the infidelitie of atheists, the pestilent practises of pythonists, the
curiositie of figurecasters, the vanitie of dreamers, the beggerlie art of alcumystrie, the
abhomination of idolatrie, the horrible art of poisoning, the vertue and power of naturall magike,
and all the conueiances of legierdemaine and iuggling are deciphered [...]2

To a modern reader the verbosity of such a title might look hilariously excessive but it definitely
proves its point; from the very first page, in fact, Scot earnestly dismisses any claim of human
magic as “knauerie”, “falshood” and “infidelitie”.
“But to portray Scot simply as a modern sceptical rationalist living before his time would
not be wholly accurate.”, warns Sharpe, “As well as demonstrating the absurdity of witchcraft
accusations, he was also following a clear and logical theological line [...]”3 Doubtlessly, Scot
firmly believes that the only possible supernatural power in the world is that of God. A final
remark, once again to be found on the title page, reads: “Beleeue not euerie Spirit, but trie the
Spirits, whether they are of God; for manie false prophets are gone out into the world, &c.”4
To disprove these “false prophets” is the main aim of the Discouerie and in order to do so
the author gathers and quotes an incredible variety of classical and contemporary sources.
Contemporary thinkers, however, are more often criticized than applauded, as the massively long
treatise purposefully aims to undermine the most common witchcraft beliefs of the time. Scot is
indeed extremely clear about where he stands in the debate: witchcraft is an impossibility and

2
Reginald Scot, The discouerie of witchcraft vvherein the lewde dealing of witches and witchmongers is notablie
detected, the knauerie of coniurors, the impietie of inchantors, the follie of soothsaiers, the impudent falshood of
cousenors, the infidelitie of atheists, the pestilent practises of pythonists, the curiositie of figurecasters, the vanitie of
dreamers, the beggerlie art of alcumystrie, the abhomination of idolatrie, the horrible art of poisoning, the vertue
and power of naturall magike, and all the conueiances of legierdemaine and iuggling are deciphered: and many
other things opened, which have long lien hidden, howbeit verie necessarie to be knowne. Heerevnto is added a
treatise vpon the nature and substance of spirits and diuels, &c: all latelie written by Reginald Scot Esquire.
(London: William Brome, 1584), title page. <http://eebo.chadwyck.com/> [accessed 04 March 2015]
3
James Sharpe, Instruments of Darkness; Witchcraft in England 1550 - 1750 (London: Penguin Books, 1997), p. 53.
4
Scot, title page.
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whoever thinks otherwise has surely been tricked by a very able swindler. Given this deceiving
nature of witch beliefs, he is particularly keen to disprove the assumption that witches’ powers
must be attributed to the Devil or even to God, an idea that he considers dangerously close to
blasphemy. In the opening Epistle to Sir Roger Manwood, the dedicatee of the book, Scot rejects
the mere thought as pure nonsense, stating:

sometimes they write that the diuell dooth all this by Gods permission only; [...] sometimes by his
appointment: so as (in effect and truth) not the diuell, but the high and mightie king of kings, and
Lord of hosts, euen God himselfe, should this waie be made obedient and seruile to obeie and
performe the will & commandement of a malicious old witch [...]5

The opinion that God’s will was the agent behind witches’ existence was however not so
readily dismissed. Far from being the only example of demonological treaty in England, the
Discouerie gave rise to a series of reaction treatises on the subject, attracting both praise and
criticism. One of the most illustrious examples of the latter is King James I’s Daemonologie,
published in Edinburgh in 1597, a few year before he succeeded Elizabeth I to the English
throne.
King James I’s accession is traditionally associated with a more severe treatment of
witches in England. Sharpe believes such a connection to be only partly justified: surely, a
stricter law against witches was issued in 1604 but “there is strong evidence from virtually the
beginning of his reign that James adopted a sceptical stance over witchcraft accusations. [...]
[H]e seems to have been interested in fair and careful investigation rather than in avid
persecution.”6
The Daemonology matches perfectly this research effort, whose final aim is to prove the
existence of magic and to punish witches’ corrupt usage of it. The treaty opens on a Preface that
clearly states the author’s condemnation of the “damnable opinions”7 expressed in Scot’s and
Weir’s sceptical writings; in the following three books, the dialogue between fictional characters
Philomathes and Epistemon attempts to “resolue the doubting harts of many”8 by presenting
valid counter-arguments to Scot’s disbelief. King James quotes an incredible number of Biblical

5
Scot, A.III.2.
6
Sharpe, p. 49.
7
King James I, Daemonologie, in forme of a dialogue diuided into three bookes written by the high and mightie
prince, Iames by the grace of God King of England (London: William Cotton and Will. Aspley, 1603), p. 2.
8
Ibidem.
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references to prove the validity of his reasoning, revealing once more the profoundly theological
nature of the debate.
Entering such a detailed religious discourse would fall outside the scope of this paper;
yet, the notion that “there was no single hegemonic attitude to witchcraft among educated men
and women in England but rather a plurality of possible positions”9, as Sharpe points out, has to
be emphasized. This section has tried to assess how the range of such “possible positions”
stretched from the sceptical stance maintained by Scot to the orthodox godly approach of King
James.

2.2. THE VILLAGE WITCH: POPULAR BELIEFS ON WITCHES.

A fairly different picture emerges when the popular figure of the village witch is taken
into the frame. To the common people witchcraft was rarely a matter of doubt: witches did exist
and it was not at all uncommon for them to live next door or across the street. A witch was
usually an old woman, possibly alone, very often poor, ill-tempered and uncomfortably
demanding. She was felt as a burden and a potential threat for the whole community and thus had
to be treated very carefully.
Yet, what made of a malicious old woman a proper witch was indeed her affiliation with
the Devil. It was believed that such a connection took the physical form of a ‘familiar’, i.e. an
animal (such as a cat or a dog) the witch might employ to carry out her mischievous actions. In
return for its loyalty and in order to conclude the allegiance pact between them, the familiar
demanded blood, which was sucked directly from the witch’s body, usually from a teat found in
her genitalia. Hence, witches were thought to have a very intimate and even physical relationship
with the Devil, a view that fully conformed to the early modern commonplace conception of
women as the ‘weaker sex’, unable to resist the temptations of evil and who would change into
lewd temptresses themselves glad to undermine the social order just for their personal advantage.

Contrary to the common belief, however, a number of surviving records now shows how
the term ‘witch’ was applied to both men and women indiscriminately. In Witches & Neighbours

9
Sharpe, p. 57.
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(1996) Robin Briggs estimates that a total of about 25 per cent in a range of forty-fifty thousand
executed victims of witchcraft accusations were actually male. However, Briggs adds, it seems
that “[t]he identification of witches with women was already standard form [...] in the decades
when trials were at their height.”10 One possible explanation of this, she argues, lies in the social
role of the women inside the village community. If men were in charge of the economic
productivity of the family through fieldwork and livestock, thus managing the relationship with
the external world, it was a woman's duty to take care of the house, the children and the savings
and to defend the internal safety of the family unit. Witches were often felt as a physically
invading presence into this close system.
Diane Purkiss uses a variety of different sources in The Witch in History (1996) to
explain the nature of such an invasion and to retrace the activities of supposed village witches. In
trials records, bewitchments always involves food, animals, children, i.e. three major concerns
women had to deal with on a daily basis. Witches might enter the safe space of the family house
by touching the family’s cattle (any kind of animal that could provide nourishment was a
common target) or by offering bewitched food to any member of the household, often young
children. Both the witch’s touch and food were deemed to cause unexplained illnesses that could
possibly bring to sudden death.
An even scarier picture emerges when childbirth is taken into account. It was custom
practice in early modern England for the community of women in the village to visit and assist
the future mother both in the days immediately before and after the birth; to be excluded from a
similar social convention was tantamount to be accused of witchcraft. Mothers and newborns’
bodies were in fact considered particularly exposed to black magic and had thus to be protected
with extra care. At the same time, refusing to let the village witch into the house could be just as
dangerous, as it might lead her to curse the whole household.
Witchcraft accusations against women were born from such a society where women
themselves were in charge of the safety of their own families and of the village community at
large. “Witchcraft was not a specifically feminine crime [...]”, Briggs writes,

With very few exception they [i.e. witches] were denounced by other women, without whose
participation the legislation would have remained a dead letter. The whole process is best seen not

10
Robin Briggs, Witches & Neighbours; The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft (London: Harper
Collins Publishers, 1996), p. 259.
Morena Maglitto 1430116

as a deliberate criminalization of women, but as part of a much broader drive to exercise greater
moral and social control by labeling and punishing many kinds of deviant behaviours.11

Once again, is the threat to the social order to excite fears and accusations. The following section
will explore the way in which the preoccupation for social stability shapes the events and
characters depicted in Rowley, Dekker and Ford’s play.

11
Ibid., p. 262.
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CHAPTER 3: THE WITCH OF EDMONTON.

The first recorded performance of The Witch of Edmonton is the one put on at court by
the Prince’s Men on December 29th 1621.12 In her critical edition of the play (1980) Etta Soiref
Onat argues that December 29th might not have been the play’s ‘opening night’; it was indeed
general custom to grant the honour to be shown at court only to the most publicly acclaimed
dramas even though exceptions are on record.
Despite the lack of absolute certainty on the exact dating of the play, some conclusions
might still be drawn from the available data. The hasty stage adaptation of the facts of Edmonton
by three (or even more13) playwrights was clearly prompted by the immediate demand of the
audience and the possibility of great profit. More than three decades later, in 1658, a printed
version of the play is published, proving once again the continuing popularity enjoyed by
witchcraft drama.

The Witch of Edmonton is considered one of the few surviving examples of English early
modern domestic tragedy. Domestic tragedies such as the anonymous Arden of Faversham or
Heywood’s A Woman Killed With Kindness all shared a similar “localized English setting,
journalistic content and unadorned style.”14 Rowley, Dekker and Ford’s play is fairly consistent
with the concise definition given by Lena Cowen Orlin in her contribution to the Companion to
Renaissance drama edited by Arthur F. Kinney, especially when the supplementary plot of Frank
Thorney is taken into account.
For the purposes of this brief essay the additional narrative will only be considered
marginally yet it is interesting to acknowledge it as critics have often found the two storylines to
be barely connected with one another. If Mother Sawyer is to be considered the main character

12
Etta Soiref Onat, The Witch of Edmonton; A Critical Edition (New York & London: Garland Publishing, 1980), p.
161.
13
The title page of the first printed edition of The Witch of Edmonton (1658) reads “The Witch of Edmonton: A
known true STORY.Composed into A TRAGI-COMEDY By divers well-esteemed Poets; William Rowley, Thomas
Dekker, Iohn Ford, &c.” The “&c.” is generally considered more of an embellishment stroke than a real reference to
possible additional writers. As it is often the case with early modern documents, however, there is no absolute
certainty about the real meaning of the sign and a certain degree of doubt still persists.
14
Lena Cowen Orlin, ‘Domestic Tragedy: Private Life on the Public Stage’, in A companion to Renaissance drama,
ed. by Arthur F. Kinney (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2002), pp. 367 - 383 (p. 369).
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(or at least the title role), however, Frank Thorney was definitely conceived to be her supporting
act.
Contrary to the traditional journalistic feature of domestic plays (to which the witchcraft
narration of this play makes no exception), no identifiable source has been found for the events
described in the extra plot. This does not necessarily mean that the story of bigamy and murder
involving young Frank Thorney and the townsfolk of Edmonton was not based on real life
events, as records might have easily gone astray; however, alongside the witch concerns, similar
occurrences were bound to attract the audience’s morbid attention and thus might as well been
expertly crafted by the dramatists for the purposes of the play only.
Surprisingly enough, The Witch of Edmonton does not open on Elizabeth Sawyer’s
storyline but on the secret marriage of a young couple of lovers, Frank and Winnifride.
Winnifride is pregnant with the Frank’s child but the man knows that his father, Old Thorney,
would surely oppose such an economically unfavourable wedding and hence decides to
temporarily keep silent about it, hoping to be given his share of the father’s inheritance soon. As
a matter of fact, however, Old Thorney is painfully indebted and needs his son to conclude a
wealthy match to keep a hold on their family lands. Frank finds himself thus forced into a
second, more prosperous marriage with Susan Carter, the daughter of a rich yeoman; the young
man intends to use Susan’s dowry to start his new life with Winnifride, by leaving the second
wife shortly after the wedding. When delayed by an oblivious Susan, however, Frank is seized
with the sudden impulse to kill her, when the dog (i.e. Mother Sawyer’s familiar) appears on
stage and rubs him.
Hence, the dog seems to be the feeble common thread between these two almost
independent storylines. Mother Sawyer, who is entirely unaware of the concurrent events
unfolding in Edmonton, will be eventually accused of being the agent behind Susan’s murder
too, as Frank “could never have don't without the Devil.”15 Yet, her intelligent answer (“Who
doubts it? but is every Devil mine?”16) suggests that evil spirits do not associate with old women
only. Once again, the authentic link connecting the diverse human experiences on stage seems to
be the universality of evil.

15
5.3.27. (All the quotes from the play are from Onat and thus reproduced according to her transcription.)
16
5.3.28.
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Viviana Comensoli goes even further in explaining the objective of the two converging
storylines. In her contribution to The Politics of Gender in Early Modern Europe (1989) she
argues that, as well as being “loosely integrated by the influence of the supernatural” 17, the two
plots must be considered together in order to “identif[y] the witch phenomenon as part of the
broader cultural need to punish those who transgress social boundaries.”18 Comensoli’s
reasoning makes perfect sense with what Briggs and Purkiss have observed about the nature of
witchcraft accusations, as discussed above.

When Mother Sawyer’s role is added to the general picture sketched by this study up to
this point, the unusualness of The Witch of Edmonton as both a domestic and witch play becomes
even more striking. The dramatists offered a fairly atypical portrayal of Elizabeth Sawyer’s
‘witchiness’, when compared with other contemporary dramatic examples of witches on stage.
There is nothing mysterious nor unaccountably evil about her, not is her magic exploited as a
spectacular device to engage the audience; on the contrary, the playwrights made a conscious
effort to show the character as a flawed human being rather than a wicked creature and in this
very effort lies the peculiarity of the play.
Every aspect of Elizabeth Sawyer’s relationship with Tom, the Devil-dog, is disclosed for
the audience to see, from the very moment the devilish pact is struck up to the Devil finally
forsaking the woman on her way to the gallows. The covenant scene is in itself of particular
importance in the economy of the play, reaching the climax of what might be called Mother
Sawyer’s process of witch-making. Onat underlines how the dramatists’ take on the witch-
making process is significantly different from Goodcole’s account of the events used as source
material and argues that such a difference stands as a clear authorial statement on who is to take
responsibility for the old woman’s fall. Unlike Goodcole who ascribes Elizabeth Sawyer’s
association with the Devil to her own malicious nature, the playwrights show the old woman
continuously vexed by her neighbours just for looking like the epitome of the village witch
(poor, alone and old) and thus explain and somehow justify her behaviour. “And why on me?
why should the envious world / Throw all their scandalous malice upon me? / ‘Cause I am poor,

17
Viviana Comensoli, ‘Witchcraft and Domestic Tragedy in The Witch of Edmonton’, in The Politics of Gender in
Early Modern Europe, ed. by Jean R. Brink, et al. (Kirksville, Missouri: Sixteenth Century Journal Publishers,
1989), p. 46.
18
Ibidem.
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deform’d and ignorant?”19 asks herself Mother Sawyer on her first appearance on stage; when
asked once again to confess to be a witch in Act 4, despite actually being one, she defends
herself: “I am none. Or would I were: if every poor Old Woman be trod on thus by slaves,
revil'd, kick'd, beaten, as I am daily, she to be reveng'd had need turn Witch.”20
A further agent of Elizabeth Sawyer’s fall is, obviously, the temptation of the Devil. Even
on this matter, the dramatists present a more complex situation than the one reported by Henry
Goodcole. The dramatic counterpart of the witch of Edmonton is actively consenting to the
devilish pact and yet, unlike the woman in Goodcole’s narrative, she hesitates and only when
threatened finally yields to her own desire not only for revenge but even, and more strikingly, for
solace. It is indeed rather touching the way in which Mother Sawyer loves her familiar; to her,
Tom is the one who comes to her aid when everyone else has forsaken her and becomes her one
and only companion. Despite the witch’s affections, however, the Devil-dog’s actions throughout
the play are always meant only to secure her soul for Hell. He clearly states his intent in 5.1
when talking with young Cuddy Banks:

(YOUNG BANKS) Gone? away with the Witch then too; shee'll never thrive if thou leav'st her;
she knows no more how to kill a Cow, or a Horse, or a Sow, without thee, then she does to kill a
Goose.
(DOG) No, she has done killing now, but must be kill'd for what she has done: she's shortly to be
hang'd.
(YOUNG BANKS) Is she? in my conscience if she be, 'tis thou hast brought her to the Gallows,
Tom.
(DOG) Right: I served her to that purpose, 'twas part of my Wages.21

Onat is then right in remarking that “Tom is the true villain; and more clearly than Faustus in his
bargain of the next world for this, Mother Sawyer in her bargain for petty revenge is cheated and
cozened.”22
Still it is important to remember that, despite the emphasis put on the very flaws of her humanity,
the witch of the play is meant to be perceived as a proper witch, just like her reality equivalent
was seen and understood by her contemporaries. Rowley, Dekker and Ford weren’t trying to
assess as radical an idea as Scot did in his Discouerie, i.e. that visions of the Devil were, as it is,
only visions of a deranged mind. Yet, to represent the character of the witch in such a different

19
2.1.1-3.
20
4.1.74-75.
21
5.1.99-106.
22
Onat, p. 74.
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fashion from the other successful examples on the early modern stage, by focusing on the
tragedy of her humanity rather than on the spectacularity of her demonic power, makes the
dramatic staging of The Witch of Edmonton even more powerful. Using once more Onat’s fine
words, “the dramatists portray the witch as a feeble outcast suffering both the condemnations of
the community and the delusions of the devil. They do not ask to condone her weaknesses and
sin, but they do ask us to understand her desperate situation.”23

23
Ibid., p. 75.
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CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSIONS.

The present study aimed to discuss the portrayal of the title role in The Witch of
Edmonton, an English early modern domestic play by Rowley, Dekker and Ford. Following a
brief introduction, the second chapter of this short essay tried to provide background information
necessary to the understanding of the playwrights’ critical stance towards the contemporary
intellectual debate and social beliefs on the phenomenon of witchcraft. The next chapter focused
then on the dramatic text itself, analyzing the interaction of its two storylines and relating them
and the main character of the witch to the issues discussed in the previous section. A number of
conclusion might now be drawn and further discussed.

First and foremost, it seems fairly plausible to conclude that the dramatists did not choose
to write The Witch of Edmonton moved by the economic drive only. The success witch and
domestic plays almost always enjoyed with audiences must obviously not be underestimated as a
motivational factor, in early modern England as well as in the modern globalized world; yet
Rowley, Dekker and Ford’s dramatic text stands out from other examples of witchcraft plays of
the English Renaissance in such a way that might suggest the playwrights’ active desire to
express a deeper understanding of the figure of the witch, i.e. the tragedy of the human weakness
embodied by Mother Sawyer and Frank Thorney alike.
In the Discouerie, Scot considers the circumstances by which a witch might actually not
be guilty at all. In the Epistle, he writes:

And although some saie that the diuell is the witches instrument, to bring hir purposes and
practices to passe: yet others saie that she is his instrument, to execute his pleasure in anie thing,
and therefore to be executed. But then (methinks) she should be iniuriouslie dealt withall, and put
to death for anothers offence: for actions are not iudged by instrumentall causes; neither dooth the
end and purpose of that which is done, depend vpon the meane instrument. Finallie, if the witch
doo it not, why should the witch die for it?24

Therefore, Scot assumes, there may be only to types of ‘witches’: those who are accused by
others “(and these are abused, and not abusors)”25 and those who believe themselves to really be
capable of magic “(and these be meer cousenors).”26

24
Scot, p. A.IIII. <http://eebo.chadwyck.com/> [accessed 10 March 2015]
25
Ibidem.
26
Ibidem.
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Rowley, Dekker and Ford seem to agree to a certain point to Scot’s argument. If they do
believe that Mother Sawyer is indeed to be considered a victim of the Devil’s desires and human
persecution, they however never present their witch as being an impostor of any sort. Truly, she
was moved to seek revenge by the continuous harassment of her neighbours but her intention to
hurt were real. In this respect, Scot comments:

But they saie that witches are persuaded, and thinke, that they doo indeed those mischeefs; and
haue a will to performe that which the diuell committeth: and that therefore they are worthie to
die. By which reason euerie one should be executed, that wisheth euil to his neighbour, &c.27

Although Scot’s words are meant to be fairly ironic, as they underline a nonsensical
exaggeration, the reality evoked by this short passage is strikingly painful. Indeed Elizabeth
Sawyer believed in her power to use the Dog to seek her own revenge and therefore she is
“worthie to die” in the eyes of the society she is continuously vexed by; for she not only did
“wisheth euil to his neighbour” but actively worked to undermine the community immovability.
Little does matter that Mother Sawyer’s actual bewitchments are laughable (forcing Old Banks,
her main abuser, to kiss his cow’s behind or tricking Young Cuddy Banks into following a
shadow up to the middle of the river); she is finally accused of two crimes she has little or no
involvement with at all just in order to finally get rid of what is commonly felt as the source of
every instability drives in the community.
Therefore, as Comensoli points out, a more general inquiry of the early modern social
dimension emerges from the play. “The subversive structures of the Mother Sawyer plot locate
the roots of witchcraft in the external conditions of class, misogyny, and poverty” 28, Comensoli
rightly assess, finally concluding that

the link which Dekker, Ford and Rowley draw between witchcraft, domestic crime and the threat
to the established order represents a radical point of departure from the skeptical tradition.
Whereas Reginald Scot had dismissed witchcraft primarily on theological grounds, The Witch of
Edmonton forces the audience to confront the destructive effects of marginality and patriarchal
claims on the individual.29

Whether the dramatists actually chose to actively criticize their own society structures as they did
to some extent with their contemporaries’ witchcraft beliefs might be still ground for discussion,

27
Ibidem.
28
Comensoli, p. 45.
29
Ibid., p. 48.
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yet it is undeniably true that such a critical take on the responsibilities of the community is to be
found in the play.

If the intellectual and social controversy about demonology seem to find its space into the
dramatic text, the same cannot really be said about the gender discourse. No hint of an unusual
approach to the characterization of the female characters is in fact to be found in the play;
undoubtedly, particular care was taken into the portrayal of the women in The Witch of
Edmonton as they are surely some of the most lively characters on stage, but this care never
translates into what may now be considered a convinced feminist stance. The tragic events of
Mother Sawyer are not meant as a charge against the patriarchal early modern English society
nor as a defence of an innocent woman unfairly accused by men. (When compared with trials
records, however, the small role played by women in the actual accusation of Elizabeth Sawyer
is rather peculiar. Apart from the mad Anne Ratcliffe, in fact, no other woman is ever on stage
with the witch, let alone interacts with her. This might be a conscious dramatic choice,
underlining the witch’s exclusion from the feminine community so central in the life of a village
woman. Moreover, as Briggs suggests, “crystallization into a formal prosecution [...] needed the
intervention of men, preferably of fairly high status in the community.” 30 In this respect, the
central role played by Sir Arthur Clarington in the formalization of Mother Sawyer’s accusation
makes perfect sense.)
After all, once the play is put into its own historical context, the absence of a proper
feminist take comes as no surprise. Early modern English society didn’t have the intellectual
means to even conceive a possible equity between the sexes. As discussed in 2.2 above,
witchcraft was never a war between men and women as some modern generalization might lead
to think but something more similar to a struggle to undermine social instabilities. Borrowing
Briggs’s words, this short paper wants to earnestly warn the modern reader against “project[ing]
modern ideas and feelings back on to our ancestors”31, who must never be forced to “fight our
battles.”32

30
Briggs, p. 265.
31
Ibid., p. 286.
32
Ibidem.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Texts

Goodcole, Henry, The wonderfull discouerie of Elizabeth Savvyer a witch late of Edmonton, her conuiction and

condemnation and death. Together with the relation of the Diuels accesse to her, and their conference

together. Written by Henry Goodcole minister of the Word of God, and her continuall visiter in the gaole

of Newgate. Published by authority. (London: William Butler, 1621)

King James I, Daemonologie, in forme of a dialogue diuided into three bookes written by the high and mightie

prince, Iames by the grace of God King of England (London: William Cotton and Will. Aspley, 1603)

Onat, Etta Soiref, The Witch of Edmonton; A Critical Edition (New York & London: Garland Publishing, 1980)

Scot, Reginald, The discouerie of witchcraft vvherein the lewde dealing of witches and witchmongers is notablie

detected, the knauerie of coniurors, the impietie of inchantors, the follie of soothsaiers, the impudent

falshood of cousenors, the infidelitie of atheists, the pestilent practises of pythonists, the curiositie of

figurecasters, the vanitie of dreamers, the beggerlie art of alcumystrie, the abhomination of idolatrie, the

horrible art of poisoning, the vertue and power of naturall magike, and all the conueiances of

legierdemaine and iuggling are deciphered: and many other things opened, which have long lien hidden,

howbeit verie necessarie to be knowne. Heerevnto is added a treatise vpon the nature and substance of

spirits and diuels, &c: all latelie written by Reginald Scot Esquire. (London: William Brome, 1584)

Secondary Texts

Briggs, Robin. Witches & Neighbours; The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft (London: Harper

Collins Publishers, 1996)

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Comensoli, Viviana, ‘Witchcraft and Domestic Tragedy in The Witch of Edmonton’, in The Politics of Gender in

Early Modern Europe, ed. by Jean R. Brink, et al. (Kirksville, Missouri: Sixteenth Century Journal

Publishers, 1989), pp. 43 - 59

Cowen Orlin, Lena, ‘Domestic Tragedy: Private Life on the Public Stage’, in A companion to Renaissance drama,

ed. by Arthur F. Kinney (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2002), pp. 367 - 383

Pearson, Meg F., ‘A Dog, A Witch, A Play: The Witch of Edmonton’, Early Theatre, 11:2 (2008), 89-111

Purkiss, Diane, The Witch in History; Early Modern and Twentieth-century Representations (London and New

York: Routledge, 1997)

Sharpe, James, Instruments of Darkness; Witchcraft in England 1550 - 1750 (London: Penguin Books, 1997)