The Witch

ISBN-13: 9780713639452 / Angielski / Miękka / 2008 / 128 str.

Thomas Middleton

Opis

The Witch (1615/16?), categorised by its author as 'a tragi-comedy', pits the intrigues of a group of Italian aristocrats against themalevolent practices of Hecate and her witches' coven, leaving theaudience with the impression that human malevolence is by far thefiercer and more effective. This edition sets the play into itsdramatic and literary contexts, ranging from Shakespeare's Macbeth andMiddleton's own later tragedies to Reginald Scot's sceptical Discoveryof Witchcraft and King James's virulent Daemonologie. It also arguesthat Middleton wrote it as a topical satire to capitalise on thescandal involving Frances Howard, who obtained a divorce from the Earlof Essex on the grounds that he had been sexually incapacitated bywitchcraft; she was also rumoured to have tried to poison him.Middleton exposes his noble characters precisely by letting them getaway with murder.

O autorze

Thomas Middleton was a prolific and successful English Jacobean playwright and poet. A contemporary of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, Middleton wrote over 30 plays including A Mad World, My Masters which was first performed in 1606. Elizabeth Schafer is Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.