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Title: The Witch of Edmonton (The New Mermaids) by Thomas Dekker, Arthur Kinney, John Ford, William Rowley ISBN: 0-393-90087-8 Publisher: R.S. Means Company Pub. Date: December, 2000 Format: Textbook Binding Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.10 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: Entertaining Plot - Methuen Student Edition is Great
Comment: I look unfavorably upon books and screenplays rushed to the market to capitalize on recent sensational jury trials, confessions of serial murderers, and distasteful behavior by politicians and other celebrities. I would consider it unlikely that I would appreciate a play rapidly assembled by three playwrights on the recent execution of a notorious old woman condemned for practicing witchcraft. Surprisingly, I did enjoy such a play.
Admittedly, a few centuries have elapsed since Thomas Dekker and John Ford and William Rowley collaborated on The Witch of Edmonton. The Mother Sawyer subplot is apparently faithful to the actual event; Sawyer was hanged on April 19, 1621. Within days the chaplain of Newgate Gaol published a pamphlet titled The Wonderful Discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer a Witch, late of Edmonton, her Conviction and Condemnation and Death. This document served as the primary source for Dekker, Ford, and Rowley. The first known performance was December 29, 1621 at the Court of King James, but earlier public performances are likely to have occurred.
Many books, plays, (and now screenplays) on topical events are quickly forgotten. Fortunately, after several centuries of neglect, The Witch of Edmonton was republished in the late 1800s, most importantly in the influential Mermaid Series. More recently several major production companies, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, have staged The Witch of Edmonton.
The short prologue to this play ends with the sentence: 'Here is mirth and matter.' However, The Witch of Edmonton has a few elements of comedy and matter clearly overwhelms mirth.
The plot involves two intertwined themes, both stories of betrayal and deceit and misplaced loyalty: 1) To gain a dowry, the young Frank Thorney deceives all that trust him, commits bigamy, and even murder. 'Tis done, and I am in. Once past our height, we scorn the deepest abyss' 2) Living in isolation, feared and abused by her neighbors, Mother Sawyer pleads for help. 'Would some power, good or bad, instruct me which way I might be revenged.' The devil in the guise of a dog obliges Mother Sawyer in return for her soul.
The Witch of Edmonton is interesting, entertaining drama. The characters do not have the psychological depth found in Shakespeare's tragedies, but this play warrants reading by anyone that enjoys Elizabethan and Jacobean drama.
I highly recommend the Methuen Student Edition. The extensive commentary, plot analysis, and character reviews are excellent. I will make a special effort to obtain other Methuen Student Editions.
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Title: Renaissance Drama by Women: Texts and Documents by S. P. Cerasano, Marion Wynne-Davies ISBN: 0415098076 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: January, 1996 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
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Title: Tis Pity She's a Whore and Other Plays: The Lover's Melancholy, the Broken Heart, Perkin Warbeck (Oxford World's Classics) by John Ford, Marion Lomax ISBN: 0192834495 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: July, 1999 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Women Beware Women, and Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics) by Thomas Middleton, Richard Dutton ISBN: 019282614X Publisher: Getty Ctr for Education in the Arts Pub. Date: September, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Unfortunate Traveller and Other Works by Thomas Nashe, J. B. Steane, Thomas Nash ISBN: 0140430679 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: September, 1985 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Duchess of Malfi and Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics) by John Webster, Rene Weis ISBN: 0192834533 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: August, 1998 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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