The Witch of Edmonton

Written early in the 17th century by three of Shakespeare´s contemporaries, Thomas Dekker, John Ford and William Rowley, this play deals with many interesting issues – love, money, gender disguises, revenge, forgiveness, witchcraft and evil, which, as we see in the play lurks in the heart of man. In this essay I am not going to deal with all the above mentioned themes. It is the character of witch and witchcraft craze I´ll be …

…confirmation of her neighbors´ suspicions, the intensification of their hatred and her own physical and moral destruction. This disastrous end to her dream is at one a revelation of Mother Sawyer´s character and circumstances and a criticism of a society that is largely responsible for shaping them. For her, there was no more charity, no more love, no more humanity in the humans aroundg her than there was in a fiend from the pit.