Witch
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€16.99
A01=Thomas Middleton
Author_Thomas Middleton
Category=DD
Category=DSB
Category=DSG
eq_adult
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_poetry
Product details
- ISBN 9780713639452
- Weight: 150g
- Dimensions: 126 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 25 Aug 1994
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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The Witch (1615/16?), categorised by its author as 'a tragi-comedy', pits the intrigues of a group of Italian aristocrats against the malevolent practices of Hecate and her witches' coven, leaving the audience with the impression that human malevolence is by far the fiercer and more effective. This edition sets the play into its dramatic and literary contexts, ranging from Shakespeare's Macbeth and Middleton's own later tragedies to Reginald Scot's sceptical Discovery of Witchcraft and King James's virulent Daemonologie. It also argues that Middleton wrote it as a topical satire to capitalise on the scandal involving Frances Howard, who obtained a divorce from the Earl of Essex on the grounds that he had been sexually incapacitated by witchcraft; she was also rumoured to have tried to poison him. Middleton exposes his noble characters precisely by letting them get away with murder.
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.
