"Firing her thatch": The Social Construction of a Witch in Dekker, Ford, and Rowley's The Witch of Edmonton

Authors

Felicia J. Ruff

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, the first paragraph of the essay follows:

In 1542 Henry VIII passed the first Witchcraft Act in England.¹ Although this was repealed by Edward VI in 1547, Elizabeth I passed a new Witchcraft Act in 1563, which remanded to prison those convicted of using witchcraft to harm people or property or, if convicted of using witchcraft for murder, sentenced the condemned to be hanged. Further, the Elizabethan Witchcraft Act added consorting with the devil as an element of witchcraft.² Once James VI of Scotland became James I of England, he brought his well-established ideas about the occult to the realm and enacted the Witchcraft Act of 1604 Against Conjuration and Witchcraft. James' expanded and more punitive Witchcraft Act led to an increase in accusations, trials, and executions and the proliferation of associated print materials such as demonological treatises, trial transcripts, and news accounts. Together these helped to conjure, throughout the seventeenth century, images of covens, cauldrons, and crones conspiring with the devil to harm individuals and communities. While legal reforms began to decriminalize witchcraft in the late eighteenth century, many regions—from Scotland to Connecticut—are only now, in the twenty-first century, "pardoning" those who were unjustly executed by the state.³

Notes

1. "1541–2: 33 Henry 8 c.8: The Act against Conjurations, Witchcraft, Sorcery and Enchantments." n.d. The Statutes Project. Accessed April 25, 2024. http://statutes.org.uk.

2. "1563: 5 Elizabeth 1 c.16: An Act against Conjurations, Inchantments and Witchcraft." n.d. The Statutes Project. Accessed April 25, 2024. http://statutes.org.uk.

3. Erik Ofgang, "CT Finally Absolves 17th-century Witch-hunt Victims–But Not Without a Bit of Controversy," Connecticut Magazine, 13 June 2023. https://www.ctinsider.com (Accessed 2 May 2024). I also recommend the podcast "Witches of Scotland" by Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi to those interested in the ongoing fight to pardon individuals accused, tried, and executed as witches. Their excellent interviews accompany their campaign for a national monument to honor the more than 3,000 convicted under the Scottish Witchcraft Act between 1563–1736.

Recommended Citation

Ruff, Felicia J. (2025) ""Firing her thatch": The Social Construction of a Witch in Dekker, Ford, and Rowley's The Witch of Edmonton," Comparative Drama: Vol. 59: Iss. 1, Article 10.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/compdr/vol59/iss1/10