The Witch is a Jacobean play, a tragicomedy written by Thomas Middleton. The play was acted by the King's Men at the Blackfriars Theatre. It is thought to have been written between 1613 and 1616;Terence P. Logan and Denzell S. Smith, eds., The Popular School: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama, Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1975; p. 69. it was not printed in its own era, and existed only in manuscript until it was published by Isaac Reed in 1778.
The manuscript The still-extant manuscript (since 1821, MS. Malone 12 in the collection of the Bodleian Library), a small quarto-sized bundle of 48 leaves, is in the hand of Ralph Crane,W. W. Greg, "Some Notes on Crane's manuscript of The Witch," The Library, 4th series, Vol. 22 (1942), pp. 208–22. the professional scribe who worked for the King's Men in this era, and who prepared several texts for the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays, as well as two of the surviving manuscripts of Middleton's A Game at Chess, plus other King's Men's works. Since Middleton wrote for the King's Men in this period, the Crane connection is unsurprising. The manuscript bears Middleton's dedication to Thomas Holmes, Esq. There, Middleton refers to the play as "ignorantly ill-fated." This was long taken to mean that the play failed with the audience, but modern critics allow the possibility that the play was pulled from performance for censorship or legal reasons.Nicholas Brooke, ed., Macbeth, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1990; p. 64.
Macbeth
Two songs, "Come away, come away" and "Black spirits", occur in both The Witch and William Shakespeare's Macbeth.G. Blakemore Evans, textual editor, The Riverside Shakespeare, Boston, Houghton and Mifflin, 1974; pp. 1340–1. Middleton's play gives the full lyrics, whereas Macbeth only mentions the song titles in stage cues. Many scholars agree that the songs were interpolated into Macbeth during the printing of the First Folio.
Witches Middleton's primary source for material on witches was the Discovery of Witchcraft of Reginald Scot (1584),Logan and Smith, p. 66. from which the playwright drew invocations, demons' names, and potion ingredients. Middleton, however, ignores Scot's skeptical attitude toward witchcraft lore, and merely mines his book for exploitable elements. He also borrowed the situation of a historical Duke and Duchess of Ravenna, related in the Florentine History of Niccolò Machiavelli and in the fiction of Matteo Bandello.
Witchcraft was a topical subject in the era Middleton wrote, and was the subject of other works like The Witch of Edmonton and The Late Lancashire Witches. Middleton's chief witch is a 120-year-old practitioner called Hecate. Her magic adheres to the Classical standard of Seneca's Medea; she specializes in love and sex magic, giving one character a charm to cause impotence. (In forming this aspect of the play's plot, Middleton may have been influenced by the contemporaneous real-life divorce scandal of Lady Frances Howard and the Earl of Essex, which involved charges of magic-induced impotence.)
Middleton's Hecate has a son (and incestuous lover) called Firestone, who serves as the play's clown. She leads a coven of four other witches, Stadlin, Hoppo, Hellwain, and Puckle. The occult material in The Witch occurs in only three scenes:
Act I, scene ii introduces the coven and contains abundant witchcraft exotica, to establish the macabre mood — fried rats and pickled spiders, the flesh of an "unbaptized brat," a cauldron boiling over a blue flame, "Urchins, elves, hags, satyrs, Pans, fawns...Tritons, centaurs, dwarfs, imps...", "the blood of a flittermouse [bat]," and much much more. At one point, a cat enters playing a fiddle (a role filled by a musician in feline costume). Act III, scene iii features the song "Come away" that was added to Macbeth, and deals with the witches' flight through the air: at one point "A Spirit descends in the shape of a Cat," and Hecate is shown "Ascending with the Spirit." Act V, scene ii contains the song "Black spirits," also inserted into Macbeth.
Middleton's witches "are lecherous, murderous and perverse in the traditional demonological way, but they are also funny, vulnerable and uncomfortably necessary to the maintenance of state power and social position by those who resort to them." Middleton's choice to set the play in Italy may reflect an element of satire against witchcraft beliefs and practices in Roman Catholic societies of his era.Gibson, p. 98.
Characters Duke Lord Governor Sebastian, contracted to Isabella Fernando, his friend Antonio, husband to Isabella Aberzanes, a gentleman, neither honest, wise, nor valiant Almachildes, a fantastical gentleman Gaspero and Hermio, servants to Antonio Firestone, the clown and Hecate's son Boy Duchess (named Amoretta, like her servant) Isabella, niece to the governor (and wife to Antonio) Francisca, Antonio's sister Amoretta, the duchess's woman Florida, a courtesan An old woman Hecate, the chief witch Five other witches, including Stadlin, Hoppo, Puckle and Hellwain Malkin, a spirit like a cat
Synopsis
Act I
Scene 1: Urbino, Italy; The grounds of the Lord Governor's house; the day of Antonio and Isabella's wedding; a banquet laid out
Sebastian has been absent from Urbino for three years, and has falsely been reported killed in war. His fiancee Isabella has just married the powerful aristocrat Antonio. According to the Renaissance custom of handfast, Sebastian regards Isabella as his wife in the sight of Heaven. Sebastian is distraught at the thought of Isabella consummating her marriage with Antonio that night. Antonio's courtesan Florida enters, upset that Antonio has married another woman. Antonio's servant Gaspero assures her that Antonio will return to her after he has grown tired of his new wife. Almachildes, "a fantastical gentleman," enters and flirts with Amoretta, a lady-in-waiting, but she resists. Almachildes decides to go to "the witches" to procure a charm to make Amoretta fall in love with him. The wedding party, including the Duke, the Duchess, Antonio, and Isabella, enters. The Duke has a goblet made from the skull of his wife's father (a defeated enemy) and uses it to make toasts. The Duchess is disgusted, but conceals her disdain. In an aside, she says that she has already decided upon her revenge.
Scene 2: Hecate's cave
Hecate, the chief witch, enters carrying serpents and an "unbaptized brat." The witches plan to boil the baby and use its fat to make a transvection ointment that enables them to fly at night, transform themselves into incubi, and have sex with young men. Sebastian enters and asks Hecate to make Antonio impotent. Hecate gives him a charm made from the skins of lizards and snakes. Sebastian leaves. Almachildes enters, very drunk. He gives Hecate a toad and asks her for a love charm for Amoretta. She obliges, giving him a charm that will make Amoretta instantly fall in love with him, provided it is touching her body. Pleased with the toad, Hecate invites Almachildes to dinner. A cat playing a fiddle (Malkin) enters, followed by spirits bearing plates of fine meat.
Act II
Scene 1: Antonio's house; the morning after the wedding
Antonio is extremely glum because Hecate's charm made him impotent on his wedding night. Francisca (Antonio's younger sister) enters. Left alone on stage, she reveals that she has been receiving secret nighttime visits from Aberzanes, and is now heavily pregnant. She worries that Antonio will kill her if the pregnancy is discovered. Isabella enters, not knowing of the pregnancy, and encourages Francisca to get married so she can discuss matters of a marital nature with her (Antonio's impotency is obviously on her mind). Antonio enters and Isabella sings a song for him; the lyrics of the song slyly allude to the plights of Isabella, Amoretta and Francisca. Aberzanes ("a gentleman, neither honest, wise nor valiant") enters. Francisca takes him aside and asks what they should do about her pregnancy. Aberzanes assures her that he has a plan. Sebastian enters disguised as a servant, "Celio." Isabella introduces "Celio" (not knowing he is actually Sebastian) and says that she has just hired him that very morning. "Celio" announces the arrival of a letter from Antonio's mother in Northern Italy, asking Francisca to come immediately. (The letter is in fact a forgery by Aberzanes; this is his way of getting Francisca out of the house so she can give birth in secret.) Antonio orders Francisca to go to Northern Italy at once. Left alone on stage, Sebastian deduces from Antonio's glum demeanor that Hecate's charm worked. He is pleased, but even more desperate than before to get Isabella back. At the end of the scene, Gaspero enters with the Lord Governor (Isabella's uncle), who has come to pay Antonio a visit.
Scene 2: The Duke's palace
Almachildes regretfully recalls his drunken dinner with the witches. He discovers Hecate's charm in his pocket and decides to try it out. Amoretta enters. Almachildes embraces her and slips the charm into the bodice of her dress. Amoretta pushes Almachildes away; he exits. Then the charm begins to work: Amoretta has a sudden change of heart and declares that Almachildes is "the sweetest gentleman in court." She also reveals that the Duchess has ordered her to get close to Almachildes so he can be used in an undisclosed "employment." Amoretta says she was initially averse to this, but she now looks forward to the task with great relish. The Duchess enters and asks Amoretta if she has arranged with Almachildes yet. Amoretta says that she could never do anything to deceive Almachildes, but declares her willingness to become his honest wife. The Duchess wonders if Amoretta has lost her mind. The charm falls from Amoretta's dress to the floor, and the Duchess (whose name, conveniently, is also Amoretta) picks it up, thereby transferring the love spell from Amoretta to the Duchess. Amoretta immediately declares her complete hatred for Almachildes; the Duchess declares her love for him. Amoretta agrees to deceive Almachildes. The Duchess looks forward to tasting the sweetness of revenge and love combined; she exits. Almachildes enters. Amoretta flirts with him and promises to meet him soon. Almachildes assumes that Hecate's charm has done its trick.
Scene 3: A farmhouse
Francisca has had her baby. Aberzanes pays an old woman for her help delivering the baby, then leaves it on the doorstep of his friend, a tailor, after giving a speech about how the tailor once suggested doing exactly that. Aberzanes and Francisca prepare to return to Urbino. Francisca examines her reflection in a mirror. She is surprised to see how pale and thin she has grown.
Act III
Scene 1: The Duke's palace
The Duchess has tricked Almachildes into having sex with her by blindfolding him and pretending to be Amoretta. The scene begins as she removes the blindfold. She tells Almachildes that she will marry him if he helps her kill the Duke, but threatens to accuse him of rape if he refuses. Almachildes agrees to help her kill the Duke.
Scene 2: The grounds of Antonio's house