The play that we are reading now is The Witch of Edmonton. At first I was confused because the witch did not show up until the second act, but I think that they play may have more to do with the atmosphere of the time and how people viewed witches as everyday occurances more than being a play about a witch. Another thing that suprised me was that it reads like a modern play. Some of the other plays we have read are obviously from the Rennassiance, but this play seems like it could have been written not too long ago. In act 3, scene 3 lines 103-104 Old Carter says:
"When I speak I look to be spoken to.
Forgetful slut"
This line seems out of place because Old Carter and Old Thorney have just found Susan dead and Frank tied to a tree. Old Carter was Susan's father, yet he calls her a slut. Maybe it had a different definition back then, but this seems out of character for a grieving father.
The Witch of Edmonton also reminds me of some of the other things we have read in class. In Act 3 when Frank says he will kill Susan, she just accepts it. She seems to be the tragic woman that cannot do anything for herself and will do whatever males tell her. In a way she reminds me of Una from The Faerie Queen. She does not take control of the situation and does not fight anything. She and Una simply let things happen to them and then say "oh well, I cannot do anything about it". I don't really care for Susan's character because she doesn't care about herself. She lets Frank kill her and doesn't do anything to stop him. If she tried to save herself then I would have more respect for her character.
I do feel sorry for Winifride's character. She was more than likely taken advantage of by her master and then her husband marries someone else. In class we talked about her being a victim of her circumstances and I agree with that. She was put in a bad position by her master, who I feel is a creepy older man from what I read in the play. She really couldn't say no because he was her master, but when she actually finds someone she likes he has to keep her a secret. Winnifride loves Frank, but Frank is motivated by money and has to hide their relationship so his father does not cut him off financially. She loves someone who values money more than her, and for that I also feel sorry for her. She does not have many choices because she is a woman in this time period and she does not have any money. I feel that she is a victim of her circumstances and I am interested in knowing what else happens to her charcter.
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For the slut comment, I noticed some other times in the play with similar language that I thought was more modern. Word and plays on words have been around for long before us, and sometimes its hard to keep that in mind.
About Winnifrede and Susan, I feel bad for both of them. Winnifrede was stuck because she was pregnant, either by the man that she loves or by her boss who forced himself on her. And Susan unknowingly wed a man who already had a wife. Frank is a jerk (was that a word in the Renaissance?). If it were a more modern time, I'm sure the women would have banded together and given the bastard what he deserved, instead of Susan dying and Frank getting away with it. Girl power!
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