Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


miami1114108678.pdf (388.09 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Warning, Familiarity and Ridicule: Tracing the Theatrical Representation of the Witch in Early Modern England

Porterfield, Melissa Rynn
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1114108678

Abstract Details

2005, Master of Arts, Miami University, Theatre.
This work traces the theatrical representation of the witch on the Early Modern English stage. I examine the ways in which the witch was constructed as a binary opposite against which dominant society could define itself. This work provides close readings of three representative plays from the era: Macbeth, The Witch of Edmonton, and The Witches of Edmonton. I also investigate the significance of the personal involvement of King James I in real-life witch trials. This work breaks the progression of the witch into three stages - fear, familiarity, and ridicule – each of which served to allay the anxieties of dominant culture. Situating the texts within the specific historical cosmology of their original productions, I suggest one possible mapping of the intersections of the intersections of gender, class, nation, politics, and economics which they depict.
Ann Armstrong (Advisor)
107 p.
Theater
Theatre; Witch; Early Modern England; Macbeth; The Witch of Edmonton; The Witches of Lancashire; Feminist; Cultural Representations

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Porterfield, M. R. (2005). Warning, Familiarity and Ridicule: Tracing the Theatrical Representation of the Witch in Early Modern England [Master's thesis, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1114108678

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Porterfield, Melissa. Warning, Familiarity and Ridicule: Tracing the Theatrical Representation of the Witch in Early Modern England. 2005. Miami University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1114108678.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Porterfield, Melissa. "Warning, Familiarity and Ridicule: Tracing the Theatrical Representation of the Witch in Early Modern England." Master's thesis, Miami University, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1114108678

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1114108678
1,919
© 2005, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.