Synopsis
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.
