53 pages • 1 hour read
Thomas Dekker, John Ford, William RowleyThe Witch of Edmonton
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1621A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Act IVChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act IV, Scene 1 Summary
Old Banks complains to three countrymen that his horse has suddenly become sick. He blames this on Elizabeth Sawyer, calling her a witch. The First Countryman says he found his wife and a servingman having sex in the barn. His wife, when questioned, said that she had been bewitched, so he blames Elizabeth for this, too. All the men agree that she is a witch and is to blame for problems with their livestock and with various women in their households.
Another countryman enters, chanting about burning the witch. He burns some thatch (woven sticks) taken from the roof of her home, enacting the superstition that if she truly is a witch, this will summon her. Elizabeth Sawyer enters, cursing them. They attack her and she calls for help.
Sir Arthur enters with a justice of the peace, a legal official. The Justice intervenes, chiding them for taking matters into their own hands with only superstition as evidence. Old Banks tells the Justice that against his will, he has been compelled to run to his cow and kiss its behind and that this is a bewitchment by Elizabeth Sawyer. The Justice again reminds them that the law protects Elizabeth from mob justice. Old Banks and the other countrymen leave.
The Justice interrogates Elizabeth, asking her to watch her tone when she vehemently denies being a witch. Sir Arthur insists that she is a witch, and there are many in Edmonton who will swear it to be true. Elizabeth asks why only old women are targeted for being witches, while other people in the world who manipulate others are never accused. She criticizes Jacobean courtly excesses, and she compares the women who influence men to witches, such as those who impact courtly affairs or their husbands’ finances. She then develops her argument to ask why men so often escape investigation for their wrongs, including seducing women with dishonest promises. Sir Arthur privately assumes she is referring to his conduct with Winnifride. Alarmed, he says that he knows for sure that Elizabeth is a witch and doesn’t want to stay in her presence. He leaves with the Justice.
Dog enters and asks to feed from Elizabeth’s teat, referring the idea that a familiar feeds on its mistress’s blood from an extra nipple. She says she is dried up with anger and asks him to comfort her. They are physically affectionate toward each other. Dog recounts the tricks he has played on various villagers, including making a horse lame and ruining the butter.
Elizabeth asks about Anne Ratcliffe, whom she wants punished because Anne wronged Elizabeth by striking her pig. Dog says to watch as Anne runs in. She has gone mad, rambling and singing to herself. Upon seeing Elizabeth, she says she wants to scratch Elizabeth’s face to reveal her as a witch and that the pig will give evidence against her. Elizabeth tells Dog to touch her; when he does, Anne feels pains and begins to ramble again about singing and dancing.
Old Banks, Young Banks, Old Ratcliffe, and other countrymen come looking for Anne, concerned for her welfare. Old Ratcliffe and the countrymen carry her out, planning to lock her in a private room because she is mad. They re-enter without Anne. Old Ratcliffe describes how, in her madness, she had great strength. She broke free of them, shouting about the devil and the witch, and bashed her own head, which killed her.
Old Banks blames Elizabeth Sawyer and plans to pursue official proceedings against her and have her locked up in Newgate Prison. He says that this crime alone is enough to see her burned. He says he has heard that she has a familiar in the shape of a dog, and that when they eventually see it, they will arrest the familiar, too. Young Banks stands up for Dog, claiming that he has seen it and will vouch that it is a good dog, not the devil. The countrymen all worry that he is bewitched, too. Dog barks, and Young Banks tries to cover for it, claiming it was he who barked.
Old Banks, Old Ratcliffe, and the other countrymen leave to get a warrant from the Justice to arrest Elizabeth Sawyer. Young Banks tells Dog that, for some reason, he loves Dog and wants to do him favors. Then, he leaves too, afraid to linger behind the others.
Elizabeth tells Dog to go after Sir Arthur, but he says he need not do so, as Sir Arthur is already under attack from his own conscience.
Act IV, Scene 2 Summary
Katherine watches over Frank Thorney as he lies in bed, ostensibly recovering from his wounds. He says his physical wounds are nothing compared to the pain he suffers because of Susan’s death. Katherine sympathizes, expressing her own sorrow; she wishes Frank will heal soon, as she loves him for her sister’s sake. He suggests that he will kill himself to be with Susan, but she pleads against this as this will damn him. She says he should wait for death to reunite them when it is his time.
Katherine encourages him to eat, and she has a maid bring in a roasted chicken. She realizes he’ll need a knife and goes to look for one in his coat. Frank quickly says he’s not hungry after all. Dog enters, joyful at the events that are about to unfold. Katherine finds the bloody knife Frank used to kill Susan in his coat pocket. She pretends she hasn’t seen it and leaves, and Dog runs off again. A Spirit in the shape of Susan appears to Frank; he tries to turn away, but it is wherever he looks. Winnifride, still dressed as a page boy, enters and stands at the foot of his bed, alarming him further. The Spirit vanishes.
Frank is confused at first, thinking Winnifride is the Spirit that continues to haunt him, but she explains that, disguised as his page, she has been permitted to visit him. She says that though Susan is dead, he still has her, despite his sin of bigamy. However, he then confesses that it was he who murdered Susan, and she is horrified.
Dog re-enters from one side of the stage and paws at Frank. From another side of the stage, Katherine re-enters with her father, Old Carter. She tells him that Frank murdered Susan and shows him the bloody knife. Frank is alarmed to see them but doesn’t realize they know about his role in the murder; he calls out for Old Carter to help him eat, saying that his vision and appetite are bad. Old Carter laments that Frank is terribly ill. Frank takes this to mean his physical condition, but Old Carter is talking about Frank’s moral corruption. Old Carter says he will go to fetch the surgeon and leaves. Winnifride is privately horrified by Frank’s duplicity toward Old Carter, and he directs her as his page to cut him some chicken.
Old Carter brings on Susan’s body in a coffin, carried by two servants. He and Katherine emotionally confront Frank about what he has done. Frank is horrified by the sight of Susan’s body, but he still denies killing her. Katherine runs to fetch officers.
Old Carter sees Winnifride, and he says that as Frank’s page, she is also culpable. Frank tells him not to bring this innocent woman into it, revealing Winnifride’s disguise. She tells Old Carter that she is Frank’s first and lawful wife. She empathizes with the wrongs done to Susan and reveals that Frank confessed the murder to her. Katherine returns and says the officers will arrest Frank. Old Carter says that Winnifride will be taken to the jail with him.
Act IV Analysis
The first scene in Act IV examines The Role of the Witch in the Community using satire and social commentary. The diction of the countrymen reflects the petty, unsophisticated nature of their complaints against Elizabeth Sawyer: For instance, Old Banks complains in prose that his horse has a runny nose and that he is compelled against his will to kiss his cow’s backside, and one countryman describes how when he caught his wife cheating, she swore she was bewitched. The countrymen group women and livestock together in their complaints. One of them states: “Our cattle fall, our wives fall, our daughters fall” (4.1.15-16). This reflects that in Jacobean society, women were the property of men, apart from widows or older unmarried women without a living father. Because such women existed outside of the control of patriarchy’s traditional structure, they were often treated with more suspicion, as in Elizabeth’s situation. One countryman describes his cheating wife as a “polecat,” which was an offensive term for a prostitute: Despite blaming a witch, he still degrades his wife for her actions, denouncing both women. Through the humorous, undignified nature of the countrymen’s anecdotes, the play satirizes the scapegoating of Elizabeth Sawyer by the community.
In contrast to the countrymen’s diction, Elizabeth Sawyer speaks in verse, which Jacobean theatrical tradition deemed as being dignified and intelligent. She expands on the social and gendered positioning of witchcraft, questioning why it is particularly associated with poor women. When she discusses the exploitative behavior men engage in in business and in romance, Sir Arthur’s assumption that she’s talking about him specifically reveals his hypocrisy and double standards in accusing her of witchcraft. This demonstrates the social pressures women were under and the greater restraints on their free will. The Justice’s policing of Elizabeth’s tone further highlights this. She denies being a witch simply saying, “I am none!” when Sir Arthur accuses her, and though she has just been attacked by a mob calling for her to be hanged or burned, the Justice admonishes her, saying, “Be not so furious” (4.1.84-85).
This act also develops the theme of The Vicious Cycle of Evil, which has escalated from pastoral comedy into genuine tragedy over the course of the play. Anne Ratcliffe’s madness and her tragic end represent a far more serious consequence of Elizabeth Sawyer’s pact with Dog than the domestic woes of the countrymen. The parallel plot about Frank Thorney is similarly concerned with consequences: Frank is literally being confronted by the consequences of his actions since, first, a spirit in Susan’s form haunts him, and then, Katherine and Old Carter bring Susan’s body for him to see. They do not only want him to face the law and be arrested; they want him to face the physical reality of what he has done. When Frank tries to turn away from the Spirit that haunts him, it keeps reappearing in front of him, showing that he cannot escape the consequences of his actions. In Jacobean theatrical convention, a ghost was usually a spirit who died without a clear conscience—so the audience would infer that this apparition is not Susan but a demon from hell, indicative of Frank’s enormous guilt.
