‘To oppose to those deceived deceivers.’ On the nature of evil in the Jacobean play The Witch of Edmonton

Abstract

   With the example of The Witch of Edmonton, a play written by T. Dekker, J. Ford, and W. Rowley in 1621, the article considers the perception of the nature of evil in early modern history. This religious domestic tragedy comprises two plotlines that, while sharing common motifs, receive contrasting resolutions and show, therefore, that the Devil’s triumph is always conditional of the individual’s complicity. Unlike the witch-themed pamphlets of the day, the dramatists portray unbearable living conditions suffered by certain social groups, patriarchy, and economic leverages as the true drivers of crime. The study aims to identify how the play succeeds in combining various answers to the question about the nature of evil. To do so, the author analyzes the variance of motifs, the ambivalence of the canine familiar, and equivocation as a literary device that actualizes the motif of deception. The article demonstrates the link between the problems of the play and Hobbes’ theory of social-political determination. It also dwells on the ideas that dictate the semantic structure of Jacobean demonology: man’s identification with the Devil, original sin, the corrupted nature of humanity, the perception of difference as strange and unfamiliar, and free will.