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.
Prologue-Act IChapter Summaries & Analyses
Prologue Summary
Content Warning: This play includes physical violence, death by suicide, and period-typical misogyny, including slurs addressed against women. Characters display discriminatory attitudes based on age, appearance, and socioeconomic status.
A short couplet first introduces the themes of the play: murder, forced marriage, revenge, and the role of hell in revenge. Then, the main prologue describes how the town of Edmonton produced the material for onstage portrayals of both a devil and a witch. It then promises that the play includes humor as well as serious, thought-provoking material.
Act I, Scene 1 Summary
Frank Thorney, one of the play’s main characters, tells Winnifride, who is pregnant, that she no longer needs to worry about her and her child’s welfare since he has now married her. She will not face social condemnation for giving birth out of wedlock. However, he says that they must keep their marriage secret for the moment to protect Frank’s inheritance, as his father would not approve. So, Frank is sending Winnifride to live with an uncle five miles away. Winnifride says she is grateful for his honorable treatment of her, but she wants to see him more often than their arrangement easily allows. She is worried that he will be tempted by someone else. Frank reassures her that their marriage signifies his loyalty to her. He says that if he betrays her, heaven should ruin his life.
Once Winnifride has gone, Frank’s master, Sir Arthur, finds him. He censures Frank for bringing dishonor on his household by getting Winnifride pregnant, as she, too, is under Sir Arthur’s employ. He reiterates that he will support Frank financially if he marries Winnifride. Frank reassures him that he has married Winnifride already. He asks Sir Arthur to write to his father and mislead him by saying that he has not married Winnifride, as Frank’s father will trust Sir Arthur.
Frank leaves to write the letter for Sir Arthur to sign. Winnifride re-enters, and Sir Arthur kisses her, revealing that they had slept together prior and that the baby might be his. He rejoices that everything has been resolved so satisfactorily and commends her for her duplicity to Frank. He plans how they will continue liaising behind his back. However, Winnifride regrets not giving Frank her virginity as his bride. She rejects Sir Arthur’s advances, asserting her wish to live with honor and expressing her high regard for the sanctity of marriage. Sir Arthur disparages her and dismisses her furiously.
Act I, Scene 2 Summary
Frank’s father, Old Thorney, commends Old Carter for his fair approach as they discuss arranging a marriage between his son and Old Carter’s daughter, Susan. Old Carter is a wealthy yeoman—a landowner who is not a member of the gentry and who is socially ranked below gentlemen such as Old Thorney. Old Carter says that Susan likes Frank, so he will give the Thorney family a large sum of money in the form of a bridal dowry if the two get married. He will pay the dowry immediately, rather than in installments or withholding part of it until his death, despite these being common practices at the time. Old Carter boasts of Susan’s good looks and character. Old Thorney wonders why his son hasn’t arrived yet.
Susan enters with another suitor, Warbeck. She rebuffs his advances, saying that his verbose wooing does not please her. She is not interested in his boasts about his income. Katherine, Susan’s younger sister, also enters with her own suitor, Somerton. He proclaims his dedication to Katherine and reassures her that her inheritance is not a factor in his pursuit of her. Katherine says that she has reservations about men’s honesty and that she must find a way to test his loyalty. He encourages this, saying he will pass any such test.
Old Carter privately tells Old Thorney his opinion of the two suitors. He thinks Warbeck is a scoundrel and remarks that Susan is well aware of this and able to stand up for herself—she will beat him if he tries to grope her. He reiterates that Susan’s affections lie elsewhere. Old Carter explains that he tolerates Warbeck because Somerton is a companion of his. He holds Somerton in higher regard, judging him to be honest. Somerton is an outsider in Edmonton—he is from a village about three miles away, where he has a respectable estate of land.
Then Frank arrives, to Warbeck’s irritation. He pulls Somerton aside, telling him that Frank is his obstacle in his pursuit of Susan. Somerton amiably tells him not to get worked up about it—whoever woos her best will win her. Old Carter invites everyone inside to eat.
At Old Thorney’s request, Frank stays outside with him for a chat. Old Thorney laments that his estate is on the verge of ruin—he has mortgaged everything. If Frank does not marry Susan, he will have to sell everything off, inflicting shame and poverty on both father and son. However, if the marriage goes ahead, he will immediately pass the saved estate to Frank in gratitude. Frank says that he is not inclined to marry at all, but he will do so for his father. Old Thorney recalls his son swearing love to Susan in the past, seeking confirmation that this is true. Frank confirms that he will marry Susan, but he avoids saying that he loves her.
Then Old Thorney berates him for lying to him since he knows that Frank has already married Winnifride—the news has spread. Frank vehemently denies this. He laments in an aside to the audience that events have snowballed beyond his control. Old Thorney is furious and refuses to believe him until Frank shows him the letter from Sir Arthur. Finally convinced, he reconciles with his son.
Old Carter and Susan come outside to ask them to join them for dinner. The four of them agree that the wedding should take place the next day, even if they have to forego some of the traditional ceremonies, as the two youngsters are already married in their hearts. Old Carter asks Frank to impregnate Susan with sons. He once again promises to pay the dowry immediately. In an aside, Frank reiterates his shame before heaven, saying that he can’t escape his fate.
Prologue-Act I Analysis
The formal prologue that opens the play was a common device in Jacobean theater. It was used to engage the audience’s interests and prepare their expectations regarding genre and content. The prologue of The Witch of Edmonton promises both “mirth and matter” (Prologue, Line 12), indicating that the play will draw on comedic and tragic conventions. It also introduces key themes: The discussion of murder and blood points to the play’s concern with The Vicious Cycle of Evil, while the mention of the role of hell in revenge introduces the theme of Free Will Versus External Pressures. These were recurring topics in Jacobean tragedies, placing this play in dialogue with the broader theater culture of its time.
The prologue also introduces the theme of The Role of the Witch in the Community by pointing out that Edmonton, where the play is set, has homed both a witch and a devil in recent times. This refers to the source text for the Frank Thorney and Winnifride subplot, which is the 1602 play called The Devil of Edmonton. Act I in fact opens with this plot—not the titular “witch,” who is not introduced until Act II. In this way, the prologue invites the audience to connect the two plots in terms of their physical setting as well as their themes. While the witch of Edmonton has yet to appear, the play indicates that Frank is the devil it mentions in the prologue.
Act I also points out that women whose behavior falls outside expected perimeters are demonized, linking back to the theme of the witch. Winnifride’s character is established as a narrative foil to Elizabeth Sawyer when she is introduced later. Winnifride’s concern for heaven and trust in Frank juxtapose sharply with Elizabeth, who distrusts everyone and turns to hell for help. However, Winnifride’s plight shows the vulnerable position of women in Jacobean society and the intense stakes connected to their interpersonal politics: Since she is pregnant, she needs to be married or else fear the “tattling Gossips” who will damage her reputation and cause her to be an outcast. While Winnifride describes her relationship with Frank as “The conquest of [her] maiden love” (1.1.33), Frank refers to it as “the constant / Affections of thy husband” (1.1.36-37). Winnifride sees love as a battlefield and feels she has been defeated by sleeping with him, whereas he romanticizes it. This reflects the greater expectations of purity placed on women and the higher stakes for them. Despite Winnifride’s being a complete contrast to Elizabeth, Winnifride, too, can be easily cast out of society for breaking its rules, just as Elizabeth is.
Frank’s desperate attempts to protect his inheritance convey the theme of the cycle of evil. His initial lies seem small and harmless, like when he persuades Sir Arthur to lie in a letter to his father, but as the act progresses, Frank’s actions snowball into further evils as he lies to his father and agrees to bigamy. The play begins in medias res (or in the middle of the action), which is a common convention in Jacobean drama that intended to capture the audience’s attention by throwing them straight into exciting events. This device also emphasizes the play’s concern with exploring the consequences of actions rather than showing dramatic events themselves. The play therefore begins after Winnifride and Frank are secretly married, and Frank is already compelled to lie to everyone he interacts with, marking him as a rogue and “devil.”
Frank’s struggles with his conscience are revealed to the audience in the form of asides, in which the characters speak outside the action, unheard by others onstage, to give the audience insight into their thoughts. Asides are a common device in Jacobean theater and are often played directly to the audience. Here, they are used to display the contrast between Frank’s seemingly unruffled personality and his inner panic and desperation. For instance, when he discovers that his father knows of his marriage to Winnifride, he convincingly denies it. However, in an aside to the audience, Frank states, “Some swift spirit / Has blown this news abroad. I must outface it” (1.2.169-70). The aside conveys his constant attempts at hiding the truth and his deepening descent into more treachery. The play shows that he is trapped in a cycle of evil initiated by his own mistake.
Frank’s asides also show that he believes that events are already out of his control, which brings up the theme of the difficulty of exercising free will. Act I concludes with another of Frank’s asides, in which he says: “No man can hide his shame from heaven that views him. / In vain he flees whose destiny pursues him” (1.2.235-36). Frank expresses his “shame” at his behavior, which he knows is despicable. However, he feels trapped by his “destiny” and is unable to change the course of his actions. This indicates the tragic direction play is heading toward.
