Reading witches, reading women : late Tudor and early Stuart texts.

The introduction discusses the problematics involved in developing a feminist
\ntheory of late Renaissance and early modem witchcraft. It includes an overview of
\nboth Renaissance feminist theory and witchcraft studies, and posits that the witch is a
\nhybrid, multivalent figure. Chapter one examines contemporary sources for
\nportrayals of witches. The second chapter analyses the roles of witches, hags, and
\nviragos in The Facrie Queene. Throughout the work their femininity is
\nproblematised, its meaning displaced onto horrific figures or fragmented into "good"
\nand "bad" women. Both inspire dis-ease. Lyly's Endimion introduces a witch in the
\nThessalian tradition and women whose transgressions lie in daring to act and speak.
\nChapter three expands the definition of witch to other unruly women, including the
\nshrew and the power-wielding woman; it also proves that Dipsas' power is the
\nstrongest in the play. Chapter four analyses the way in which the definition of
\nwitcheraft can be imposed on a woman by exterior societal forces, with reference to
\nThe Witch of Edmonton. Also discussed are the role of cursing and the
\nproblematics of female sexuality.
\nChapters five through eight discuss Shakespeare. Shakespeare's Joan of Arc is
\nfragmented and reflects the varying views about her, and again shows how one
\nwoman may be variously defined. With Joan's death, Margaret of Anjou becomes the
\nvirile woman in the tetralogy. She and other women who share her verbal potency are
\ncondemned not only by the men in the plays but also by critics who erroneously take
\nthe negative view as definitive. Macbeth concerns itself with exploration of gender,
\nandrogyny, power (occult and otherwise) and its betrayal. Chapter eight outlines how
\nthe women in other Shakespearean plays do not achieve dramatic impact as witches
\nbecause they are robbed of primary agency in the plays.
\nChapter nine demonstrates how Middleton distances his Heccat and proves
\nthat the real witches and villains lie in the structure of the patriarchy of The Witch.
\nLyly combines cunning woman with Sibyl in Mother Bombie; wit defines wisdom.
\nChapter eleven presents The Wise-Woman of Hogsdon, an anomaly in that the witchfigure
\nand unruly characters of both sexes are not condemned and have happy
\nresolutions. The conclusion summarises briefly and outlines areas of further study.
\nAppendix A is a table; Appendix B outlines the role of cursing as gendered speech in
\nShakespeare's first tetralogy.

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