Scepticism and belief in English witchcraft drama, 1538–1681 (eBook)

Eric Pudney (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2019
360 Seiten
Manchester University Press (Verlag)
978-91-983768-8-3 (ISBN)

Infos

This book explores the representation of witchcraft in early modern drama, situating it within the discourse of scepticism and credulity that characterised the witchcraft debate, and the historical events which inspired much witchcraft drama. It covers the drama of the Elizabethan period and the Restoration as well as Jacobean witch plays.

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Winner of the 2019 Warburg Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities for an outstanding work of literary history

This is a study of the representation of witches in early modern English drama, organised around the themes of scepticism and belief. It covers the entire early modern period, including the Restoration, and pays particular attention to three plays in which witchcraft is central: The Witch of Edmonton (1621), The Late Lancashire Witches (1634) and The Lancashire Witches (1681). Always a controversial issue, witchcraft has traditionally been seen in terms of a debate between ‘sceptics’ and ‘believers’. This book argues instead that, while the concepts of scepticism and belief are central to an understanding of early modern witchcraft, they are more fruitfully understood not as static and mutually exclusive positions within the witchcraft debate, but as rhetorical tools used by both sides.

Autor

Eric Pudney is an Affiliated Researcher at Lund University

Inhalt

Introduction
1 Scepticism in the Renaissance
2 Witchcraft in Elizabethan drama
3 Witchcraft in Jacobean drama
4 The Witch of Edmonton
5 The Late Lancashire Witches
6 Witchcraft in the Restoration
7 The Lancashire Witches
Conclusion
Index

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 1.6.2019
• Reihe/Serie: Lund University Press
• Zusatzinfo: 2 graphs
• Verlagsort: Lund
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Essays / Feuilleton
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
• Schlagworte: Belief • Demonology • Dr Faustus • Early Modern Drama • Macbeth • Magic • Restoration drama • Scepticism • The Lancashire Witches • The Late Lancashire Witches • The Witch of Edmonton • Witchcraft
• ISBN-10: 91-983768-8-8 / 9198376888
• ISBN-13: 978-91-983768-8-3 / 9789198376883