You are here

FAU Collections » FAU Research Repository » FAU Theses and Dissertations

Unearthing the witch: Diversion and device in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and Middleton's "The Witch"

Download pdf | Full Screen View

Date Issued:
2002
Summary:
Renaissance ideology positioned the witch as deviant and dangerous. Using common cultural perceptions, Shakespeare's and Middleton's dramas help both to define and to produce alternative notions of the witch. Analyzing the function of the witch as cultural icon reveals why the cultural community scapegoated certain women, particularly "wise women." These women were often older and unattached, uncanny in their powers of perception and unruly in their refusal to conform to societal norms. Such women challenged the discourse of power employed by patriarchy. The Tempest requires the reader to read through Prospero's propaganda to examine his motive for vilifying Sycorax. In The Witch, the witch is associated with the "masterless woman" who, in defying masculine authority, inverts the status quo, transgressing established boundaries of acceptable behavior. The witches in both these plays mirror Renaissance mores and belief structures, exposing the hypocrisy behind their civilized facades.
Title: Unearthing the witch: Diversion and device in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and Middleton's "The Witch".
195 views
104 downloads
Name(s): Hutcheson, Anna Capri.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Low, Jennifer A., Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 2002
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 70 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Renaissance ideology positioned the witch as deviant and dangerous. Using common cultural perceptions, Shakespeare's and Middleton's dramas help both to define and to produce alternative notions of the witch. Analyzing the function of the witch as cultural icon reveals why the cultural community scapegoated certain women, particularly "wise women." These women were often older and unattached, uncanny in their powers of perception and unruly in their refusal to conform to societal norms. Such women challenged the discourse of power employed by patriarchy. The Tempest requires the reader to read through Prospero's propaganda to examine his motive for vilifying Sycorax. In The Witch, the witch is associated with the "masterless woman" who, in defying masculine authority, inverts the status quo, transgressing established boundaries of acceptable behavior. The witches in both these plays mirror Renaissance mores and belief structures, exposing the hypocrisy behind their civilized facades.
Identifier: 9780493722016 (isbn), 12909 (digitool), FADT12909 (IID), fau:9783 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2002.
Subject(s): Shakespeare, William,--1564-1616--Tempest
Witches in literature
Middleton, Thomas,--d 1627--Witch
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12909
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.