Identity Roles

Basically to be a witch, you have to follow these guidelines.
1. You have to be unmarried
2. Being a widow gives you a higher chance of being a witch
3. Poor
4. You have to curse as women were suppose to be pure and obedient
5. You have to be ugly.
All witches in the Renaissance period follow these guidelines. Everyone could accuse them, which surprises me. I wouldn’t trust a child’s accusation so much but they were allowed to testify.
Witches in this era had familiars, which were the animal partner of the witch. The animals were usually the Devil or some demon in an animal form. They would feed upon the blood of their witch.
Elizabeth Sawyer is the Witch of Edmonton. At first, she wasn’t a witch. She was just a woman who was a little crooked who just wanted sticks to keep herself warm. But by her appearance, she was called a witch. After being called a witch so many times, it’s not hard to start believing it yourself especially if you can’t change people’s perception of you. So, Elizabeth found herself a familiar and became a witch. It gave her power to attack the people who attacked her while she was defenseless and innocent. Who would beat a woman who just wanted to keep warm? This amazes me the most as religion was suppose to be a big part of this time period. Being charitable was taught to them and beating a woman who just wants sticks isn’t being a good Christian.
One question that was brought up in class was, why was Elizabeth Sawyer only in a few scenes? I believe it shows how identity plays a big part in this story. Elizabeth looks like a witch, so she was accused as a witch. In reality, she was one of the few and maybe only good people in the beginning. She just wanted sticks. But since she was poor and crooked, she was looked down upon. If we follow this formula where poor is evil and rich is good, the rich characters in this play should be good though. In fact, they are twisted and liars. Frank Thorney is marrying two women, lying to his father, and just wants money. Old Thorney is using guilt to get his son to marry for money. The rich people bring their bad fortune upon themselves and yet Elizabeth Sawyer is blamed for their bad fortune. They don’t even try to fix their problems. Winnifride is lower class, pregnant, and has two possible fathers for the baby. She married Frank Thorney and decides she won’t whore around anymore. She is strong to at least try and fix her wrongdoings. The rich people who are suppose to be good, won’t fix their problems but blame someone else. Poor Elizabeth Sawyer.