Female Bodies, Speech, and Silence in The Witch of Edmonton

Abstract

The article re-examines the play "The Witch of Edmonton," by Thomas Dekker, John Ford, and William Rowley. The re-evaluation is based on the point of view of silence and what speech or lack of it implies for early modern women. According to the author, the play is effective in questioning and criticizing the cultural attitudes that link liberal female speech with a transgressing female body. The author notes that the fates of other women in the play mirror the unjust contradicting statements in attitudes concerning women's speech.