Witch of Edmonton | On Social and Domestic Affairs

It strikes me that, in several of the plays covered thus far (The Duchess of Malfi and Arden of Faversham most notably), social affairs and domestic affairs seem to play into each other quite extensively. For instance, in The Duchess of Malfi, the Duchess's brothers (though specifically Ferdinand) do not want the Duchess to remarry, since Ferdinand would benefit from her death if she had died a widow but not if she had died a married woman (since Antonio would benefit instead). Further, the Duchess seems to marry Antonio at least partly out of spite of her brothers, but regardless, she is forced to maintain secrecy about the marriage since society seems to play a major role in shaping her reputation. And in Arden of Faversham, not only does the affair between Alice and Mosby (and thus also the cuckolding of Arden) spread outside the domestic sphere and into the societal gaze, but so does the resulting series of events that eventually leads to Arden's death.

We see this intermingling of societal and domestic spheres in The Witch of Edmonton, too. Frank marries Winnifried before the opening of the play, yet Sir Arthur Clarington immediately pries into the matter, noting that Frank has "wronged thy master's house basely and lewdly" (1.1.77) by getting Winnifried pregnant. Frank's father (Old Thorney) wants Frank to marry the daughter of a wealthy yeoman, not because that's what Frank wants to do, but because that's what Old Thorney would benefit the most from. Further, when Old Thorney catches news that Frank may have married a fellow servant, he immediately berates Frank for his actions (again, because Old Thorney wanted Frank to marry Susan). And Speaking of Susan, Old Carter doesn't want Susan (his daughter) to marry Warbeck, presumably because Warbeck lacks a social status that Old Carter may benefit from, whereas Old Carter may benefit from Susan's marriage to Frank.

Though I have yet to get very far in the text, this is one thing that was immediately obvious to me. And since this is something which appears in several of the previously noted plays, I figured that it was worth mentioning. I imagine that this will continue throughout the rest of the play, too, so I hope to comment more within the next week or two.