53 pages • 1 hour read
The Witch of Edmonton
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Hobby Horse
Young Banks dresses up as the hobby horse for the Morris dance. Variations of this figure appeared in folk festivals throughout Europe. It probably derived from pre-Christian traditions of wearing animal skins for communal rites; it would have involved a costume and possibly a wooden or wicker frame to straddle or carry.
This motif encapsulates the flow of community traditions through the centuries, as Morris dancing (a relatively new activity for the time) incorporated and adapted older practices. The figure of the hobby horse rounds out the picture of The Role of The Witch in the Community by showing how the idea of the witch is part of a complex, shifting tapestry of folklore and religion: The Morris dancers discuss whether or not to include the hobby horse just like they argue about whether to include a witch in their dance.
The motif of the hobby horse encapsulates the social importance of village traditions. The dancers all teasingly chip in to tell Young Banks how they will redecorate the horse for him, building their presentation as a humorous ensemble to show the communal, celebratory nature of these kinds of festivities. Young Banks’s eagerness for Katherine to see him play the role reflects that these activities allow the community to interact and build relationships.
Blood Sucking
Blood sucking is invoked as a metaphor by the characters in their dialogue, and it is also visually presented in the play.
Elizabeth Banks compares Old Banks’s destruction of her reputation to a dog sucking her blood, symbolizing the destructive effect that his mistreatment of her has on her life. This graphic image creates a sense of her helplessness and invites the audience’s pity, showing how Elizabeth is being scapegoated by her community. It also references the common idea of the time that the witch’s familiar feeds on the witch’s blood, showing that the community’s treatment of Elizabeth has placed her in the role of the witch.
This image also foreshadows the introduction of Dog, who appears onstage almost immediately after. His insistence that he suck Elizabeth’s blood to seal their contract ominously brings her words to life: Thus, the linguistic symbol becomes a visual one. This builds tension and underlines Dog’s status as a supernatural being, suggesting that Elizabeth is being subjected to external pressures. However, this manifestation of her precise phrasing plays into the idea that the devil can only corrupt those who choose to be corrupted. Elizabeth feeds her blood to Dog willingly, symbolizing her renunciation of her soul in return for revenge.
Frank Thorney also uses a blood sucking metaphor: After his bigamous marriage to Susan, he describes how “poisoned leeches” are on his heart. This image of blood-sucking compares his moral corruption to Elizabeth’s, emphasizing the parallels between the plots. These blood-sucking creatures were used medicinally at this time, but Frank uses the metaphor of poisonous leeches, symbolizing that his actions are infecting him.
The Knife
The knife is Frank Thorney’s murder weapon when he kills Susan—this act represents the height of his moral corruption. The knife therefore comes to symbolize his guilt as well as the extent of his moral degradation. The symbol of the knife places this play in line with the conventions of other Jacobean and Elizabethan tragedies: Daggers and knives featured prominently in the theater of this time as a dramatic device representing secrecy, guilt, and violence. While swords were associated with martial settings, knives were a frequent murder weapon in tragic drama since they were small objects that could be hidden easily. So, they were associated with underhand attacks rather than battlefield glory—for example, they were used in murders in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Julius Caesar.
Since the knife suddenly appears when Dog rubs against Frank, it also represents evil in the form of the devil’s influence. Frank’s anger and insecurity about his bigamous marriage make him vulnerable to the interference of the devil, who only exacerbates Frank’s immorality. Dog is involved at every point the knife is used: Frank Thorney uses it to wound himself to back up his claim that he was attacked, tying himself to a tree with Dog’s help. Dog comes onstage and dances joyfully when the knife next appears: Katherine finds it in Frank’s pocket, discovering that he is in fact her sister’s murderer. This sets off the chain of events that lead to the ultimate result of The Vicious Cycle of Evil: Frank’s execution. The knife first serves Frank’s purpose of getting rid of Susan, but it becomes the object that condemns him. In this way, the play shows that Frank’s immoral actions return to plague him.
Unlock the meaning behind every key symbol & motif
See how recurring imagery, objects, and ideas shape the narrative.
- Explore how the author builds meaning through symbolism
- Understand what symbols & motifs represent in the text
- Connect recurring ideas to themes, characters, and events