Throughout society today, witches are depicted as mythological creatures. They usually show up in fairy tales and many children's stories. If you ever think of witches you usually think of Halloween. In the play, The Witch of Edmonton by William Rowley, Thomas Dekker and John Ford, Elizabeth Sawyer is depicted as a witch. Sawyer was seen as a witch because of the actions that the towns people saw and experienced. The towns people put a label on Sawyer just as people do in today's society.
Many people associate witches with witchcraft. The towns people believed that witchcraft was used throughout the play by Sawyer. Witchcraft is a form of magical powers performed by a person, usually a so called witch. Beginning in the early 1900's, witchcraft was considered a religion. It was often referred to as Wicca, the Craft, the Wise craft, or the Old Religion. Witchcraft is usually associated with evil and used to harm others, by causing accidents, illnesses, bad luck, and even death. Some people believed that witchcraft was used for good. In today's world, forms of witchcraft are still used.
If you ask any person what their image and perspective of a witch is, you will probably get the same answer. Just like those other people, I had a one sided opinion of what a witch is. This witch is one that has a black pointy hat, long black dress, and flies on a broom. The best image that I can come up with is the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz. This was probably the first time any person that I know was introduced to a witch. Also every Halloween, little kids dress up as witches to go and trick-or-treat. Not understanding what a witch was depicted as, people today don't know how a witch was seen as many hundreds of years ago. .
Through the play, Elizabeth Sawyer was not portrayed as the everyday witch that you and I may know. Elizabeth Sawyer was not your typical wicked witch of the west! Sawyer acted no different than you and I.
