Unearthing the witch: Diversion and device in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" and Middleton's "The Witch"

Renaissance ideology positioned the witch as deviant and dangerous. Using common cultural perceptions, Shakespeare's and Middleton's dramas help both to define and to produce alternative notions of the witch. Analyzing the function of the witch as cultural icon reveals why the cultural community scapegoated certain women, particularly "wise women." These women were often older and unattached, uncanny in their powers of perception and unruly in their refusal to conform to societal norms. Such women challenged the discourse of power employed by patriarchy. The Tempest requires the reader to read through Prospero's propaganda to examine his motive for vilifying Sycorax. In The Witch, the witch is associated with the "masterless woman" who, in defying masculine authority, inverts the status quo, transgressing established boundaries of acceptable behavior. The witches in both these plays mirror Renaissance mores and belief structures, exposing the hypocrisy behind their civilized facades.