Economic Context

Witch focuses mostly on exemplifying class relations between the nobility and the poor.   

• A nobleman, such as Sir Arthur, was rich and powerful– and the monarch (at this point, James I) rarely appointed new nobles. A person could become a noble either by primogeniture (birthright) or by a grant from the king or queen.   

• The gentry were knights, squires, gentlemen, and gentlewomen whose fortunes were great enough that they did not have to work with their hands for a living. They could start as a knight and through generations and marriages they could gradually build wealth and title.  

• The Yeomanry were the middle or working class. They could live comfortably with the savings they built up, but at any moment, could lose everything. While the gentry spent their wealth building large homes, the yeomen used their wealth more simply and instead worked to expand their land and improve it.  

• At the bottom were the poor. Poor people at the time were often shunned from interaction with the nobility, but in the world of Witch, we get to see these interactions, and Frank attempting to ascend from the bottom-most class to the highest.   

Primogeniture most commonly refers to the right of succession of land, wealth, and assets to the firstborn son, especially in the feudal era. 

In Witch, the topic of primogeniture is explored with the storyline of Cuddy and Frank’s casual battle to become the heir of Sir Arthur. Frank began his life with nothing, while Cuddy had everything, therefore Frank thinks he is most deserving of becoming Arthur’s new heir. However, Cuddy is Sir Arthur’s first-born son. If the line of primogeniture is changed from Cuddy to Frank– the fortune will go to different hands, and the construct of “blood money’ will become obsolete within the family.  

 “With wealth at the roots of political power, when there is a change in the primary source of wealth political power will shift as well, and the effect is amplified if land and capital are subject to different rules of intergenerational transmission, with primogeniture reinforcing wealth inequality in aristocracies.”39 

• At the time of Witch, most of the wealth in England was curated through old, passed-down money– there was not much “new wealth” coming about during the trade crisis. This is why characters such as Frank and Winnifred have such a drive to integrate themselves into the noble lifestyle– they will be able to integrate themselves with wealth, and in turn, gain political and social power. 

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 39 Graziella Bertocchi, The Law of Primogeniture and the Transition from Landed Aristocracy to Industrial Democracy (2003), 16. 

• Mercantilism was an economic theory that, at the time of the trade crisis, was appearing constantly in conversations. This theory was created by Thomas Mun in the 1620s. 

Mercantilism is “the economic theory that trade generates wealth and is stimulated by the accumulation of profitable balances, which a government should encourage using protectionism.”40  

• With the mercantilist movement being discussed, talks of the old ways such as feudalism started to disintegrate.  

For Simon Tormey in Anti-Capitalism, this shift was incredibly significant. "Most experts in the field would date [capitalism] from the rise of European mercantile or trading societies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.”41 

He attributes much economic inequality to the disintegration of feudalism, stating "As feudalism and slavery were overthrown or displaced, so those who were liberated became 'masterless' men (and women), freed to try and procure a living for themselves, usually through selling their labor to someone who needed it for the factories, mines, and workhouses that accompanied the process of industrialization. Here, in short, we see a process by which the economic relation of feudalism, namely control over the person is transformed into the capitalist economic relation in which some people buy other people's labor power."42 

• This economic crisis prompted a large discussion about economic national identity– not just between the government but also within the public sphere. One of the most common ways to do this was through pamphlet literature– an accessible method for even the lowest of classes to be able to participate in the discussion.  

“What is less commonly appreciated is that economic reasoning was not, at that time, exclusively confined to the musings of merchants who sought to influence the course of public policy according to their own practical wisdom or corporate interests. Economic distress was then a central topic for public debate throughout English society at large; it figured prominently both in parliament and at court, thus mobilizing most of the kingdom’s economic and political groups.”43 

• For some, capitalism and rapid industrialism served as a benefit– but for the lower classes, their labors became more futile than ever. 

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“Mercantilism” Oxford English Dictionary. https://www.oed.com/?tl=true. 

 Simon Tormey, Anti-capitalism (2013), 2. 

 Tormey, 4. 

 Michele Alacevich. “Review of ‘Political Economy and International Order in Interwar  Europe’ Edited by Alexandre M. Cunha and Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak.” Center for Open Science, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/9j3dn. 

In Witch, every character’s storyline is directly influenced by their economic background.  

• Elizabeth is a poor woman who lives in a hut. It is not disclosed in the script how she earns money. Widespread economic distress became associated with the devil and witchcraft around the 1620s in England– and the women accused were often poor. Therefore, the suspicions toward Elizabeth could stem from her economic background. 

•  Winnifred is a feudal servant, whose labor is exploited by Sir Arthur. There are many instances in the script of Winnifred’s humanity being reduced to the tasks she performs, whether it be by Sir Arthur regarding her labor, or by Cuddy and Frank, regarding her gender. When Winnifred is liberated from Frank, she still needs to sell her soul to get by– however, she does not sell her soul for a different life.  

  In the final scene, Winnifred states “If I wished for the devil to make me nobility! The top of the heap- the men go out hunting, the men go to war and there I am, sitting alone at the end of a very long table. And the room is very silent, and there’s still nobody listening.”44 Winnifred’s character arc is a direct representation of how capitalism favors a male-dominated society and suggests a feminist critique of capitalism.   

• Sir Arthur is the character with the highest status and most power. He is a noble and a catalyst for class conflict in the play. He harbors the power to decide on an heir, and both Frank and Cuddy are subordinate to his social and economic capital. “Man cannot be given greatness,' Scratch says about Sir Arthur in scene 6– “he has it or he doesn’t. But he can be given power, with which to exercise his greatness.”45  

• Frank is a firm believer in that very concept aforementioned by Scratch– Frank believes he is destined for greatness, but does not have the power to exercise that greatness, due to his lack of social capital and disadvantaged background. Frank’s character arc is the most impacted by his class, as he intends to ascend from poverty to nobility.   

He has the mindset of a typical capitalist sheep– that he is destined for greatness and that he will achieve it through the acquirement of wealth. He is exploited under Sir Arthur, even though the nature of this exploitation seems to benefit him.  

He thinks he is most deserving of becoming Arthur’s new heir, as he has worked his way to the top from a disadvantaged position. Cuddy ultimately puts an end to this plotline by killing Frank, reinforcing the age-old idea perpetuated and supported by the Law of Primogeniture– that the rich will succeed in staying rich by any means necessary.   

• Cuddy is the son of a nobleman who is born into wealth– yet he is at risk of losing his access to the law of Primogeniture. Cuddy’s effeminate nature and suspected queerness disassociates him from his father’s fortune and assets– meaning that Frank Thorney could be next in line to receive everything that was supposed to be his. 

He has more wealth, but Frank has more power– the power to exercise his “greatness,” as previously mentioned, to Sir Arthur, gain his fortune, and become the next heir to the throne.  

Cuddy being detached from his wealth and fortune so suddenly adds a sense of urgency to his character and is the main reason why he is so likely to sell his soul to Scratch in the first scene. In a way, Cuddy’s economic woes catalyze many of the events that happen throughout the play.   

• Scratch is a paranormal being– he is genderless and classless– only choosing to appear as a well-off white male, as it would get him treated best by the people of Edmonton. Scratch choosing to identify this way reveals that the world of Witch has a societal structure much like our own. Scratch often uses capitalist language throughout the play, which shows that although he is not integrated into the status quo, he still reinforces it.

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Silverman, 83 

Silverman, 32