The Witch (play)

The still-extant manuscript (since 1821, MS. Malone 12 in the collection of the Bodleian Library), a small quarto-sized bundle of 48 leaves, is in the hand of Ralph Crane,[3] the professional scribe who worked for the King's Men in this era, and who prepared several texts for the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays, as well as two of the surviving manuscripts of Middleton's A Game at Chess, plus other King's Men's works.

[5][6] Middleton's play gives the full lyrics, whereas Macbeth only mentions the song titles in stage cues.

[7] Middleton's primary source for material on witches was the Discovery of Witchcraft of Reginald Scot (1584),[8] from which the playwright drew invocations, demons' names, and potion ingredients.

Middleton, however, ignores Scot's skeptical attitude toward witchcraft lore, and merely mines his book for exploitable elements.

He also borrowed the situation of a historical Duke and Duchess of Ravenna, related in the Florentine History of Niccolò Machiavelli and in the fiction of Matteo Bandello.

(In forming this aspect of the play's plot, Middleton may have been influenced by the contemporaneous real-life divorce scandal of Lady Frances Howard and the Earl of Essex, which involved charges of magic-induced impotence.

"[10] Middleton's choice to set the play in Italy may reflect an element of satire against witchcraft beliefs and practices in Roman Catholic societies of his era.

The witches plan to boil the baby and use its fat to make a transvection ointment that enables them to fly at night, transform themselves into incubi, and have sex with young men.

She obliges, giving him a charm that will make Amoretta instantly fall in love with him, provided it is touching her body.

A cat playing a fiddle (Malkin) enters, followed by spirits bearing plates of fine meat.

Isabella enters, not knowing of the pregnancy, and encourages Francisca to get married so she can discuss matters of a marital nature with her (Antonio's impotency is obviously on her mind).

"Celio" announces the arrival of a letter from Antonio's mother in Northern Italy, asking Francisca to come immediately.

At the end of the scene, Gaspero enters with the Lord Governor (Isabella's uncle), who has come to pay Antonio a visit.

Then the charm begins to work: Amoretta has a sudden change of heart and declares that Almachildes is "the sweetest gentleman in court."

Isabella, who has become dissatisfied with her impotent husband, promises to reward "Celio" handsomely if he can prove that his allegations against Antonio are true.

Voices from offstage bid Hecate to hurry up and join the nighttime flight, and sing the song "Come Away, Come Away" (which also appears in Macbeth).

"Celio" encourages Isabella to wait; he is reluctant to send her back home for fear she will discover Florida in her bed.

Raving, he shouts that he will kill Francisca too, because she was the person who brought him the news of Isabella's adultery and made him a murderer.

Fearing for her life, Francisca admits that she made the entire story up to conceal the illegitimate child she had with Aberzanes.

Antonio forces Francisca and Aberzanes to kneel and perform a handfast (engagement) ceremony, ending by making them drink some poisoned wine.

In a soliloquy, Antonio wonders if his ruined marriage might be retribution for spreading false reports of Sebastian's death so he could marry Isabella.

Assuming that Isabella is out having sex with another man, Antonio prays that the poisoned wine will not take effect until he can find his wife and kill her.

Hermio tells them that there has been a great deal of commotion as a result of Isabella's absence and that Antonio has gone to Fernando's house to find her.

Hecate recites a charm in Latin (quoted from Ovid) and assures the Duchess that Almachildes will die that evening.

Hecate orders Firestone to bring her various ingredients, including "three ounces of the red-haired girl I killed last midnight."

These ingredients are stirred together in a pot; Hecate sings a charm song and the other witches perform a dance for the moon.

Hermio enters and announces that Antonio fell through a trap door to his death while searching Fernando's house for Isabella.

The Lord Governor reveals the body of the Duke (it has presumably been concealed in a curtained-off space up to this point) and charges the Duchess with adultery and murder.

At that moment, to everyone's great surprise, the Duke sits up from his death bed, perfectly alive (it seems as though Almachildes was not cold-blooded enough to actually kill him).

He thanks Almachildes for sparing his life, pardons his wife's transgressions, and promises to refrain from drinking out of the skull goblet in the future.