Witch please! Naming and Meaning in Thomas Middleton’s 'The Witch'

A seminar by Dr Miranda Fay Thomas (Department of Drama) as part of the School of Creative Arts Research Forum.

Abstract:
Thomas Middleton’s The Witch—though a commercial failure described by the playwright himself as an ‘ill-fated labour’—offers an intriguing commentary on the role of naming. In doing so, it reveals curious tensions between what is known and unknown in early modern England. When Almachildes asks the witch Hecate ‘Is your name Goody Hag?’, Hecate replies: “‘Tis anything. / Call me the horrid’st and unhallowed’st things / (…) for thee / I’ll be the same” (1.2.198-201). As Marion Gibson and Jo Ann Esra note, early modern discourse on demonology and witchcraft was a lightning rod for ‘many difficult problems of epistemology (knowing) and taxonomy (classifying)’. That Almachildes can call her ‘anything’ and she will ‘be the same’ is a magical mismatch between signifier and signified: she cannot be defined, but she still is, and this lack of definability places her at the edge of, or even outside, the mortal, finite, understandable world. This papers argues that Middleton’s ‘ill-fated’ play, through its use and treatment of names, queries the nature of the relationship between the linguistic and the ontological, and between the human and fantastical worlds -- and how the failure of signifiers reflects a lack of mortal control. 
About the speaker:
Dr Miranda Fay Thomas has been Assistant Professor of Theatre and Performance at Trinity since 2019. They are a scholar specialising in early modern drama, its performance, and its afterlives – with a particular focus on the work and reception of Shakespeare.

The School of Creative Arts Research Forum meets weekly on Mondays from 10am-11am in the Neill Lecture Theatre in Trinity Long Room Hub. The aim of the Forum is to provide a space for School researchers, both staff and postgraduate students, to share their ideas in an informal and supportive environment. It is also an opportunity for the School to hear about the research of colleagues both from within TCD and from outside the university who share our research interests. In line with the research agenda of the School, talks encompass traditional research and practice-based research.

Please indicate if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: weiyi@tcd.ie