Elizabeth Sawyer
Sawyer fluctuates from a stereotypical ‘witchy’ witch (like the witches of Macbeth) to a more sympathetic portrayal of an ostracized woman driven by a corrupt community into the ‘dark arts’ (which at the time was a relatively uncommon treatment of the stock ‘witch’ character in theatre). Her frustration with the community around her is emphasized throughout as she is beaten up by her fellow villagers. Equally despite a seemingly sympathetic or at least empathetic portrayal she is still condemned by her playwrights to repentance and execution.
Frank
Frank is a bigamist and perhaps the central character in the play. His immorality acts as a reminder that the corruption of this village is a pandemic problem, not one that can be isolated or pinned onto a singular individual such as Elizabeth Sawyer. His violent crimes against Susan go comparatively unpunished in comparison to Elizabeth Sawyer, further blurring the moral message of this domestic tragedy.
Cuddy Banks
Cuddy Banks has often been played as a typical ‘fool’ character in productions of ‘The Witch of Edmonton’, and he certainly has a lot of these elements and brings much of the comedy to the play. But equally as a character he is a lot more nuanced than just a fool. His relationship with the Dog is particularly interesting: he forms a close bond with the Devil – one that does not break until the very end of the play - and is strangely devoted to him for a long while. Their relationship is one which parodies the way owners treat their pet dogs but reimagines this dynamic so that the pet is satan: this close interplay between the everyday/domestic and the satanic is an important motif, if not the central motif, of the play as a whole.
Justice
The Justice is an interesting character in that he goes from being a mediator between the villagers and Elizabeth Sawyer – potentially even sympathetic to her - to another moral authority that condemns her. This shift in attitude comes from Sawyer’s failure to conform to expected gender roles, particularly when she questions the morality of the community and the law. The Justice is a figure that works in tandem with the rest of the community as part of a chain of corrupt moral authorities.
Anne
Although Anne has always been important in terms of plot, as her death is what condemns Sawyer to death, she only has a very small role in the original play, bursting in spouting nonsense and then running offstage to beat her own brains out. Nevertheless, Anne’s madness is something that complicates moral accountability in the play - while Sawyer’s magic is blamed for Anne’s madness and death, she first appears onstage already mad before ‘Dog’ has brushed against her. She is also said to have previously taken part in the community ostracism of Sawyer, having previously ‘struck’ Sawyer’s sow - she is not simply a sacrificial innocent.
Dog
‘Dog’ is probably the scariest character of the play. ‘Dog’ possess an uncanny duality where he is both manipulative, evil and satanic but also behaves at times like an actual domesticated dog. He acts as kind of a satanic embodiment of the skewed moral compass of the domestic, village community Sawyer inhabits. The two most important relationships he has are with Elizabeth Sawyer and Cuddy Banks, and in both cases there exists a mixture of fear and comedy, potentially with strange sexual undertones. His relationship with Sawyer is one which borders on romantic, but ‘Dog’ remains the prime manipulator. The power balance between the two is always unstable, until Dog eventually abandons her. Cuddy Banks and Dog’s relationship is one that acts almost as a parody of domestic life and the way people treat and idolize their pet dogs. Equally there are satanic and sexual undertones between the two of them.
