Clamor: Malefica, Protest, And The Occult Economy In Early Modern England

This thesis attempts to figure witchcraft practices within a larger economic context whereby cursing and maleficent acts in general might be read as a means of political protest against the political and economic destabilization of comrights. By reading cursing and prophecy as epistemological weaponry, the thesis establishes a theory of early modern terror that corresponds to the effects of these tactics on local and national levels. Readings of traditional witchcraft literature and Shakespeare's Macbeth will hopefully allow for an understanding of witchcraft that is heavily concerned over the nature of agency within the period, particularly with regard to the ways in which magic and prognostication stimulated local economies. These "occult economies," in turn, can be read as interactive systems whereby local agents can generate larger effects within a national discourse by utilizing feedback loops generated through local interactions between magic and markets.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. in English

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year dc:date.available

2012

Author dc:creator

• Mock, Charles

Contributors dc:contributor

• Ivo Kamps
• Joseph P. Ward
• Karen Raber

• Literature in English, British Isles

Repository record dc:identifier

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/990

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:egrove.olemiss.edu:etd-1989