I wanted to write a play about witches without any witches in it; a play not about evil, hysteria and possession by the devil, but about poverty, humiliation, and prejudice.
– Caryl Churchill on Vinegar Tom (qtd Kritzer 87)
Vinegar Tom is a one-act play featuring twenty-one scenes punctuated by seven songs. Before analysing the individual characters, it is important to understand the setting and structure. The action of the scenes takes place in a small seventeenth century British village – the time of “the last major English witch hunts” (Churchill qtd Basourakos 280). Conversely, Vinegar Tom’s production note advises the songs are contemporary, performed by the actors out of character and out of costume (133). In the style …show more content…
Alice responds by placing her hands between his legs and telling him “There. It’s back.” Jack replies “It is back. Thank you, Alice. I wasn’t sure you were a witch until then” (164). There is no doubt that Jack is determined to blame Alice for his problems. He intimidates and manipulates Alice into acts that allow for an accusation and conviction of witchcraft. This enables the audience to consider the manipulations of historical, both at the time they were happening, and in the writing and rewriting of history …show more content…
You’ve told me often you’re glad he’s dead. Think how he used to beat you.
JOAN: We’d have more to eat, that’s one thing. (141)
Alice, of course, points out that even when Joan’s deceased partner subjected her to violence, forcing the audience to consider whether one is better fed and beaten or starving and bruise-free. Joan is well aware that her status as a woman entitles her to less. In “Gender, Poverty, and Inequality: A Brief History of Feminist Contributions in the Field of International Development” (2015), Naila Kabeer discusses the relationship between poverty and domestic violence: “wife-beating [is frequently] an outlet for men’s powerlessness in the face of grinding poverty” (194), which emphasises how poverty seeps into every crevice.
Joan’s attempts to herself and her family incur the wrath of her neighbours Jack and Margery. In the aforementioned article, Kabeer lists some household strategies for dealing with poverty, including cutting down on quality and quantity of meals consumed, knowingly letting illness go untreated due to lack of accessible healthcare, and borrowing from neighbours or money lenders (196). Joan often borrows baking supplies, which frustrates Margery:
JOAN: Just passing by.
MARGERY: Again.