The Sorceress

The Sorceress focuses on discrimination, love, superstition, and persecution. The story is set in Granada immediately after the conquest by the Spaniards. It revolves around two central figures, a Castilian officer and a cultured Moorish woman. The woman ignores an order of the Inquisition imposing the death penalty upon partnerships between Christians and unconverted Moslems. She has the strength to claim their rights as human beings and suffer the unavoidable results of her resilience. The play opens with a funny scene in which a petty officer who has been granted authority is bullying a group of peasants. Among this crowd is supposed to be the culprit who had stolen the corpse of an executed criminal publicly exposed. The body was of an unconverted Moor who had fallen in love with a Christian girl. In no time background of superstition is painted using the words of the ignorant natives. The famous French dramatist, Victorien Sardou, depicts the struggle for individual freedom during that period. This work is proof of Sardou's excellent technique. The series of events is natural, and the transition from situation to situation is presented honestly.