Elizabethan Demonology by Thomas Alfred Spalding

This is an essay about the belief in the existence of devils and is focused primarily on the Elizabethan era. It has a lot of references to Shakespeare's works so anyone who's not familiar with the works of the famous playwright will only find this confusing instead of being helpful.

The writer discussed succinctly the prevailing beliefs of the society in which Shakespeare grew up in. There are a lot of digressions in the essay. In the first part, the writer started off by discussing how classic writers might be misinterpreted and he went on to cite examples. It took him longer to get to the point of his essay.

He did a good job however in establishing the context in which the beliefs in demons and witches prevailed. He wrapped it up nicely too by analyzing the changes in Shakespeare's works over the years.

I also have to warn the reader about the writing style. He writes very long sentences and like I mentioned earlier, he sometimes goes off-topic just to make his point.

I recommend this only to those who are familiar with most of Shakespeare's works (unless you're willing to ignore the names of the characters unfamiliar to you).

I'm giving this a 7 out of 10 rating.