Are witches' true figures of feminine emancipation or mere myths?

Thèmes abordés

Halloween, sorcières, femme, féminisme, légende, witches, women, myth, legend, feminism, anglais

Résumé du document

As Halloween approaches, most of us expect to see people dressed as hook-nosed witches, carrying magic cauldrons, holding magic broomsticks, ready to cast spells on you at any moment. Fairy tales are full of these characters synonymous with evil, casting spells on newborn babies and poisoning rival princesses. The characters who bring you good luck are better known as fairies or godmothers.
Today, most people regard them as essentially fictional characters. However, witches once represented real women allegedly endowed with magical powers.

Extraits

[...] Today, feminists and ecologists even claim to be called witches, if being a witch means being close to nature, having healing powers for society. Being called a witch is also asserting the right to be different. Their power goes beyond their physical attraction or their ability to harm. The power of witches is a power they use for themselves and not to exert domination on other people. This is the case of suffragettes, feminists, ecologists of all women fighting against all types of discrimination today. [...]

[...] They themselves seem to contract marriage and manipulate men. Their power is also symbolised by their giving birth. Their power of seduction echoes the one of mermaids who mesmerise men with their enchanting songs and lead them to their ruin. Then, witches are often associated with natural elements as if they were providential creatures, also able to save men from dangers. Even in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller (1953), young women considered as witches are associated with natural elements, as the main event happens in a forest. [...]

[...] Are witches to be found only in tales, novels, paintings, religious interpretations or people's imagination? II. Witches are real human beings The vision of which as the powerful mermaid is merely the expression of a patriarchal fantasy. Therefore, witches have been created by men to reduce them only to physically attractive creatures, unable to exert power in other spheres. The purpose here would be to deprive women of their status of human being. Besides, it appears that witchcraft is a deliberate intention from the part of men to reject those who are in a marginal situation. [...]

[...] Today's society strongly questions what it is to be a man versus what itis to be a woman. Can we assert that men and women do not share all the same characteristics? Once considered as a powerful figure in Greek antiquity, the witch is now reduced to her harmful power of self-assertiveness by patriarchal society. Yet, society is evolving. Far from deterring them to assert themselves, women rather show their pride to be called witches, especially since this word evokes a strong bond with Mother Nature and positive healing skills. [...]

[...] Are witches' true figures of feminine emancipation or mere myths? As the period of Halloween is looming large, most of us expect to see people disguised in witches with crooked noses, carrying magic cauldrons, holding magic brooms, ready to cast spells on you anytime. Fairy tales are full of these characters synonymous with the evil, who cast spells on newborns, poison rival princesses. The characters who bring you good luck are rather called fairies or godmothers. Today most people consider them as mainly fictitious characters. [...]