I Married a Witch (1942) conveys the tale of how Jennifer, a powerful witch, which no mere mortal man could ever control ends up falling in love with Wallace Wooley, a man whose descendants angered her in which she cursed them for centuries. She fights over a series of unfortunate events: going against her father, destroying Wallace Wooley’s wedding, running away with him, marrying, and losing her powers; in the end Jennifer is successfully able to lead a happy domestic life. This film reflects society’s norms, limitations, and standards for women during the 1940s-1960s era. These ideologies of women being obedient, having no real power, and the expectations to get married really was an outcry to the so-called privileges women had. Throughout …show more content…
Be feminine, beautiful, graceful, and be able to balance all of these expectations within your domestic sphere. However, Jennifer was not part of the category in fact she stepped out of the traditional role of a women in society. She was an all-powerful witch that could command anyone and use spells to alter people’s frame of reference or actions. Due to the fact that she wasn’t included within society’s boundaries; she was the image of a bad woman being unladylike in terms of manners and appearance. For instance, wearing Wallace’s pajamas, unfazed for being naked, intruding into his bedroom, and laying on his bed were all unthinkable factors for women. For the lack of respect, Wallace in return does not look at her as a good women and avoids her at all costs, but it slowly changes specifically in a scene where Jennifer says, “Why do you look at me that way? Oh, my dress. Do you like it?” and Wallace astounded stutters, “I-I don’t know. It’s such a shock to see you dressed. I mean…you’re beautiful” (Rene Clair, 1942). She becomes feminine, beautiful, and a good women especially when she gets married and starts to think within her domestic sphere: being able to do domestic chores, being supportive, and looking forward to having
Whittier begins his story by writing, “Woman’s attributes are generally considered of a milder and purer character than those of man. ”(348) Right of the bat, the reader has a stereotypical idea in his or her mind about how a woman should act and what characteristics she should hold. Whittier does this to show how different and unique his main character, Hannah Dustan, will be seen throughout his piece of work. Whittier then goes on to say, “Yet, there have been astonishing manifestations of female fortitude and power in the ruder and sterner trials of humanity; manifestations of courage rising almost to sublimity; the revelation of all those dark and terrible passions, which madden and distract the heart of manhood.
As the story of Tituba unfolds, it reveals a strong and kind hearted young woman, very different from the Tituba we meet in The Crucible. I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem unveils for the reader, Tituba's life, loves, and losses. Her long and arduous journey through life is inspired by her many female counterparts, yet also hindered by her insatiable weakness for men, who also press upon her the realities of life.
Witchcraft had always fascinated many people and been a very controversial topic in North America during (seventeenth) 17th century. Many People believe that witchcraft implies the ability to injure or using supernatural power to harm others. People believed that a witch represents dark side of female present and were more likely to embrace witchcraft than men. There are still real witches among us in the Utah whom believe that witchcraft is the oldest religion dealing with the occult. However the popular conception of a witch has not changed at least since the seventeenth century; they still caused panic, fear and variety of other emotions in people…………………….
The play is based on the real life witch hunts that occurred in the late
The term witchcraft is defines as the practice of magic intended to influence nature. It is believed that only people associated with the devil can perform such acts. The Salem Witch Trials was much more than just America’s history, it’s also part of the history of women. The story of witchcraft is first and foremost the story of women. Especially in its western life, Karlsen (1989) noted that “witchcraft challenges us with ideas about women, with fears about women, with the place of women in society and with women themselves”. Witchcraft also confronts us too with violence against women. Even through some men were executed as witches during the witch hunts, the numbers were far less then women. Witches were generally thought to be women and most of those who were accused and executed for being witches were women. Why were women there so many women accused of witchcraft compared to men? Were woman accused of witchcraft because men thought it was a way to control these women? It all happened in 1692, in an era where women were expected to behave a certain way, and women were punished if they threatened what was considered the right way of life. The emphasis of this paper is the explanation of Salem proceedings in view of the role and the position of women in Colonial America.
The witch hunts in early modern Europe were extensive and far reaching. Christina Larner, a sociology professor at the University of Glasgow and an influential witchcraft historian provides valuable insight into the witch trials in early modern Europe in her article 'Was Witch-Hunting Woman-Hunting?'. Larner writes that witchcraft was not sex-specific, although it was sex-related (Larner, 2002). It cannot be denied that gender plays a tremendous role in the witch hunts in early modern Europe, with females accounting for an estimated 80 percent of those accused (Larner, 2002). However, it would be negligent to pay no heed to the remaining 20 percent, representing alleged male witches (Larner, 2002). The legal definition of a witch in this time, encompassed both females and males (Levack, 1987). This essay will explore the various fundamental reasons for this gender discrepancy and highlight particular cases of witchcraft allegations against both women and men. These reasons arise from several fundamental pieces of literature that depict the stereotypical witch as female. These works are misogynistic and display women as morally inferior to men and highly vulnerable to temptations from demons (Levack, 1987). This idea is blatantly outlined in the text of the 'Malleus Maleficarum' written by James Sprenger and Henry Kramer in the late fifteenth century. This book is used as the basis for many of the witch trials in early modern Europe (Levack, 1987). The text describes women as sexually submissive creatures and while remarking that all witchcraft is derived from intense sexual lust, a women is thus a prime candidate for witchcraft (Sprenger & Kramer, 1487). In this time period, men are seen as powerful and in control and thus rarely...
One of the most prominent themes in Arthur Miller’s 1953 drama, The Crucible, is the use of role reversals within race and gender boundaries, social status, and superficial power. In the not-so-sleepy town of Salem, Massachusetts, the rumor of witches among the community runs rampant as various characters work to accuse their fellow citizens of witchery or defend their neighbors from the gallows. Driven by jealously and pure hatred, those who have minor roles within the community lust after a more notable place in society by accusing the more distinguished members to rid them of their land, wealth, or reputation – and even their life. Those wrongfully accused are driven by fear as they either admit their guilt to save their own lives or find someone else to blame for the supposed crime. In turn, this causes the well-known citizens to be reduced to their salt and the minor townsfolk to gain a certain type of fame or air about themselves. The turn of tables proves to benefit certain female characters with minor roles and damage the more notable male characters within the community.
The Crucible is one of the most bizarre accounts of a historical event to date. The naïveté of the townspeople leads them down a road of madness and confusion, led by a shameless Puritan girl. Abigail Williams was a ruthless girl who showed no mercy upon accusing her victims of witchcraft. Knowing the entire town of Salem would believe her and the other girls, she would not hesitate at charging anyone she wished with the crime of the Devil’s work. However, a challenge arose to Abigail when she decided to accuse Elizabeth Proctor, and eventually her husband John, of witchcraft. The Proctor marriage was not just any simple marriage; it had its times of cold shoulders, heartfelt truth, and undying love.
In the year 1692, the small farming village of Salem, Massachusetts saw a social phenomenon that would propel the village into the history books: the calamity that was witchcraft. The witch trials were initiated whenever three young girls, Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, and Ann Putnam were caught performing fortune telling rituals in the woods, trying to gather information on what type of man would be best for them. Soon thereafter, the girls began experiencing hysterical fits, prompting Betty Parris’s father, Reverend Samuel Parris, to call in the authorities to confirm the cause of the girls’ symptoms. ...
Practical Magic was released October 16, 1998. The story is about two sisters who break a curse that had been placed on their family for over 200 years, by their ancestor Maria. Throughout the movie the theme is magic. Practical Magic helps to break the false images placed on witches and magic throughout time, but at times, the movie, still upholds some of the negative views of witches. There are many stereotypes that are set upon modern witchcraft and magic in today’s society that Hollywood has helped to maintain. In society there are people that are the selected voice of the general public in critiquing movies. I will be looking at Practical Magic’s use of magic to see how they break or perpetuate the following stereotypes: physical appearance of a witch, the witch as an outcast, and the types of magic and how they were shown throughout the movie.
Toivo, Raisa M. ‘Women at Stake. Interpretations of Women’s Role in Witchcraft and Witch-Hunts since the early 20th century to the present’ Australia: University of New South Wales, 2005.
Were the witch-hunts in pre-modern Europe misogynistic? Anne Llewellyn Barstow seems to think so in her article, “On Studying Witchcraft as Women’s History: A Historiography of the European Witch Persecutions”. On the contrary, Robin Briggs disagrees that witch-hunts were not solely based on hatred for women as stated in his article, “Women as Victims? Witches, Judges and the Community”. The witch craze that once rapidly swept through Europe may have been because of misconstrued circumstances. The evaluation of European witch-hunts serves as an opportunity to delve deeper into the issue of misogyny.
The responsibilities held by a housewife had immense importance in her role in society. Women were responsible for preserving the boundaries of social and cultural life. When this process was disrupted, the authority and identity of the housewife were put into question, she could no longer control the processes needed to fulfill her role. Instead of admitting this loss of control, it may have been easier for the housewife to blame a witch, usually someone who had wronged her. (Starkey 24)
Wills, Deborah. Malevolent Nurture: Witch Hunting and Maternal Power in Early Modern England. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995.
Now while all of this was going on, there was a witch that was looking over everything. This witch was not happy with everybody making this young beautiful girl so conceited. This girl could be doing good, instead of worrying about what she wore and ate. Now this witch decided she was going to let it pass, until the lovely girl did something terrible. The witch was going to wait until this girl broke a heart and that’s when she would step in. She had to protect her sons from women like this.