Silber. Its main points focused on the antagonist mother-daughter dynamics as they appear in fairy tales. I was particularly interested to discover the role of the wicked stepmother in the heroine’s path toward “femininity” (Fisher and Silber 123). In this source, the authors discus that in the absence of the heroine’s true and righteous mother, her pathological stepmother is “the only available, living ‘model’ of feminine maturity” (124). And since the stepmother was put under severe social criticism, the heroine’s ‘reaction’ was to associate herself with “the passive, feminine identity of the first queen, avoiding any identification with the active principle embodied in the characterization of the bad mother/witch” (124).
In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the story started with Macbeth being a loyal and brave thane to King Duncan. After the three witches had told him that he was eventually going to become king, he was over taken by ambition and power, which led to the kings’ death and Macbeth taking over the throne. There are many arguments about whose ambition led to all the murders and events in the play. The actions and words of Lady Macbeth could have led to the encouragement of Macbeth, which made him act upon his feelings, which ultimately led the murders and everything else that had happened around those events. The words of the witches could have also driven him to act upon everything.
He wants the witches to reveal his destiny. To answer his questions the witches summon apparitions that explain to Macbeth his future and destiny. The events of Act IV, scene i contributed to the development of the theme that the more power you receive the more you will become corrupt and evil, but there will always be a price to pay in the end. In this scene, Macbeth demanding the witches to answer his question about his fate shows that he is becoming more worried about his future. The answers that Macbeth gets further Macbeth’s worries.
Enchanting Satan itself, this is where the viewer can get confused. Madison Montgomery, a young witch that wanted to brought someone back from the dead as way of pardon. She used a resurrection spell that cast the devil. So it’s good her intention, but it’s good to recur to that kind of magic? Also shows cases of bestiality which is a taboo these days and is considered something very evil.
Churchill introduced the theme of witch hunting through the characters of Joan, Alice, and Ellen. The witches from the previous centuries would do harm, but Churchill's witches are the ones who are being harmed by people of their community. Through the socio-economic problems of the characters, Churchill introduced the theme of repression against women. Churchill criticizes the repression and emphasizes the fact that the witches are not real but they were considered witch by the patriarchy and capitalism society (Case
The Child Ballad No. 35, “Allison Gross,” in contrast, fairly differs from both ballads I have discussed so far. Whereas “The Marriage of Sir Gawain” and “Kemp Owyne” are, much like most fairy tales, named after the heroes of the ballad, the name “Allison Gross” comes from the story 's villain: the evil witch. Besides, this ballad does not treat of a stepmother 's relationship to and behavior towards their stepchildren, but rather broaches the issue of “[t]he ugliest witch i’ the north country” (“Allison Gross” l. 2) who punishes her beloved for rejecting her. Nonetheless, there are a number of fairy tale elements to be found in this ballad as well.
The normalization of the impulse to deny women dominance led Disney cinema to illustrate strong women as murderers. In both Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Cinderella, the stepmothers are powerful, but slightly depicted as killers in the movie. This causes the Evil Queen and Lady Tremaine to be in a quarrelsome position in relation to their families, resulting in failed family relationships. This trend begins to fade well within Mulan and Maleficent, where these women gradually become nurturers of their families. In Snow White, Snow White initially tries to be caring towards the Evil Queen, but the Evil Queen has no desire to be familial.
The three witches, which are also known as the three “weird sisters”, represent Macbeth’s fate and completely control his thoughts and actions that ultimately play a part in his downfall. The three witches gave multiple predictions which affected Macbeth’s actions throughout the play. From the beginning of the play, the sisters state three different predictions to Macbeth, while his trusty friend, Banquo, is there listening as well. They prophesied, “All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!...All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor... All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!”(Mac.1.3.51-54).
The Greek archetypes within two stories will be analyzed then compared to each other. Most know of the god of Love, Cupid. However, many may not know the tale of Cupid and Psyche. To being, there are three main characters with the addition of Psyche’s sisters who appear near the beginning of the tale. Venus is Cupid’s mother, she fits the archetype of the wicked witch since she attempts to doom Psyche with a terrible, hideous husband.
Characters like Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are good examples on how gender plays a role on people having free will or not. In the beginning of the story, one of the first things that caused Macbeth to falter with his free will was manipulation. He was first manipulated by the three witches in act one, scene three. The witches tell Macbeth that he “shalt be king hereafter” (Mac.1.3.50). By saying this, the witches were able to plant that idea in his mind, manipulating his actions.