Jennifer Dahl Witches

A final trait given, that witches are bald, can be related back to how the witches, once caught, were shaved completely and then examined for any mark (be it birthmark, mole, etc.) that was the “devil’s mark”. In looking at the MM, one can see the parallels that Dahl drew from this. The mark located on these witches (proving that they are “real witches”), being the sores they get on their heads from “wig rash” (Dahl 26). Be this information as it may, the conversation in the book ends with the boy and his grandmother stating “how horrid” (25) and “disgusting” (25) it is thinking about a bald woman. Having a lack of hair, according to society, on a woman deems her “ugly” and “un-feminine.” Additionally, though the cat-claw nails is a trait that

Dahl makes this exact case on the first page of his book, which is a mock preface for the reader, the title being “A Note about Witches” (7). In this preface, he immediately informs the audience the difference between fairy tale witches and his “real” ones: “in fairy-tales, witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks, and they ride on broomsticks…REAL WITCHES [sic] dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women. They live in ordinary houses and they work ORDINARY JOBS [sic]” (7). He feels that it is necessary to emphasize the point that what he is talking about is different than what a child is used to hearing about witches from fairytales. He is giving them something they don’t usually see but what they craved. Talbot