(Witch Hunts) Witches were thought to be consults of the devil who gave up their bodies and led others away from the church for the devil in exchange for otherworldly power. In addition to this women were marked as being sexually voracious, the origin of this mindset being the Garden of Eden. (Witchcraft and Midwifery) It was also believed that because women were weaker than men and had fewer rights, they were more likely to succumb to the devil in order to obtain their wishes. (Witch Hunts) In this respect they were “...by nature instruments of Satan -- they [were] by nature carnal, a structural defect rooted in the original creation.” (Steven Katz, Gendercide Watch: European Witch-Hunts) Because of the influential role religion held in European communities, these associations women held were powerful instruments in their accusations. Still tying into religious influences, the very physical appearance of a woman could lead to the belief that she is a witch.
She instantly jumps to the conclusion that witchcraft is afoot, which is apparent when she states “Mark it for a sign, mark it!” when Betty thrashes in her “trance.” She is also paranoid by the fact that there must be some paranormal reason as to why her babies have perished. And it is these traits that differentiate her from Abigail. This use of contrast by Miller emphasizes the characterization of the two characters. But it is Rebecca Nurse who stands out among this crowd. Both Abigail and Mrs. Putnam are bitter and to a certain extent spiteful yet Rebecca Nurse carries none of these mannerisms.
This forebodes the death of Macbeth and also Lady Macbeth by suggesting that they will not be able to kill the King and live a normal, guilt free life afterwards. Lady Macbeth then creates irony as she mocks Macbeth for thinking this way, she refers to him as a ‘coward’ and insists that this murder is necessary. This part of the play is extremely significant as we realise just how harsh Lady Macbeth is and how far she would really go. She removes any maternal characteristics that she may have had by explaining that her lack of pity would extend so far, that she would murder a baby. “Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out”.
Shakespeare’s objective is to show how the guilt Is driving her insane. Shakespeare also does this with the semantic field of death; “death and blood” are used through her sleep-walk. This implies that her guilt of killing Duncan is driving her insane this technique is used by Shakespeare to portray Lady Macbeth’s broken state of mind which makes her restless. In Act 2 Scene 2, the witches say "Sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep,” this is exactly what has happened to Lady Macbeth as she is unable to sleep.
But, she is afraid of his personality ‘too full o’th milk of human kindness’ and decides to take matters into her own hands. This is also the scene where we hear her first famous soliloquy which is ‘unsex me here’ when she calls on the evil spirits. Really, she wants to be the same as the three witches, but because of who she is, she has to repress all her inner feelings and her conscience in order to carry on with her plan to murder Duncan. She has to be two-faced. When Macbeth returns later in the scene, she immediately pounces onto him and tries to persuade him to murder the King and she says it in a very manipulative way.
The last character that contributed to an entire town’s belief in witches would be Danforth. His stubborn and narrow minded attitude had people dangling from a rope. It is easy to say that Abigail Williams is the triumphant ringleader of the accusers in The Crucible. Constantly pointing fingers, she named name after name and everyone believed her whole heartedly. At the beginning of the play, Reverend Parris accused Abigail of witch craft but to avoid punishment she passed the blame to Tituba saying “I never called him!
Nine-year old Elizabeth Parris and eleven years old Abigail Williams started having fits, strange behaviors and would scream with anger. A doctor looked at the girls and decided that the only explanation was spells caused by witchcraft. Despite the fact today we know it wasn’t logically true, but the town had a strong belief of the devil. Hysteria and chaos took over the town, soon enough when girls all over town decided to take part in it, and began accusing the townspeople without a reason. This is one reason why this is the worst thing that happened to America.
The Devils Wife – To what extent is Myra Hindley presented as a victim? By Alessandro Binda In the first part of the poem called ‘I. Dirt’ Myra is not presented as a victim in anyway. In fact it’s quite the opposite, she was very attracted to him “… on fire for him.” The way that Myra attracts the devil is quite childish, she says that she scowled, pouted and sneered to attract him; this is definitely not victim like behaviour. In the last stanza of the first section Myra goes on to briefly talk about their sex life ‘I won’t repeat what we did.’ In my opinion the way she says this makes her almost come across as she is boasting; which is definitely not victim like behaviour.
These women had kids and that was there only job. Although men only saw these women as just a body to use to bear a child, all other women were jealous of them As we read on we can see that the Marthas of the story are the most under privileged of the women. They cannot have kids and are seen as a waste of a human body in the novel. Men keep these women suppressed under very strict rules. All women are color coded which goes to show that women are seen as objects instead of as a human being with natural rights.
Both the whore and the crone were disregarded and not accepted because they were strange, uncommon and their dominant and powerful nature intimidated men. The witches easily fall into the category of the crone. Men and women alike were fearful of the witches’ authority and their supremacy; and so, put up with the witches power and their eccentric behavior. Macbeth approaches them for help many times throughout the play but this a common theme throughout the play, where men believe that they can use women yet not respect them as equal human beings – A feminist would not be satisfied with this whole idea! Macbeth says