Witchcraft Essay Examples

     My favorite character in this book would have to be Peter. He was a little bit of a tough guy yet timid, but wasn’t afraid to fight for his siblings lives. Peter was the oldest amongst his brother and two sisters and was most likely the brains and brawn of the bunch. In this story, Peter has to fight off a wolf to test his courage or, in Aslan’s words, win his spurs. He returns victorious and is knighted by the lion called Aslan. His brother Edmund, a very mischievous boy and a bother to his sisters Lucy and Susan, looks up to Him though he never admits to it. Peter was definitely the highlight of this book.

Meanwhile, Sue Snell, another popular girl who had earlier laughed at Carrie, begins to feel remorseful about her participation in the locker room antics. With the prom fast approaching, Sue convinces her boyfriend, Tommy Ross, one of the most popular boys in the school, to ask Carrie to the prom. Carrie is suspicious but accepts, and makes a red velvet gown. Carrie's mother won't hear of her daughter doing anything so "carnal" as attending a school dance, as she believes that sex in any form is sinful, even after marriage. She also reveals that she knows about Carrie's telekinetic powers, which she considers a form of witchcraft – it seems that they appear every third generation in her family. Carrie, however, is tired of hearing that everything is a sin. She wants a normal life and sees the prom as a new beginning.

In this book Carol Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in 17th century New England, and brings forth the portrait of gender in the New England Society.

What is enlightenment? Immanuel Kant attempts to clarify the meaning of enlightenment while composing the essay, "What is Enlightenment?". The goal of Kant's essay was to discuss what the nature of enlightenment was. It also taught one how enlightenment can be brought about in the general public.

The idea of witchcraft seems preposterous now, but it pulled me into its issues with its bony hands. The renowned play and film The Crucible, by eminent author Arthur Miller, is a great tale of deceit, religious persecution, justice/injustice and paranoia, which shows the ignorance and the perplexing nature of the 17th Century Puritan society. The mysterious world of witchcraft and witch hunts is the centrepiece of this story, which parallels to the Senator Joseph McCarthy communist ‘witch hunts’ in the 1950s. Similarly, I can create a link to contemporary issues in society, whether it takes place in the school playground or politics. As we can all recall, abusive power was a severe problem in the villages of Salem. It afflicted on a person’s ideologies and how they were represented and symbolised by others. My curiosity is conveyed through Abigail. This protagonist is seen as inhumanly diabolical, as she does not express any remorse, via the motif of manipulation and accusations. This is all refracted through the lenses of my own attitudes, values and beliefs of an egalitarian society. So today I am here to explain and engage with you why I entirely believe this story, from many years ago, can reproduce the same apprehensions of abusive power in society today.

This dramatization of a true story deals with one of the most troubling episodes in early American history, the "witch hysteria" that convulsed the village of Salem, Massachusetts, in the 1690s. The historical basis for this drama is the fact that early in the 1700s the colonial government offered to pay reparations to the survivors of those who had been killed, but only if their relatives could somehow prove that the deceased were not in fact witches. The film is a powerful, movie story about three loving sisters accused of witchcraft. This is a true story based on transcripts of the Salem Witch Trials. In the town everyone was very religious and they believe a lot in God. They go like to church and they read Gods lecture.

The witch craze had widely spread through Europe from the Middle Ages up to the 1700’s. Those who were accused of being a witch were persecuted by the use of torture. The number of “witches” who were tried surpassed 100,000. Witches were not viewed too fondly, for they were assumed to associate with the Devil. The three major reasons for the persecutions of witches were economic greed, age and gender bias, and religious beliefs.

Witchcraft exists. Whether we choose to believe or not, its existence in worldwide cultures is undeniable. Its form takes many shapes that can be determined by the religion, economics, politics, and folk beliefs in each individual culture where it may take place. Its importance in our own, American, history should not go understated: Witches were a major dilemma for people who lived in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, and as a result women (and men) were hanged due to undeniable belief in the power of Witchcraft. Today, belief in magic and witches has diminished with the increasingly secular nature of our culture, but we must accept there was a time when witches “existed”. While American culture has drifted away from ideas such as witchcraft, others have certainly not, with the primary example being Africa. Witchcraft in African culture accounts for many of the issues found within many of the continents communities. Correcting these issues, at least for a time, usually results in a community being “fixed” (examples are made in Adam Ashford’s account of witchery, Madumo, a Man Bewitched and the anthropological accounts being used for this essay). What is fascinating; however, are the parallels that can be made between witchcraft in different cultures. In a previous essay I touched on this topic by incorporating my definition of witchcraft as “a cultural means of being able to create particular moral boundaries by means of ‘magic’ thinking” (Brian Riddle, 2015). In this essay, I

The witchcraft crisis through colonial New England is visualized through the work of Mary Beth Norton and Carol F. Karlsen. The scholars demonstrate deep understanding in the subject, and both present valid information through their overall theses. In order to understand the complete story of witchery in the seventeenth-century, these two books intrigue the reader in what the authors want to present. Although, their research seems bias, both historians similarly delve into the topic with an open mind, and successfully uncover information that has not be presented before. Not only does Norton’s In the Devil’s Snare and Karlsen’s The Devil in the Shape of a Woman both represent the study of witchcraft through feminist ideals, Karlsen’s

Tensions rose between young women and girls(Accusers/Afflicted) and older women who showed signs of deviance(Accused witches). In a single year, one hundred and fifteen local people were accused of witchcraft, and twenty were executed. The ordeal was a “role reversal of unique dimensions”(43). The “afflicted” girls were able to exert control over everyone else - as a means to outlet aggression. Young women were the weakest community members and they felt powerless. By accusing older women, some widows who held more power and challenged the male dominated pattern of land ownership, the younger women were able to exert life-and-death power over the

The modern film The Witch by Robert Eggers is set in the 1630’s in New England and follows a Puritan family in their struggles against witches and witchcraft after being banished from the Commonwealth. The story depicts the fears of witches and witchcraft from a Puritan perspective while drawing on portrayals from the Pagan and Christian tradition of the witch to reinforce this image. The Witch uses Pagan, Christian and Puritan concepts of witches and witchcraft to establish an superstitious atmosphere filled with fear, uncertainty and paranoia; this effect aims to represent a similar psychological state of mind the Puritans had towards witches during the Salem witch crisis. Firstly, the elements The Witch uses to develop this atmosphere are images of common witch familiars and animals that have been attributed to them throughout history. Secondly, witchcraft that have been believed to be performed by witches as well as their association with the devil establishes a sense of superstition. Finally, the personality and physical traits of the witch’s character is used to enhance the fearful atmosphere throughout the film. Appearances of animals and familiars associated with witches occur throughout the film and gives a foreboding sense of what is to come.

The Puritan community inaugurated in Salem in 17th century coexists with a strict, patriarchal hierarchy in which power is not fairly available to all. The church sits pompously on top whilst the others dwell on their laborious works, young girls especially being on the bottom of the social ladder. The young female population of Salem, most of them is involved with ‘witchcraft’ later, is subordinate in society as they are servants for Salem households. Moreover, Arthur Miller shows that in times of hysteria and uncertainty, whereas lies and deceits are deemed as truths, the social structure easily crumbles. The weak and vulnerable are then exposed to power and a way in the system that they have only ever dreamed of.

On the evening of July 27th, I attended a production of “Carrie: The Musical” based on the novel “Carrie” by Stephen King. The musical was performed by Near West Theater in Cleveland and directed by Devon Turchan. The main character who name is Carrie White is an outcast through the entire play and her entire life you learn this when the other students talk about past experiences with Carrie. The main antagonist in the play is her very own mother Margaret White. Ms.White is a very religious woman that wants to protect Carrie from the dangers in the world and even herself, very overprotective women and to what I believe very crazy. The plot is brought to life by supporting characters/actors in the play who names are Sue Nell, Tommy Ross, Chris Hargensen, Billy Nolan, Miss Gardner. The actions of all these people building up and resting on carrier shoulders throughout the play cause her to find out she has powers. The end of Act II is when everything comes together Carrie who was invited to the prom by Tommy Ross in a generous gesture that was purposed by Sue Nell. The prom was going very well and Carrie was becoming carefree and was seeing everything she missed out on. Things took things for the worse when Chris and Tommy pour pigs blood on her when she won prom queen. Carrie took all the frustration and years of bullying and the powers she found out about she burned everyone alive at the prom. When she got home she was covered in blood and was crying her very own mom took

Almost definitely imitating the act of new life waking in the spring soil, Stravinsky starts the haunting introduction to his world-renown ballet, Rite of Spring, with a high-pitched lone bassoon. The unstable eeriness continues as a horn and pair of clarinets join in the rubato tempo. Just as everything wakes and bursts into life in spring, so does the piece as more and more instruments join in. Each instrument seems to have a different theme, but seems necessary in portraying the thick texture needed to symbolize the inevitable climactic arrival of Spring. After the orchestra has finished its first outburst and almost all instruments have initially come in, a strange harmonic effect is applied to the viola. As the orchestra draws to a

For nearly two centuries, witchcraft seemed to have disappeared. Although it was driven underground for a time, it is now the fastest growing religion in the United States. There are several reasons for its disappearance and now, for its return.