Planning Essay

I've been going over and over things in my head and getting myself so confused about my essay. For some reason every time I start to try and break it down, I get totally mixed up. So I've tried to write it out to get the ideas onto a page and get it straight in my head.

My essay aims to explore the witch as a symbol. Looking into the archetypes of the witch and the typical connotations. Where did this come from? And has it changed over time? If so, how? And why? 

The witch used to stand for repression of women, the repression of matriarchal beliefs and paganism. 

The main archetypes portrayed in art and literature being the old hag and the beautiful temptress. Evil / bitterness and unholiness / sexuality. 

Where have the archetypes come from?

Anybody could have been a witch, so why do we have the perception of either old hags or young temptresses.

How has illustration constructed our PERCEPTIONS OF THE TRUTH

these women weren’t flying on broomsticks, having sex with the devil at sabbaths or shape shifting, but for various reasons the population was led to believe in this.

Now a days we have more of an understanding of the motives behind the witch hunts. but the symbol of the witch still survives. 

What does she embody, what does she symbolise and why does this live on through art and literature?

Main body 1

• Where did the witch come from? Historical background of the concept of the witch. 
• What were the social, political and cultural factors that altered people’s perceptions of the truth?
• Female roles within society before the witch craze phenomenon: Wise women, healers, counsellors etc.
• Pagan religions / societies: Celebrations of mother nature, ceremonies, rituals. 
• The spread of Christianity throughout Europe and the rejection of paganism
• The church using women as a scapegoat in order to discredit matriarchal societies or even the equality of male and female. Providing no alternative to the patriarchal christian faith.
• The witch was portrayed to be a symbol of EVIL. The role of the Devil changed and women accused as witches were condemned as worshippers of the Devil.
• “If sexuality was a sin, then woman was the greatest sinner of all” The witch as a symbol of sexuality. 
• Art and literature examples depicting temptress and hag? 2 examples? Appropriate for this section?
• “…false image of the witch as an old hag…Old women used to be revered because they [had] this ancient knowledge…” Why the hag??
• The persecution of witches is about the repression of women.

WHAT IS MY POINT

Witch hunts are the fault of the church. 

The perception of the hag and the temptress though - did these just come out of the forms of evil that these women were thought to represent? Or was it the art and literature at the time? 

Is the art that influenced the perceptions? Or the perceptions that influenced the art?

And then how do these archetypes still exist today? Examples. Have they changed? How?

Conclusion will either be that it has changed, or it hasn’t through examples of illustration / art / literature and how.

So following the historical explanation, I want to use folktale examples, plays and films, to show how the role of the witch exists, and how it's changed.