QUESTIONS FOR WITCHCRAFT TEXTS

I. Questions Regarding the Text Itself

• Is this a Greek or a Latin text?

• Who is the author of this text? What do we know about his/her background? (ethnicity, class, gender)

• What is the title of the work from which this text comes?

• What is the genre of the work from which this text comes?

• When was this work written?

• To what time period does this text refer?

• To what region does this text refer?

• To what social class does this text refer?

• Where is this text found in the work as a whole and what role does it play in that work? (context)

II. Questions Regarding the Representation of Witches in the Text

A. Terminology

• What terms are used to describe the witch? (witch, sorceress, etc.)
• What terms are used to describe what the witch does? (magic, sorcery, incantation, etc.)

  B. Description

• Is the witch male or female?

• Is the witch divine, semi-divine, or mortal?

• What physical characteristics are ascribed to the witch? (looks, dress)

• What psychological characteristics are ascribed to the witch? (personality, temperament)

• What is social characteristics are ascribed to the witch? (social interactions, social status, offspring, connections with opposite gender)

• What background is ascribed to the witch? (familial, education/training)

• What is the witch compared to?

• Is the witch described as "marginal" in some way? How?

  C. Magical Actions

• What kinds of magical powers are ascribed to the witch?

• What magical powers does the witch actually exhibit?

• Which supernatural beings does the witch call upon in her magic?

• Does she control or supplicate these supernatural beings?

• What tools, such as physical objects or words, does the witch use in magic?
• Does the witch have an assistant in carrying out magical actions? How is this assistant described? What does the assistant do? How important is the assistant to the witch?

• Can her magical actions be evaded? How?

• What connection do her actions have to established religion?

  D. Evaluation

• What motives are ascribed to the witch?

• Is the witch good or evil or somewhere in between?

III. Questions Regarding the Interpretation of the Text

• What does this text suggest about the nature of witches?

• Does this text represent an accurate portrayal of witches in the time period to which it refers? Why or why not? How do you know?

• What do we know about society in the period in which this text was written, particularly in respect to the position of women?

• Does this text reflect attitudes toward women at this time in this society? How?

• Does the text point to any of the following explanations for the linkage between women and (evil) witchcraft?

  • Philosophical: Women are irrational, because they are linked to nature, while men are linked to culture.

  • Biological: Women are dangerous, because they are polluted by their excretion of bodily fluids, such as milk and blood (They are liminal, for these fluids break the boundary of the body).

  • Psychological: Women are fearful, because they alone raise and punish children.

  • Sociological: Women are weak, because they are suppressed by the patriarchal nature of society.

• Does the text support any of the following theories regarding witchcraft:

  • Witches represent people's deepest fears about themselves and their society. (Brain: "universal belief regarding witchcraft")

  • Witches represent a reversal of all that is considered normal behavior in a particular society. (Brain: "universal belief regarding witchcraft")

  • Beliefs in witchcraft (and in the power of witches) increase when people cannot move away from sources of tension and when societal structure is heavily hierarchical, causing a rise in envy in the population. (Brain: lack of mobility theory)

  • Beliefs in witchcraft (and in the power of witches) increase when people feel that the social center has been disrupted by excessive change and hence either create a periphery against which the center may be redefined or form an alternative social center (Ben-Yehuda: boundary maintenance theory)

  • Beliefs in witchcraft (and in the power of witches) increase when people feel insecure about their environment (Lindenbaum: ecological theory)

  • Witchcraft can serve as a mechanism for social control of deviance through allowing the expression and mediation of conflict (McPherson: conflict mediation theory)