Witches In The Medieval Period

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Images of Medieval Witches
Ms. Suboleskis 10th English Class
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A Modern Depiction The Wicked Witch of the West
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Let us travel back in time about 600 years
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The Theological Witch

• Witches made a covenant with the Devil
• Acquired their magical powers from Devil
• People blamed witches for natural disasters

What religious allusions appear in this image?
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Happiness is killing a witch

• Either burned at the stake or hanged
• Injustice peasants often blamed each other
• Unfair executions
• Investigations easily misled
• Or no prior investigation occurs

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• Hans Baldung Griens Witches

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A Woodcut from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of
England, Scotland and Ireland (1577) (Shakespeare
s primary source for Macbeth)
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• Alexandre-Marie Colins
• The Three Witches from Macbeth (1827)

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• Henry Fuselis The Three Witches (1793)

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Your Thoughts

• What are your thoughts on the pictures as a
  whole?
• How are depictions of witches during the Medieval
  period different from today?
• Why are some witches portrayed naked?
• Why are most women?
• How might the use of witches in the first scene
  of Macbeth help set the mood for the play?