- Renewed deep faith in destructive powers of witchcraft (SS)
- Because there were unexplainable events, people began to blame these happenings on witches (SS)
- Such events were: the bubonic plague, poor harvests, illness, and fires (MJC)
- Women (old, poor, widows, unprotected) were the main targets of witch hunts (SS)
- Punishment for witches was hanging (not burning, as in neighbouring countries) (AF)
- Queen Elizabeth was more lenient towards witches because her mother (Anne Boleyn) had been accused of witchcraft (on account of a sixth finger and a mole on her neck). (AF)
- Laws concerning witchcraft in Spain and France were much stricter (MJC)
- There was also the concept of 'black' and 'white' witches - 'black' witches used their powers for destructive purposes, while the 'white' witches were helpful and used their powers for good (AF)
- Witch hunts were carried out because people believed that by capturing/killing witches, their bad fortune would end (AF)
- The Church believed that any woman with knowledge of herbs was a witch or possessed a knowledge of witchcraft (MJC)
http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/ideas/the%20supernatural/daemonologie.html
http://www.elizabethanenglandlife.com/elizabethan-witchcraft-and-elizabethan-witches.html
Connection of Our Post (Women in Shakespeare's Time) to Another Post
ReplyDelete-Women in Shakespeare's day were viewed as the weaker gender
-Only women were suspected to be witches, and without decent evidence
-If anything went wrong (wars lost, weather), it would be blamed on a witch (woman)
-Furthermore, women were expected to only take care of the household and children, so knowing anything else (e.g. knowledge of herbs) was considered irregular or supernatural
-This portrays the gender inequality experienced at the time of Shakespeare
~Victoria
Connection of Our Post (Women in Shakespeare's Time)to Another Post 2.0
ReplyDelete- Women (noble girls who were given tutors) were taught skills such as cooking and managing a household but did not go to university.
- Women did not attend school or receive formal education
- Only women were thought to be witches especially if they had an extensive knowledge of herbs
- Because women were never taught about herbs it engraved the idea that these women were witches, because they could not have any reason to have knowledge about herbs (unless for witchcraft).
- Women (usually old, poor, widows or unprotected) in Shakespeare’s time period were usually targeted for witch hunts.
- This was probably the case because a “good” woman was expected to marry, bear lots of children, keep a nice household etc. Those women were probably seen as abnormal because they did none of these things and were most likely branded witches for that.
- TISB (MC)