The Making of the Early Modern Witch

Abstract

Tales of witches and other magical creatures have fascinated humans for centuries, becoming become more elusive with the growing documentation of crime and the rise of what has sometimes been called the “Godly state.” Witches have become a staple in modern-day popular culture, especially in Western nations that celebrate the folk holiday of Halloween. Most imagery of witches takes on a feminine physiognomy, which is characterized by undesirableness such as old age, lower class, and being defined by ‘ugliness.’ It is not definitive when witchcraft or the image of witches took on the female form, nonetheless such an idea has remained the prominent understanding to this day. This paper analyzes witchcraft across early modern Europe and argues that witchcraft has been deemed a “female crime” due to the influence of patriarchal society and the misunderstanding of the female body.