...an educational material to speak against the false accusation of old women and manhandling of accused witches at Gambaga in the Northern Region of Ghana. This chapter is broadly categorized into three parts; The Concept of Witchcraft, World View on witchcraft and Empirical review. The Concept of Witchcraft tries to understand witchcraft and the Origin of witchcraft. The World View on witchcraft looks at perspectives from some Africa countries, India, Witchcraft from religious perspective, Witchcraft in Ghana (Akan's and Ga's), Witchcraft in Gambaga and the profile of Gambaga Witch Camp. The Empirical Review (stresses on Locations in the northern...
Words: 1676 - Pages: 7
...business of men and the unusual social rules. The weather is extravagant and hostile. The ‘fog and filthy air’ suggests unusual darkness and healthiness. The conversation of the witches isn't how ordinary men speak; the use of rhymes is a feature of the witches’ speech throughout the play, it intensifies a sense of incantation, of magical charms. ‘When the battles lost and won’ and ‘fair is foul and foul is fair’ a paradox is offered. What are opposites for us seem to be interchangeable for the witches. The details of the opening urges our imagination to sense a confusion of the usual human order, a reverse of human values, a world of darkness and foulness, a sinister challenge to ordinary goodness. Noble values of goodness and beauty are reversed in the threatening and confusing atmosphere of ‘fog and filthy air’. They seem to know the outcome of the battle before the battle is over. The opening creates a worrying vacuum in which evil can flourish. SCENE II Shakespeare seems particularly interested in depicting heroic soldiers such as Macbeth whose undoubted valour on the battlefield is tragically no help to them in other kinds of situations. The military alarum is a contrast to the thunder and lightning of the first scene, the play shifts from the wide world of the witches to the place where the royal authority is demonstrated. The main focus of this scene is to show Macbeth's virtues and his loyalty to king Duncan, which will contrast to the description...
Words: 614 - Pages: 3
...Other facets of the plays must still be edited to ensure that the new culture understands the central idea without the benefit of understanding the past culture. PBS’s Macbeth accomplishes this goal, preserving the original ideas of fatality, persuasion, and death. The movie brings the setting of the five century old play much closer to the modern day to better demonstrate the effects of Macbeth’s reign. Additionally, PBS shows the Witches’ omnipresence in a way not necessary in Shakespeare’s original play, but essential for a new culture. These changes grant modern people the ability to glimpse Shakespeare’s original messages, without having any background knowledge; the movie brings the play to wider modern audience. Despite being set nearly a millennia in the future from the original Macbeth, PBS’s variation of Shakespeare’s tragedy is incredibly effective in communicating the original message of the historic tale of persuasion, fate, and the inevitability of death utilizing modernized setting and...
Words: 1671 - Pages: 7
...secret knowledge. Witchcraft is a complex concept that varies culturally and societally, therefore it is difficult to define with precision and cross-cultural assumptions about the meaning or significance of the term should be applied with caution. Witchcraft often occupies a religious, divinatory, or medicinal role, and continues to have an important role in many cultures today. Scientifically, the existence of magical powers and witchcraft are generally believed to lack credence and to be unsupported by high quality experimental testing, although individual witchcraft practices and effects may be open to scientific explanation or explained via mentalism and psychology. Historically, the predominant concept of witchcraft in the Western world derives from Old Testament laws against witchcraft, and entered the mainstream when belief in witchcraft gained Church approval in the Early Modern Period. It posits a theosophical conflict between good and evil, where witchcraft was generally evil and often associated with the Devil and Devil worship. This culminated in deaths, torture and scapegoating, and many years of large scale witch-trials and witch hunts, especially in Protestant Europe, before largely ceasing during the European Age of Enlightenment. Christian views in the modern day are diverse and cover the gamut of views from intense belief and opposition to non-belief, and in some churches even approval. From the mid-20th century, witchcraft – sometimes called contemporary witchcraft...
Words: 1748 - Pages: 7
...predestination has been debated for centuries and is a key component in the play Macbeth. Written by Shakespeare, Macbeth is the protagonist in Macbeth who strives to become king after hearing of the witches prophecy. Having free will, Macbeth’s life is not predetermined, as he has active control over his actions, choices, and his fate. Macbeth often questions in his own free will due to many of the witches prophecies, which always seem to be true. Macbeth, taking the prophecies as fate, is influenced into killing many of the people close to him and eventually leads to his death. The world seemly lacking free will, the witches appear to see fate. The first lines of the play they state”When shall we three meet again?/ In thunder,...
Words: 1145 - Pages: 5
...other negative thoughts like sorcery. The society came to reject the notion of safe and learned magic. There was even a purge to get rid of all magicians that were in England. If one were caught, practicing magic, spiritual and temporal punishments was accorded to them. The magician became to be treated and known as the latter day witches. The book looks into the complex that came from the transformation from the magician, to the witch and the various laws that came into effect during the Medieval times about the two. The book aids us in placing our understanding of medieval magic that was later known as witchcraft. Although heresy was part of the bad image that magic was furnished with hearsay, another was the long-standing Christian teachings that were about magic especially the learned magic that was rampant during the time. This led to later developments of magic turning into witchcraft. The earlier magic was tied to the culture and the way a people flourished. It was through the fear of persecution of magicians that led to a later day persecution of witches. The real stage that was the persecution of magicians set the stage for the purge of the witches especially in the fourteenth century. There was the involvement of various political influences also led to the persecution of magicians. The main question here can be why did a culture...
Words: 3275 - Pages: 14
...Shakespeare chose to deliver his work in the form of plays, Voltaire chose to deliver his as a novel. Candide and Macbeth depict several themes, some of which are common to them and others which differ. Though Shakespeare is famous for his various plays, Candide is widely regarded as Voltaire’s magnum opus. Thesis statement. While Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Voltaire’s Candide both depict a protagonist who is faced with challenges throughout their journey, Candide exhibits personal growth and willingness to change while Macbeth exhibits no real personal growth. Similarities between themes. Power corrupts. This is a major theme that transcends both literary works. In Macbeth, this theme is very evident when Macbeth is approached by the three witches while with Banquo. Their revelation of the future in which he would be named Thane of Cawdor and consequently the king of Scotland, sparks the ambitious ember in Macbeth. This spark is enflamed by the confirmation by king Duncan of his title as Thane of Cawdor on his return. The acquisition of this, coupled with the prophecy and encouragement by his wife, drives Macbeth towards murdering the Duncan. Throughout the play, we witness how, in efforts to retain his crown, he continuously engages in murderous acts. This is a clear portrayal of the theme power corrupts. In Voltaire’s Candide, after...
Words: 2082 - Pages: 9
...THE WITCHES HAMMER The Witches Hammer (the Malleus Maleficarum) is an infamous document in history. According to Hatcliff in the Magical Circle School Resource Library Malleus Maleficarum is “Latin for Hammer of the Witches or Der Hexenhammer in German”. The main purpose of this document is to negate those that claimed that witchcraft did not exist. Another purpose of the Witches Hammer was to educate those in power on the ways to seek out, interrogate, convict, and torture alleged witches. Guiley in her book Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft discusses The Malleus Maleficarum as being an important document on witch hunting during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It was published first in Germany in 1486 then spread throughout Europe...
Words: 1190 - Pages: 5
...actions and also in the language of the play. The most powerful and manipulative force of evil comes from the supernatural characters of the “weird sisters” or the three witches. Immediately in the opening scene we are introduced to them. It is clear that they will play a major role in the play. They speak in riddles “fair is foul and foul is fair…” and they cast an ominous tone over the entire play. The dramatic opening with thunder and lightning emphasises their evil nature. The witches are the embodiment of pure motiveless evil. They are immediately associated with the worst evil of all, the devil, by Banquo, “what! Can the devil speak true?” The witches are vital to the play because they are the ones who stoked the fires of Macbeth’s ambition, without them there would be no play, as Macbeth would never have committed regicide without their influence. Macbeth is immediately associated with the witches in his first line, which echoes the witches line, “so foul and fair a day I have not seen.” The witches’ power is strong, they can control the weather at will and it has even been suggested that they can fly, “hover through the fog and filthy air“, but they are very spiteful and malevolent beings. After one of the witches was insulted by a woman, she cursed the woman’s husband “he shall live a man forbid.” The high witch,...
Words: 1531 - Pages: 7
...and ominous weather alongside the appearance of the witches, the instruments of darkness. The audience will already be aware of the significance of this use of the thunder and lightning as Elizabethan audiences often attributes violent weather with supernatural forces, which are embodied by the Three Witches here. This created a great sense of fear in Shakespearean audiences, as they were very superstitious and afraid of the supernatural. Right at the start of the scene we are made aware that we will see the witches once more, with the first witch asking her companions ‘when [they] shall...meet again/ in thunder, lightning or in rain’, again emphasising the role of the weather in presenting them as ominous and sinister characters, perhaps also suggesting that they have powers to control the weather, as is seen later on in the play. This weather is symbolic of the chaos that the witches will bring into Macbeth’s life, as it is they who set him on the inevitable path that leads to his demise by planting the seed of greed in his mind, as well as preparing us for the crimes that Macbeth commits later on in the play. However the first witches’ limiting choice of weather conditions in which they are to meet could also signify the lack of freedom that Macbeth has over his own life, as all his actions are pre-determined by the witches’ prophecy, highlighting the hopelessness and sense of tragedy in the play. In response to the witches’ question, the second witch responds that the next...
Words: 903 - Pages: 4
...Malleus Maleficarum Heinrich Kramer, a Dominican friar, wrote the Malleus Maleficarum in 1486. He believed witches to be “members of a vast conspiracy directed against Christian society that was allowed by God to cause immense physical and spiritual hardship” (Behringer 716). Therefore, Kramer believed the real way to rid witches was through physical eradication. The start of the manuscript came from his experience in witchcraft trials in Upper Germany. Kramer’s views on witchcraft and activities weren’t well received wherever he went, particularly authorities that believed he was merely interfering with the local administration. Annoyed at the opposition, he obtained papal rights for Pope Innocent VIII’s witchcraft prosecutions through the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus in 1484, which gave him authorization for inquisitions against witches throughout German Church provinces. Kramer started his inquisition at Innsbruck and employed intimidation, brute force and endless forms of torture. Along with this, he denied anyone legal defense and altered the inquisition reports. However, Bishop George II Golser created a commission to halt Kramer’s activities and thereafter liberated all accused women. Defeated, Kramer quickly compiled his notes on witches into a manuscript that helped urge the necessity of ridding witchcraft. The Malleus was the result. However, there is still much confusion as to who actually wrote the Malleus and where it was printed. Many scholars...
Words: 1593 - Pages: 7
...hunt is not related to Africa but abound everywhere in the world. He however said that much of the information on witchcraft and witch-hunt comes from Africa. Witchcraft beliefs according to Schnoebelen(2009),...
Words: 1571 - Pages: 7
...The Salem Witch Trials Witchcraft is the practice of black magic. In the late 17th century in New England, at least 344 individuals were tried and 35 were executed as witches in Salem in 1692. More than 95 percent of all formal accusations and more than 90 percent of the executions for the witchcraft in British America occurred in Puritan colonies. Many factors contributed to the hysteria that gripped Salem. Impact of King William‘s War, the Puritan belief system and gender roles all led to the Salem witch trials. The foundation of the witchcraft crisis lay in the Puritan New Englanders’ singular worldview, one they had inherited from the first settlers of Massachusetts Bay more than sixty years earlier. That worldview taught them that they were a chosen people, charged with bringing God’s message to a heathen land previously ruled by the devil. And in that adopted homeland, God spoke through his providence - that is through small and large events of daily life. New England’s Puritans even in the third generation, believed themselves to be surrounded by an invisible world of spirits as well as by a natural world of palpable objects. Both worlds communicated God’s messages, because both operated under his direction. Losses sustained in the Second Indian War, King William’s War, prompted doubts or spiritual anxiety within the Puritan community. “That their Wabanaki enemies were Catholic (or at least aligned with the French Caltholics) made matters worse, suggesting that the...
Words: 1901 - Pages: 8
...Weston Balskus Macbeth Thesis Paper 1-2-13 British Lit The Witches in ‘Macbeth’ “Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble” (Act 4 Scene 1). These famous words, said by the three witches, come from one of William Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies- ‘Macbeth’ Completed in 1606, this play is set in Scotland, and dramatizes the corroding psychological and political effects produced when its protagonist, the Scottish lord Macbeth, chooses evil as the way to fulfill his ambition for power. Shakespeare wrote this play when attitudes were completely different to the attitudes of society today, in particular, widespread belief in witchcraft. In the play of 'Macbeth' the witches have an important effect on Macbeth, the characters, the plot, the theme and the audience. They help construct the play and without them it would have been a totally different story line. The three witches effect characters’ lives, orientate the plot, they are related to most of the themes or motifs and appeal the audience's attention. The witches, or three sisters, have a strong effect on the characters of the play- especially Macbeth. When Macbeth meets the witches for the first time, they greet him as the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is Thane of Glamis and does not know about Cawdor, he hasn’t heard that the Thane of Cawdor has died. “I know I am Thane of Glamis, But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives” (Act 1 Scene 3). When Macbeth learns that the thane of Cawdor has in fact died...
Words: 1369 - Pages: 6
...1) According to the audience of the era, everything in the world had its fixed position by God: In Heaven God ruled over the archangels and angels. Society down on earth reflected this order with its fixed classes from the highest to the lowest – kings, churchmen, nobles, merchants, and peasants. This chain was called the Great Chain of Being. One example where Shakespeare demonstrates that there are both consequences and rewards for those who work to disrupt or restore the natural, political and social Chain of Being is seen in act 2 scene 4. In this scene the actions lead by Macbeth to climb the Great Chain of Being by killing Duncan were considered, to the audience of the time, an act against god. As god is on the top of the Chain of being the audience knows that when Macbeth has killed the King there would be consequences. It was believed that god ruled over the earth and so the nature itself. The murder of the king causes the disturbance of the Great Chain and so God’s way of punishment to show that there was unnatural behaviour seen on earth, he causes the disruption of the natural world. The Old Man and Ross both notice the behavior of animals: “On Tuesday last, A falcon, tow'ring in her pride of place, Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.” Act 2 scene 4 line 11 Ross reply’s agreeing he saw strange things as well he says; “And Duncan’s horses—a thing most strange and certain— Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, Turned wild in nature, broke their...
Words: 768 - Pages: 4
