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| To Table of Contents | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jennifer Rackley | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| English 111-09 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| November 5, 2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Extra Credit Summary | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Summary of Lecture: Art, Women and Witchcraft a Scary Halloween Story | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| In her lecture on art, women and witchcraft, Ms. B DuRette discussed the use of art and literature in medieval society's perception of women. She also emphasized the role the church played, and the economic reasons for the way that women were viewed as they were. She focused her lecture on the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the time of the great witch-hunt. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ms. DuRette began her lecture by giving the history of the modern, American Halloween. Halloween is based upon the Christian feast day All Hallows Eve, which, in turn, is based upon the pagan day of the dead. She stated that Washington Irving's tale "Sleepy Hallow," is the earliest known reference to a Halloween celebration. Initially, the celebration was created to contain children who used this night to play pranks on their neighbors. The Halloween we know today evolved from this. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ms. DuRette then spoke about the origin of witches. The Christian church was the main reason that witches were created. The church stressed that anyone holding to the old beliefs, and not accepting Christ as their savior was heretical and should be executed. The church created an elaborate religion of witchcraft, in which all the good that was embodied in the church was evilly mirrored in the witches' faith. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| The manner that a witch was discovered was ridiculously simple. Anyone could point their finger at their neighbor and declare them a witch. The accused would be hauled of to the torture chamber, subjected to unspeakable atrocities, forced to confess, and then be burned at the stake. No outside evidence was ever needed to establish guilt. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| When a few wealthy widowed women were accused of witchcraft, the state realized what a great source of income it had. Once a woman was accused of being a witch, the township she resided in confiscated all her lands and holdings. Since the town, state and church each received a portion of her holdings, she effectively paid for her own arrest, imprisonment, torture and execution. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| These notions were reinforced in artwork throughout the middle ages. Since the creation story in Genesis when Eve accepted the apple from the serpent, women have been viewed as the scourge of mankind. Women were thought to lead men into desire, despair and degradation. In paintings, sculptor and woodcuttings women were shown in massive orgies, riding naked and astride goats, and, horror of horrors, with their hair down. Men were cautioned time and again to remember that women were feebler and ultimately more susceptible to the devil's allure than they were. Even St. Thomas Aquinas said that women were imperfect male embryos. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Throughout the ages women have been fighting a patriarchal society convinced of its own purity and righteousness. The war has been fought in art, literature, economics, and on political fronts. Women have not only been fighting for their rights, but for their lives. Sadly, this division is still visible today, though on a decidedly lesser scale.������� | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| The witch trials of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were responsible for the deaths of over 200,000 people. That is more than both world wars put together. This time marks a dark blight in humanities past. Hopefully, we can continue to overcome it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||