The survival of witchcraft prosecutions and witch belief in South West Scotland

During the era of the Scottish witch-hunts, Dumfries and Galloway was one of the last regions to initiate witch prosecutions, but it was also one of the most reluctant to completely surrender all belief in witches until a comparatively late date. In the late seventeeth and early eighteenth centuries south-west Scotland, better known for the persecution of covenanters, took the practice of witchcraft and charming very seriously indeed, and for perhaps longer than other parts of Scotland, though the area has received surprisingly little scholarly investigation. The trial evidence is not incompatible with that found elsewhere though there is less demonic content. Accusations of witchcraft in this region were mostly concerned with the troubles of everyday life, agricultural problems, family tensions and disagreements between neighbours. From 1670 to about 1740, the very decades that were giving birth to the Scottish Enlightenment, learned interest in the supernatural was actually on the increase and the topic received an unprecedented level of questioning, investigation, and scrutiny. Ironically, the ‘superstitions’ that both church and state had been attempting to eradicate for some two hundred years were now being used to defend religion against the growing threat of atheism. The zeal of the ministers does seem to have contributed to the endurance of witch beliefs in the South West, as elsewhere. Against this backdrop, the survival of witch belief and the continued prosecution of witches in southwest Scotland is examined, thus contributing to our understanding of the individualistic nature of witch persecution and the various dynamics at play within the Scottish witch-hunting experience

Hansel and Gretel

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Is the Book Really Better?: Comparing the Facets of Fantasy Apparent in C.S. Lewis\u27s \u3ci\u3eThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe\u3c/i\u3e and its 2005 Cinematic Adaptation

“Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids” (Lewis 2). Sixty-eight years ago, these two simple lines introduced the world to the Pevensie children, who were destined to travel through a wardrobe into one of literature’s most creative, compelling, and enveloping fantasy worlds. Seven books later, the Pevensie children were kings and queens, yes, but considering the hugely expanded scope, they were merely inhabitants of the sprawling lore of The Chronicles of Narnia. Narnia, then, became much more than a world beyond a wardrobe. Narnia, the place and the lore, became a staple of any sturdy fantasy diet

The Marked and the Magic in \u3cem\u3eProspero’s Daughter\u3c/em\u3e: Contextualizing Postmodern Witchcraft Accusations Using the Early Modern

Despite Prospero’s Daughter having won Elizabeth Nunez a handful of awards and having been received positively by critics, little aside from reviews about the novel exists in the literary sphere. Several articles discuss her memoir or two of her novels, namely Boundaries, Beyond the Limbo Silence, and When Rocks Dance, but it is challenging to find literary criticism about Prospero’s Daughter, let alone in reference to witchcraft and magic. This essay provides that literary criticism, placing it in context with historical research on early modern witchcraft theory. Although Nunez’s novel is a postmodern Shakespeare adaptation centered in 1960s Trinidad, it contains depictions of witchery and magic consistent with those of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century witch trial records, demonology, Christian teachings of the time, and cultural anthropological and historical research. My analysis of Prospero’s Daughter, in featuring a reframing of witchcraft-related issues like sexuality, poisoning, and witch’s marks, bridges the scholarly gap between early modern historical past and postcolonial literary present. This paper explores how the aforementioned issues appear in main characters like Sylvia, Gardner, and Carlos, and was written to provide an updated perspective on witchcraft in literary scholarship for others who are intrigued by Nunez’s depictions

Progress through partnership

The National Literacy Strategy Framework (DfEE, 1998) requires primary children to, 'become increasingly conscious of the writer's intentions' (p.7) and The National Curriculum for English (1999) states that children should, ‘use and adapt the features of a form of writing, drawing on their reading’ (p.28). Developing a process approach to writing, where children are supported as they draft and redraft texts, was the aim of a university funded school-partnership project between Sycamore Junior School, in the City of Nottingham, and Nottingham Trent University. The article describes how Years 3 and 4 children developed an understanding of narrative structure and became reflective writers, as they responded to each other’s work, during writing workshops

Exploring speech in Russian fairy tales

Both because of their prevalence in contemporary culture and because of their ability to affect the acculturation of children, fairy tales are commonly examined from a feminist perspective. Many scholars have begun to ask if the distribution of agency in tales reflects patriarchal values, for example, are princesses nothing more than passive damsels in distress? One way to discuss these types of power relationships is to examine speech. The ability to speak can be viewed as a type of agency that shapes a character’s outcome within a narrative; it is through speech that characters bless, curse, and interact with one another. This paper seeks to explore the connections among agency, gender, moral alignment, and speech in Russian fairy tales from the Alexander Afanas′ev collection. As part of this research, the frequency of male and female vocalizations has been measured, as well as different types of silence. This research also examines the patterns of speech that appear in different tale typologies that revolve around a central female character

\u3cem\u3eThe Chronicles of Narnia\u3c/em\u3e, and How C.S. Lewis Created Christian Fantasy Fiction

C.S. Lewis was a pioneer in combining the ideas of fantasy and Christian literature, before the fantasy genre alone was even acknowledged. Christian fantasy fiction, as a fiction sub-genre, can be identified as a piece of fiction with fantastical mythology and themes, with the addition of imagery and values drawn from the Christian tradition. Christian fantasy fiction attempts to use the mystical plot elements from fantasy, with recognizable Christian ideals, and meld them in such a way that they actually reinforce each other. This thesis explains how C.S. Lewis used this new genre to allow readers of all ages to understand spiritually abstract ideas