Salem Witch Museum stands in Massachusetts USA remembering
the town’s hanging of twenty accused witches between 1692-1693. Women and a few
men were accused of witchcraft – literally signing themselves over to the Devil
by writing their names in his book, pledging to carry out his work on earth.
The mass trial began after young girls in the town became ill, and when
examined, blamed their illness on the alleged witches. Following the hangings,
when the trails had long finished, people of the town were regretful of their
actions and many of the girls who had ‘fallen ill’ admitted to not
understanding the severity of the situation. These trials have sparked literary and
cultural interest ever since.
Witch Hill/The Salem Martyr - Thomas Satterwhite 1869 |
Elizabeth
Gaskell’s lesser-known novella, ‘Lois the Witch’ (1860) is a fictionalised
account of the trials from the perspective of an orphaned English girl.
Gaskell’s version of the trials is closely based on Charles Wentworth Upham’s Lectures on Witchcraft: Comprising a History
of the Delusion in Salem in 1962 (1831). Gaskell like many others uses the
real historical characters for the trials, but renames them, for example the
first condemned witch is renamed Hota, instead of Tituba. Some of her
characters are fusions of multiple from the real case.
Tituba and the Children - Alfred Fredricks 1878 |
Interestingly
Gaskell removes many of the gory aspects of the trials, for example the
discovery of needles in the bodies of the ‘ill’ girls, as a result of voodoo
conducted by the witches. Gaskell tends of focus on the psychological effects
of the trails. Our protagonist Lois travels to the strange new world of the USA
after the death of her parents. Not only does Gaskell make this wholly American
story more accessible for an English audience – she also turns Salem into a
crazed psychological space. “Crossing the sea
from old England to New England is a voyage from the ‘normal’ to a fearful
psychic landscape” (Uglow 476). It is
as though Gaskell is presenting the tale as domestic fantasy, with America as a
bizarre unjust yet magical place.
“They were all gazing
towards the water, and the maid held me up in her arms to see the sight above
the shoulders of people; and I saw old Hannah in the water, her grey hair all
streaming down her shoulders, and her face bloody and black with the stones and
mud they had been throwing at her, and her cat tied around her neck. I hid my
face, I know, as soon as I saw the fearsome sight, for her eyes met mine as
they were glaring with fury – poor helpless, baited creature! – and she caught
the sight of me, and cried out. “Parson’s wench. Parson’s wench, yonder in thy
nurse’s arms, thy dad hath never tried for to save me, and none shall save thee
when thou art brought up for a witch.”
Gaskell 114
In the novella Lois is wrongly accused of witchcraft, therefore
the English witch’s prophecy comes true (in a way). This idea of passing on the
witchcraft is echoed in the courts, when accused witches claim that others are
also witches.
A depiction of inside the Salem court - Joseph Baker 1892 |
Gaskell
also draws on witchcraft in her short story ‘The Heart of John Middleton’
(1950).
But why was
a political woman such as Elizabeth Gaskell interested in Witchcraft?
The
Witchcraft act of 1735 in Britain made it illegal for someone to accuse someone
else of having magical powers or of practicing witchcraft. People no longer
believed that people could possess these powers. This act marked the end of the
early modern period of witch hunting. However, in 1824 a new statute was
introduced as members of the social classes rekindled beliefs in witchcraft, it
seemed be as relevant as it was in Shakespeare’s time. Gaskell was very much of
this class; whilst I am not sure Gaskell believed in witchcraft, she was certainly
interested in its presence.
Soon after the reform of the law, Sir
Walter Scott published Letters of
Demonology and Witchcraft (1830) exploring this newfound belief and why
people recessed to old beliefs despite the advances in modern science.
Henry Fuseli - The Three Witches 1783 |
Gaskell’s
friendship with Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter (1850) may
have sparked some interest in the trials, as his ancestor John Hathorne acted
as the sole judge for the trials. Hawthorne was ashamed of his ancestor’s
actions, and lack of repentance, and so added the ‘w’ into his surname in order
to distance himself from the tragedy. Shown here are the Examinations and
Mittimus of Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn and Tituba, as recorded by John Hathorne.
Within
Gaskell’s social circle both Mary Howitt and Charles Dickens had connections to
the Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Anderson. Howitt published the
first English translations of his works, whereas Dickens had a fleeting
friendship with Anderson. Dickens played host to Anderson on two occasions. Following
his second stay (a six week stint) Dickens decided enough was enough, he had
overstayed his welcome, Dickens never wrote to Anderson again.
The Sea Witch - Bertall (1820-1882) |
Aside from
this drama, Anderson’s infamous tale ‘The Little Mermaid’ (1837) is another
Victorian depiction of Witchcraft. Anderson’s ‘Sea Witch’, otherwise known as
Ursula is, I would argue, the best (worst) villain ever. Anderson’s witch
bargains with the little mermaid, allowing her to walk with humans in exchange
for her voice (which involves cruelly cutting out her tongue). In addition to
this, if the mermaid fails to get the prince to fall in love with her, she will
die (and turn into sea foam) when he marries another. Anderson’s description of
this witch harks back to biblical ideas of Satan, and a typical attribute of a
witch – overt sexuality. The witch owns two ‘sea snakes’ that you may remember
from the Disney film, she calls them her ‘babies’. The snakes are used to
re-associate the witch with Satan: his baser form the snake.
“There sat the sea witch, letting a
toad eat from her mouth, the way humans let little canaries eat sugar. She
called the hideous fat water snakes her little chickens and let them swarm over
her big spongy breasts.”
Anderson, 78
Bat Woman - Albert Penot 1890 |
When we compare this to ‘Lois the Witch’, in which Lois’s communication with Pastor Nolan (John Hale) causes extreme jealousy in her cousin Faith (Abigail), resulting in Faith condemning Lois as a witch, sending her to her death. Both examples suggest that a witch is someone with sexual power over others. Even the cutting out of the mermaid’s tongue allows the sea witch to have more sexual prowess, by removing others. Victorians may have used the image of the witch as a symbol for prostitution. Much as Arthur Miller used the Salam trials in The Crucible (1953) as a mask for the Cold War, he makes a point about cultural problems without directly addressing them. Prostitution in the Victorian period was rife -- Gaskell may be using the Salem trials to show how harshly judged prostitutes were by the majority. There are boundless such judgments in Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor (1851).
Salem from Sabrina the Witch |
Evidently the Salem trials had a large cultural impact, it is recognised even today,
there is a popular television show in the US called ‘Salem’ where the witches
really are magic. There are many places that reference the trials that I had
not noticed before, even Sabrina the Witch’s cat is called Salem!
It
surprises me that Gaskell’s ‘Lois the Witch’ isn’t as celebrated as her other
works, when the topic is still relevant in modern day culture. Gaskell’s
interest in the trials seem to be mainly based on the injustices of the cases
and their prevalence in Victorian life, with debt being a crime punishable by
imprisonment – of which Charles Dickens’ father was a victim. I think it is
very interesting that the Victorians had a newfound belief in witchcraft, and
Gaskell’s writings are a perfect example of this.
Work
Citied:
Anderson, Hans Christian. Fairy Tales. Trans. Tiina
Nunnally. London: Penguin, 2004. Print.
Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn. The Heart of John Middleton.
Whitefish, MT: Kessinger, n.d. Print.
Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn. Lois the Witch. London:
Penguin, 2008. Print.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. London:
Penguin, 2012. Print.
Mayhew, Henry. London Labour and the London Poor. New
York: Dover Publications, 1968. Print.
Miller, Arthur, and Susan C. W. Abbotson. The Crucible.
London: Methuen Drama, 2010. Print.
Scott, Sir Walter. Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft.
N.p.: U of Adelaide Library, 2011. Print.
Scovell, Nell. "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch." Sabrina,
the Teenage Witch. ABC. United States of America, n.d. Television.
The Little Mermaid. Dir. Ron Clements
and John Musker. Perf. Jodi Benson. Disney, 1989. Web.
Uglow, Jennifer S. Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories.
London: Faber and Faber, 1999. Print.
Upham, Charles Wentworth. Lectures on Witchcraft Comprising a
History of the Delusion in Salem, in 1692. Boston: Carter, Hendee and
Babcock, 1831. Print.
Image
Source:
Baker, Joseph. Representation of the Salem Witch Trials. Digital
image. Legends of America. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ma-witchtimeline4.html>.
Bertall. The Sea Witch. Digital image. Wizzley.
N.p., n.d. Web. <https://wizzley.com/little-mermaid/>.
Fredericks, Alfred. Tituba and the Children. Digital
image. History of Massachusetts. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://historyofmassachusetts.org/tituba-the-slave-of-salem/>.
Fuseli, Henry. The Three Witches. Digital image. Artinthepicture.com.
N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://www.artinthepicture.com/paintings/Henry_Fuseli/The-Three-Witches/>.
Goya, Francisco. Linda Maestra. Digital image. Wikipedia.
N.p., n.d. Web.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caprichos#/media/File:Museo_del_Prado_-_Goya_-_Caprichos_-_No._68_-_Linda_maestra!.jpg>.
Hathorne, John. Examinations and Mittimus of Sarah Good,
Sarah Osburn and Tituba as Recorded by John Hathorne. Digital image. Salem
Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/archives/ecca.xml>.
Penot, Albert. Bat Woman. Digital image. Pictify.
N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://pictify.saatchigallery.com/529993/bat-woman-by-albert-joseph-penot>.
Salem from Sabrina the Witch. Digital image. Hexjam. N.p.,
n.d. Web.
<http://www.hexjam.com/uk/student/15-reasons-sabrina-s-cat-salem-is-really-a-student>.
Salem Witch Museum. Digital image. Tourist Book. N.p.,
n.d. Web.
<http://www.touristsbook.com/boston/files/2014/11/salem-witch-museum.jpg>.
Satterwhite, Thomas. Witch Hill or the Salem Martyr.
Digital image. Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1573199/images/n-SALEM-WITCH-large570.jpg>.
Ursula. Digital image. Ghipy. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://giphy.com/gifs/disney-scary-evil-IvehpupSEm3vy>.
Bibliography:
Elsley, Susan Jennifer. "Images of the Witch in
Nineteenth-Century Culture." Diss. U of Liverpool, 2012. Print.
Gibson, Walter B. Witchcraft: A History of the Black Art.
Trowbridge, Wiltshire: Redwood Limited, 1973. Print.
Hole, Christina. Witchcraft in England. New York: C.
Scribner's Sons, 1947. Print.
"Timeline of Hans Christian Andersen's Life." The
British Library. The British Library Board, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/andersen/timeline.html>.
Hi Sydney,
ReplyDeleteI was scrolling down the home page and your blog post really caught my eye! Before reading your post I must admit I knew very little about witchcraft within the Victorian period, especially in reference to laws and reasoning's. Your blog post has given me a wider understanding of this topic and I love the connection you drew between witchcraft and Salem in Sabrina the teenage witch (I watched that show for years and never even realised the connotations linked with the cat). Thank you for sharing such a great post!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post. Loved the pun in the title. I like how you use Gaskell as an anchor whilst bringing in such a wide variety of elements, such as Arthur Miller, Anderson, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It made for very entertaining reading. I enjoyed the contrast you showed between Anderson and Disney in their handling of the fairy tale. Also, great use of the gif. Do you know if Gaskell had visited America, or if she was writing purely from imagination and research?
Thank you both for your comments!
ReplyDeleteAlastair, to my knowledge Gaskell never travelled to America, however she did travel frequently to France, Italy and Germany. Personally, I think this helped develop the 'otherness' that Lois experiences after arriving in America (New England) as she moves away from Gaskell's reality of the UK (Old England).