University Libraries’ Excellence in Information Literacy Awardee
Student: River Backman
Advisor: Dr. Kara Stone
Beginning in the 1930s, the witch was portrayed, in literature, as a creepy old Crone, which forged the stereotypes of a witch to this day. With the progression of time, a transformational journey has occurred with the portrayal of the witch changing from the Crone, to the Mother, to the Maiden. The concept of the Maiden, Mother, and Crone is a Wiccan symbolization for their Triple Goddess and represents the common stages of a woman’s life. These three stages are also seen as the Fates in modern fiction, like Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, as well as in the religious beliefs of ancient Greece. I will argue that both ancient and modern depictions of witches have formed a stereotypical image of the witch to modern day society and that the portrayal of witches in media has completed the reverse transformation of Crone, Mother, and Maiden. I will examine how this image has changed in recent years and compare stereotypical portrayals to real-life witchcraft.