Thanks in part to the Harry Potter series, witches have winged their way to the very heart of fiction. Firm favourites Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley have cast their spell on a generation of readers whose enchantment may well have begun with Thomas and Korky Paul's Winnie the Witch, who is 25 this year.
If today's witches are viewed as positive symbols of intrigue and power, it was not so in the past - as author Laura Powell explained in this piece about her witchy novel Burn Mark.
During the early modern period in Europe, countless 'witches' were burned at the stake or hanged after being denounced by neighbours, often for no greater crime than being middle-aged spinsters. It's a sad history that's left its trace in the red nose and beaky features of Winnie.
One of the most famous trials was in Salem, Massachusetts, in America in 1692, where 19 'witches' were condemned to death. Arthur Miller used the trials in his play The Crucible to illustrate how societies have embodied irrational thoughts in the past and have made innocent people scapegoats. Miller used the 17th century Salem trials to draw attention to 20th century political witch-hunts, such as American senator Joseph McCarthy's war on Communist 'enemies'.
The flurry of witch trials decreased as the early modern period came to a close. In England, the Witchcraft Act of 1735 stopped citizens being punished for supposedly committing acts of witchcraft. Instead, the new law sought to punish those who claimed they had powers. The last execution for witchcraft in England was of Mary and Elizabeth Hicks, who were hanged in 1716, and the last execution in Scotland was of Janet Horne in 1727.
As fear of witchcraft decreased and religion began slowly to play less of a role in public life, witches became unreal figures - so why do they have so much power in fiction today?
Part of it must simply be their mystique. Witches in teen fiction tend to be complex and mysterious characters with plenty of depth for readers to explore.
For young readers, escapism also plays a part: novels such as Cliff McNish's Doomspell trilogy offer an escape from a mundane, ordinary life into a wonderful world of magic.
Although the witches in the Doomspell trilogy are slightly grotesque and it is the wizards and the humans with magic who arguably connect more with readers, the witches in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy are alluring characters. They are strong and fierce, fighting in battles that don't wholly concern them because they believe in good. The witches' connection to nature is also intriguing; they don't wrap up warmly, not just because they don't feel the cold, but also because they like to feel the wind and the stars.
Even bad witches are beloved because of their formidable powers. Jadis, the White Witch of Narnia, is arguably one of the most terrifying villains in children's literature, yet CS Lewis's ice queen commands respect from the reader as much as from the enchanted Edmund. She's a beautiful enigma whose personality and background remain mysterious.
Peronally, I believe witches are the ultimate fantasy treat for those of us who are curious-minded and dare to dream of experiencing magical adventures and wielding great powers. But what do you think? Which witches are special to you, and why do you believe that they are so popular?
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For a brilliant explanation of why witches hold such enduring allure in literature, I'd like to point you to Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty, in which a young girl and her friends at boarding school in Victorian England reestablish an order of magic; in particular, this passage:
"Felicity ignores us. She walks out to them, an apparition in white and blue velvet, her head held high as they stare in awe at her, the goddess. I don't know yet what power feels like. But this is surely what it looks like, and I think I'm beginning to understand why those ancient women had to hide in caves. Why our parents and teachers and suitors want us to behave properly and predictably. It's not that they want to protect us; it's that they fear us."
Witches have always been a repository for all the patriarchal views of women: women as the mysterious Other, women as the temptress (no coincidence that 'bewitching' is a word used to describe sexual/lovelorn longing), women having knowledge that's inaccessible to men, women as the unknowable half of humanity. Put all of these together and you have the end subtext for patriarchal behaviour: women are a threat. Witches are women with power, and that's why they are so appealing - it's hard to make women (of any age, anywhere) who don't actively think about feminism aware of the systemic prejudice stacked against them throughout life, but witches are simultaneously the utmost patriarchal fear and what women desire made explicit, often fighting against a world antagonised towards them.
This is not to say that we are drawn to witches because they are a Feminist Symbol TM, and they don't have to be from novels as overtly feminist as A Great and Terrible Beauty, but their appeal lies in how, as women with power and knowledge who often place themselves outside the moral order, they are aspects of ourselves we wish we could emulate. The White Witch of Narnia is feared, but don't tell me there wasn't a bit of grudging, awe-filled respect that went with it. She went for what she wanted to the uttermost consequence, and she never apologised for it. When we engage with narratives about witches, we break out of society's expectations and see how ridiculous they are, how hypocritical, through them. They reveal to us what women are, and what they could be.
I really recommend the Gemma Doyle trilogy; Libba Bray has written some of the finest YA and fantasy genre's books and they are filled with goodness like teenagers dealing with the consequences of power, boarding schools, sexuality and, of course, feminism!