The modern representation focused on for the purposes of this paper was the 2014 film adaptation of the musical Into the Woods. Its story follows the Baker and his wife who wish to have a child, Cinderella who wishes to go the King’s Festival, and Jack who wishes his cow would give some milk. When the Baker and his wife are visited by the neighborhood witch, who reveals to them that she placed a curse on ability to start a family, the two set off on a journey into the woods to reverse the curse. Also, in the woods, we meet Little Red, who is trying to visit her grandmother, the Wolf who loves tasty little girls, the witch’s daughter Rapunzel, and the Princes chasing after their loves. By the end of act I, everyone has gotten their wish and will seemingly live happily ever after. However, in act II, Jack’s beanstalk brings them a visit from an angry Giant, we see how the consequences of their actions haunt them in disastrous ways. The community must come together to save each other and their kingdom, but sacrifices must be made.

In Into the Woods the character of the witch is portrayed in two different ways. The first, in act I, as (self-described) ugly. She is old, and has matted, long, dark hair with grey ends. Her face is pale and wrinkled, her teeth are gaped and sharp looking. She has long boney hands/fingers and long nails. She is quite small and holds herself hunched over. Her clothes are dark, wispy, and rag-like. In act II, however, with her own curse lifted, her grey hair become styled, in a rather eccentric manner but styled, nonetheless. She transforms to appear younger, and becomes wrinkle free, appears to have makeup on and her teeth even out to become straight. Her nails appear to become manicured, and she now wears rings. She stands taller and is more graceful. Her clothes, while still dark and wispy, are more put together and seem to be more gown like.

With this in mind, I have created a watercolour painting of the witch in an attempt to demonstrate the dichotomy regarding perceptions of witches depicted in Into the Woods. I chose to use watercolour as my medium, in all honesty, because it is a medium I am confident in my ability to use. Watercolor, also known in French as aquarelle, is generally described as painting with water-soluble pigments on paper.[1]  I believe the painting that resulted with the use of this medium gives a softer, almost mystical, feel to the representation of the witch.

As previously stated, my artistic representation is an attempt to demonstrate the dichotomy regarding perceptions of witches. The left portion of the image is meant to depict the character of the witch in act I, as an ugly, old, cruel woman. Author Veronika Schuchter argues that in older depictions of evil women, namely in the Grimm’s fairytales of which Into the Woods is based, unattractive looks to be connected to an evil personality. While the women explored in her article are not necessarily witches, the common popular acceptance of unattractiveness equating poor behavior connecting to the common popular stereotype of witches having a less desirable physical appearance.[2] In terms of deeply historical significance, the Malleus Maleficarum, Kramer speaks to the assertion that witches “impede and prevent the power of procreation” through “directly preventing the erection of the member which is accommodated to fructification”, or “by means of images, by the eating of herbs, or by other external means.”[3] He stipulates that “by this mean, a man be unable to copulate, or a woman unable to conceive.”[4] This directly connects to the witch in act I of Into the Woods as she places a curse on the baker’s family, that she laid a little spell that their “family tree would always be a barren one.”[5] Michael Bailey suggests that Kramer’s association of witchcraft with women in the Malleus Maleficarum to be profoundly misogynistic, and that “the strongly gendered nature of witchcraft accusations and conviction, clearly sex-related if not entirely sex-specific, has long been of interest to scholars,”[6] which I believe to have been a main influence in the decision to make the witch female, and a descendant of another female witch.

The right side of the image is meant to depict the witch in act II and as I have interpreted it, a more modern representation of the stereotype of a witch. When thinking about how witches are represented in modern media, one often thinks of the brave Gryffindor wizards and witches of Harry Potter, the good vs. evil witches in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, the negativity of witches but the positivity of magic in The Craft, and witches as protective warriors in The Witcher.[7] Similarly, in act II of Into the Woods the character of the witch is portrayed to be a personification of moral ambivalence. She is portrayed as the sole villain of the story in act I, however, in act II, she is not the cliched evil witch from other fairy tales. She admits her faults when she herself says “I’m not good; I’m not nice; I’m just right.”[8] She does indeed curse the baker’s family as an act of vengeance for the stealing of her magical beans, but she does lift said curse at the end of act I. She cares for Rapunzel as her own daughter, and obviously loves her, but at the same time abuses her by locking her away in the locking to never have contact with another person, and blinding Rapunzel’s prince. In this depiction the witch is not just a scowling hag, but a key symbol of moral ambivalence. While she comes across as unpleasant, she has the truest things to say, as ‘nicer’ people would not be as honest. So, while she describes herself as bad, and most viewers would as well, she does have her moments of choosing the right course of action and having “good” qualities.

Throughout history the ideas surrounding the character and physical appearance of a witch has been ever evolving. Historically, whether practitioners of maleficia or beneficia, withes were seen as evil conspirators with the devil; modernly, seen as heroes in their own right, the dichotomy in the representation of witches is vast and varied. The depiction of the character of the witch in Into the Woods explores this contrast within herself, showing the evilness that may be associated with a practitioner of magic, as well as the moral ambivalence that come with it.

[1] Steven Skinner, “A Brief History of Watercolour Painting,” bigcityart.com, South Woods Publishing, accessed May 13, 2020, https://www.bigcityart.com/watercolors/watercolorpages/sup/history.html.

[2] Veronika Schuchter, “Of Grim Witches and Showy Lady-Devils: Wealthy Women in Literature and Film,” in Sciendo Text Matters 9, no 9 (2019): 50.

[3] Heinrich Kramer, “Malleus Maleficarum,” in The Witchcraft Sourcebook, ed. Brian P. Levack (Milton: Taylor and Francis Group, 2003): 67.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Into the Woods, directed by Rob Marshall (1986; New York City: Walk Disney Studios, 2014), film.

[6] Michael D. Bailey, “The Feminization of Magic and the Emerging Idea of the Female Witch in the Late Middle Ages,” in Essays in Medieval Studies 19 (2002): 120.

[7] Hexen. “Modern and Contemporary Witches: Film, Television, and the Harry Potter Phenomenon.” Group Discussion, History 333 Witches from Roman Times to Harry Potter from University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC, May 21, 2020.

[8] Into the Woods, directed by Rob Marshall (1986; New York City: Walk Disney Studios, 2014), film.

Bailey, Michael D. “The Feminization of Magic and the Emerging Idea of the Female Witch in the Late Middle Ages,” in Essays in Medieval Studies 19 (Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2002): 120-134. Hexen. “Modern and Contemporary Witches: Film, Television, and the Harry Potter Phenomenon.” Group Discussion, History 333 Witches from Roman Times to Harry Potter from University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC, May 21, 2020. Into the Woods. Directed by Rob Marshall. 1986; New York City: Walt Disney Studios, 2014. Film. Kramer, Heinrich. “Malleus Maleficarum,” in The Witchcraft Sourcebook, ed. Brian P. Levack (Milton: Taylor and Francis Group, 2003): 57-68. Schuchter, Veronika. “Of Grim Witches and Showy Lady-Devils: Wealthy Women in Literature and Film,” in Sciendo Text Matters 9, no 9 (2019): 50-65. Skinner, Steven. “A Brief History of Watercolour Painting,” bigcityart.com, South Woods Publishing, accessed May 13, 2020, https://www.bigcityart.com/watercolors/watercolorpages/sup/history.html.