Word: witching
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...Grant as Evil Force 2. Hirsch is anti-typecast as a former idealist corrupted by the System, and it hampers his performance as a villain. Hirsch reeks of integrity, even while trying to lie, cheat, and bluff his away around Williams and Nolte, though the part of head witch suits Grant very nicely...
Author Paul Sagawa '85, who co-wrote the script with Peter A. Miller '85 says it "looks at the Salem witch trials and takes jabs at "The Crucible," Nathaniel Hawthorne's books and the Puritan work ethic...
...aristocratic women suggests that 45% died before 50, one-quarter of those in childbirth. If perpetual pregnancy did not do a woman in, smallpox well might. Life expectancy was 35. If a 17th century woman should survive to old age, she was in danger of being taken for a witch. In a 1648 treatise, John Stearne explained witchcraft as a woman's game on the ground that females are more "revengeful" than men because of Satan's "prevailing with Eve." Such reasoning ensured that any rise in the standing of women could only be partial and restricted...
After the initial scenes, Christine's character becomes increasingly flat. We learn that she is a witch and a manic man-killer, and that's that. Aside from a few very sinister smiles, she gives little insight into her character--she could just as easily be portraying a determined computer operator...
While it is possible that Updike does not entirely share the Manichean simplicity of this witch's views, he does nothing to counteract the reductionist view of virtue as the lack of strength. The reader feels that Updike's vision although concerned with goodness, does little to characterize just what comprises and defeats...