Gender politics in Roald Dahl's The Witches
Abstract
The purpose of the thesis is to compare aspects of the novel and the movie The Witches byRoald Dahl. More specifically, I am investigating the gender politics in both the movie andthe movie, seeking to spot differences in the portrayal of females and women as witches inthese works. Dahl explains the phenomenon of witches early in this children’s book,emphasizing the great distinction between women and witches. He explains that witches arenot human beings, but demons disguised as women. Despite this clear and intelligibleexplanation, the novel was met with mixed reception. Several libraries around the worldconsidered the book to cause misogyny, due to its presentation of women as horrifyingwitches seeking to put an end to the existence of children.Did Roald Dahl’s portrayal of witches bring implications to society’s perception ofwomen and gender equality? Is The Witches an arena for acquiring basic misconceptions ofwomen at a young age? These questions have formed the basis of the thesis, leading to thedevelopment of a thesis statement.By using critical feminist theory, I sought to discuss and compare the gender politicsin the novel and the movie. I found that it is challenging to conclude the gender politics inThe Witches. There are some differences in the portrayal of women in the novel and themovie, and one may argue that aspects of them could cause misogyny, while other aspectscould be supporting feminism.