Date of Award
2020
Publisher
North Dakota State University
Document Type
Master's Paper
Degree Awarded
Master of Arts (MA)
Program
English
Department
English
College
Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
Faculty Advisor
Hassel, Holly
Description
The evolution of the term “witch hunt” from a physical act to a political metaphor is largely overlooked by modern audiences. As the hysteria of the witch trials fades into popular memory, certain associations live on. In the case of the witch hunt, the association of the term ‘witch hunt’ is women’s innocence. Thousands of innocent women were killed in the original witch trials. The metaphor calls back to this collective memory of innocence. In politics, the witch hunt metaphor is used as a rallying cry against an accuser. White male politicians use this metaphor as a claim of innocence against accusations of wrongdoing. Women, who experienced these instances of gendered history differently, do not use the witch hunt defense. Through careful analysis of social media rhetoric, I argue that powerful male politicians such as President Donald Trump appropriate specific historical instances of women’s pain for their own gain.
Recommended Citation
Grube, Kaitlyn, "Which Witch is Witch: The Appropriation of Women’s Pain in the Use of the Witch Hunt Metaphor in Modern Political Rhetoric" (2020). English. 65.
https://digitalcommons.ndsu.edu/english/65
Rights
NDSU policy 190.6.2
Rights Link
https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf
Handle Identifier
https://hdl.handle.net/10365/31499