1 Introduction
Reading witches is，to some extent, reading the history of women. Though anthropologistsand historians have been studying this magic female group for long, as a mysterious literaryimage，the creation of this figure has been hidden from our view and fascinated both childrenand adults for centuries. Belief in witchcraft can find its clue back to early Europe. In Europe,fear of magic was often "projected" onto women, and “witch，，was a label consciously orsubconsciously applied as a method of scapegoating (Russell and Magliocco 9773). The veryearly and traditional view of witches is that they are associated with Satan, antagonistic toChristianity.The widely known witch image in western literature can be categorized into two groups:the one in fairy tales for children，and the other in fictions or plays. In the classic children'sliterature, the witchy lady is always thin，old with wrinkles on her face，looks frightening withevil eyes, wears black cloak, rides on the broom and always curses or poisons the kind people.A black cat is often her best companion; a mirror，a diamond ball and a stick are hertraditional instrument. When it comes to fictions and plays, the image of witch is more closeto our real life. The women who play witchcraft to predict the future or make a change in lifeare regarded as witches. According to the historical documentary, they suffered the massiveslaughter known as "witch-hunt" or the cruel trials，which provide certain primary source forthe literary representation of this female image.There always exist controversies around the witches and witchcraft, the ancient onesconcerning the real existence of witches and the more recent ones regarding the gender issue.This extraordinary woman is recorded and written with magic power and supernaturalconnection. However, with people's exploration and recognition of nature, the progress ofscience, the development of religion, and the change of women's social position, the image ofwitch in English and American literature has evolved as time passes by. As Sharon Russell has remarked，"The witch as a figure holds an interesting positionrelative to other monster figures in popular culture" (65). As an icon in fantasy literature, theimage of witch has evolved in literary works and now has been an important female figure inpopular culture. Several series of witch stories were published and gained a wide readership，including J. K. Rowling's Harry Porter series, Anne Rice's The Mayfair Witches，TerryPratchet's Discworld witches, Debora Geary's A Modern Witch series. Besides the serial witchstories，this female figure is also recurrently written in the fictions about supernaturalcreatures or magic power. In the recent overwhelmingly popular fiction Vampire Diarieswritten by American writer L. J. Smith，a black girl called Bonnie is a very powerfiil witchfrom the Bennett witch family. She is essential to both her human friends and vampireclassmates. The trilogy The Lord of the Rings also mentioned the witch Galadriel，who isblessed with the ability to peer into the minds of others. The witches are also frequentlypresented on screen. Every year, especially when the Halloween is coming, Hollywoodregularly releases the films about witches. The Hollywood's Top Ten (Witches and Warlocks)listed the most favorite witches and warlocks by the audience with the three ladies in TheWitches of Eastwick (1987),ihQ wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)and the four high school students in The Craft (1996) voted as the top three.
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2 Sources of Witch Imagery
2.1 Terminology
Witchcraft is believed to have been existed since prehistoric times in almost every land ofearth. In anthropological terminology, a “witch，，differs from a sorcerer in that they do not usephysical tools or actions to curse; their malevolent magic is perceived as extending from someintangible inner quality, and the person may be unaware that they are a “witch”，or may havebeen convinced of their own evil
