The Monstrous Male in The VVhich.
"The Witch" is a movie that prompts the audience to think about how male idealization can cause harm to those not following patriarchal norms. Within the narrative of this movie, the audience sees how masculinity is portrayed through family members and how people seen as explicitly feminine are punished for their femininity. The historical politics of this movie also implement patriarchal idealization through Puritan social norms, and the family unit becomes unstable without the ability to follow those traditions. Leading to the central conflict of this movie being: patriarchal social norms vs. young womanhood or Masculinity vs. Femininity.
In this movie, the audience is first introduced to the monstrous masculine through William. In the scene, William and his family are exiled from their Puritan community due to Williams's inability to follow community guidelines. This scene introduces the downfall of social norms, which is the inherent problem with this family now that they're living in isolation. On the outside, William seems to follow traditional masculine objectives and ideals; however, William does not embody masculinity. This is seen by Williams's inability to harvest the land, hunt successfully and his ineptitude at child-rearing. These examples allude to a silent but more robust patriarchal figure Kate.
Kate is the embodiment of someone who upholds patriarchal ideas and values and ensures that those things are happening. Kate is the one who disciplines the children and tells them what to do, and she has very definite rules for their homestead. Whenever William disobeys those rules, he's called out on it. But that does not mean William owns up to his misdoings, leading to misunderstandings and aggression towards vulnerable parties like Thomasin. The central conflict in this movie is sexuality, specifically female sexuality and its proximity to men. This is seen in the way that Kate treats Thomasin due to her beginning puberty; there are two main points that are connected to how Kate is treating Thomasin. The first point is again how traditional patriarchal solutions of dealing with developing womanhood are not attainable to this family due to William and his pride. This is mentioned explicitly in the film when Kate and William are arguing in their bedroom, and Kate reminds William of the Puritan norm that when a woman reaches her adolescence, she's usually sent to a family that is not her own to work. This again shows how the patriarchal social norms are constantly in Kates's head, and she's determined to follow these norms. In contrast, William is more focused on his pride, the power he holds in society, and his alluded position within the household. The second point comes from this quote from Victoria Madden's essay, "...Thomasin, whose burgeoning womanhood singles her out as being especially vulnerable to the influences of evil. Perched on the cusp of embracing her own female sexuality, Thomasin's changing body and growing sense of autonomy becomes a source of tension within the family, especially straining the relationship between Thomasin and her mother, Kate". Kates holds the position of a sexless being within their patriarchal society; mothers are no longer seen as sexual, leading Kate to harbor internalized misogyny, allowing her to embody the monstrous masculine within the way that she feels threatened by her daughter's burgeoning sexuality as a young woman's sexuality is both a threat to mothers with sons as well as the patriarchal image of the ideal woman and her virtues.
Thomasin, in this movie, is the peak embodiment of femininity; while the rest of her family is wearing lots of earth tones and neutral tones, Thomasin is wearing pink and white. Pink in the modern scene is considered an inherently feminine color, and Thomasin is the only one to wear this color. The audience sees Thomasin wearing only white when she is being objectified by Caleb or Black Philip in human his form. This objectification is not her fault but is the fault of the on-lookers and their desires being pushed onto her, unlike how her mother views Thomasin's sexuality -- as it is Thomasin pushing her own desires onto others. Again Thomasin is constantly being punished for this newfound sexuality; that is unclear to the audience if she knows that that is the problem.
Caleb, on the other hand, is an embodiment of young masculinity. The scene where William takes Caleb hunting holds much historical significance and meaning. In the Victorian and Edwardian eras, it was a common ideal that young men learned how to hunt and showed their masculinity through the domination of other/Other beings, so hunting throughout the years has been seen as a powerful masculine archetype. This hunting scene sets up the eventual introduction to Caleb's sexuality and how he is also burgeoning into adolescent hood. However, his family does not punish Caleb; the witch punishes him in the woods. Because of this, Caleb's family sees him as a victim of his sexuality, not a perpetrator, which is how the scene unfolds.
To sum up, this movie demonstrates the monstrous masculine through patriarchal family ideals. Each character demonstrates the monstrous masculine through their role in a family or the societal expectations of their role in the family. William reveals this through his pridefulness in thinking that he knows best, even if his family may suffer. Kate demonstrates this through her fervent desire to uphold patriarchal family ideals and her position of sexlessness versus burgeoning sexuality. Caleb illustrates this through his embodiment of newfound masculinity and the trope of being seen as a victim of one's desires instead of a perpetrator. Finally, Thomasin embodies the opposite of the masculine but is the inherent threat of the monstrous masculine, a woman comfortable in her sexuality, a true victim of her sexuality in a patriarchal society.
