Sympathy for the Witch

After today's class, I really started to realize that even though Zeena is evil, she does deserve some sympathy.  Starkfield, Massachusetts is a boring town where it seems to be winter all year round. Zeena and Ethan don’t seem to be friendly towards each other, let alone love each other. Zeena basically lives the most boring life possible. She never goes anywhere, except the doctor, and she has no friends or people who come to visit her. Mattie, her cousin who could be a good friend to her, falls in love with Ethan, betraying Zeena in her own home. While it may be said that Zeena is faking her sickness out of boredome, if her illness is real, she is in pain frequently and no one really seems to care or understand. There are so many things in Zeena’s life that cause her to be evil. The town, her cousin and husband’s betrayal, her illness, and her lack of companionship and love from anyone all add up to make her into the evil witch she is portrayed to be. In the end of the story, when Zeena takes care of Ethan and Mattie, it is evidence that she really isn’t evil at heart, but merely out of boredom. When she has a task to do, such as taking care of others, she is a completely different person. The fact that Mattie basically transforms into a new Zeena when she can no longer leave the house and is ill, points to the fact that Zeena’s witchlike behavior was not simply because that is a facet of her personality, but rather proof that the situation she was in contributed to her behavior.