Robert Eggers and Exploration of Preconceived Gender Roles - Part 1 - “The Witch”

Before I get started, I want to preface this with a few things. What follows is my own subjective interpretation on the subtext of 2 movies by the fantastic filmmaker, Robert Eggers: 2015's "The Witch" and 2019's "The Lighthouse".  In this first blog, I’ll solely be covering “The Witch”.  I'm sure some of what I'm about to discuss or ramble about is accurate, though it’s more likely that some interpretations are purely my own or coincidental.  Still, I find reading these little explorations super delightful when I read them by other folks, and wanted to take the opportunity and put in the effort to write my own. It will definitely help if you’ve seen this movie and I would encourage any reader to go watch it before reading what follows (spoilers everywhere).

The Witch - Growing Up a Girl

Robert Eggers’ feature directorial debut was 2015’s “The Witch”, a film that not only has some of the greatest acting and editing talents I’ve ever seen in a movie, but also possesses the unique aspect of not mollycoddling the viewer by way of leveraging immersive, period-accurate dialogue.  From the moment we’re first brought into this world, it feels cold and unwelcoming all the way through to its climax.

We follow our protagonist, Thomasin, through tragedy. 

The story is that of a girl knowing she did nothing wrong when her little brother went missing, literally vanishing right before her very eyes while playing peek-a-boo. Yet Thomasin is being accused/blamed at every turn by those closest to her: her father indirectly through insinuation and her mother very directly through accusatory stares, outbursts of rage, and her outward depression at having lost her infant son.  However, this film being “period accurate”, Thomasin is not allowed to argue because (a) a good Christian doesn’t argue with their parents, and (b) she’s female. Biblically (at least, in this time period and in this setting), women are designed by God to do as their parents tell them until they can get married and their husbands can take on that “responsibility”.  The family is so ready to accept that Thomasin, their oldest daughter (but “just a young girl”), is so inept that no other scenario seems to cross their minds. Admittedly, how could it? They’re an isolated family that, at their father’s directive, left their church in search of their own destiny, and it was Thomasin’s responsibility to watch the baby. To the best of their knowledge, no one else was anywhere near their farmhouse.  In truth, a forest witch stole him and ate him.

Following this, we see the deconstruction of the remainder of her family in the form of various seductions.

• Her preteen brother is figuratively seduced by the call of the forest (metaphor: growing up) and literally seduced by the strange yet beautiful woman who lives in it (a witch). 
• The young twins’ are seduced by their own curious independence. In their own isolation from their family, they find companionship with each other and with Black Phillip: the family’s old black goat (who is more than he seems, but more on him in a bit).
• The mother is seduced by an ever growing grief at the loss of her child, which takes the form of a crow.  While some people might find that pain and grief lessens over time at having suffered such tragedy, the mother’s grief only seems to worsen until the crow is literally eating the mother’s breast: eating the source of life a mother is supposed to provide her child. Crows are carrion: they eat dead and rotting things, which seems to suggest the mother was already dead or dead on the inside at the very least. 
• Thomasin’s father is seemingly the only one impervious to seduction. In truth, he’s been so blinded and was so seduced by his own faith that he completely fails to see the horror of the situation growing literally all around him.  His zealous nature prohibits him from doing what’s right for his family. He is seduced by God.

Through all of this, Thomasin is left to her own devices for the first time in her life. For the first time, she begins to realize that she can either (a) try to support this disaster of a family that hates her the way a “good Christian girl” should or (b) seek the refuge of freedom in the forest.

Then we come to Black Phillip.  Black Phillip is a character so wonderfully crafted that, for the majority of the film, he’s literally just a goat.  He does little to nothing for 90% of the movie and is just a background farm animal.  Near the film’s climax however, the father is faced with the loss of his entire family and Thomasin is the only one left.  His assumption is that she is a witch and she must die.  At night in the rain, he makes his way to the shed where he’s locked her and intends on killing her.  Just before he can though, Black Phillip gores the father in the stomach, killing him and saving Thomasin.  

From there, Thomasin is left alone.  Having lost the life she knew, she takes a candle and follows Black Phillip who leads her into the shed for arguably one of the greatest scenes in modern history.  

Thomasin commands Black Phillip to talk to her, the way he used to talk to the twins.  Just as she is about to leave, Black Phillip speaks: 

“what dost thou want?”  

Thomasin asks, “what dost thou offer?” 

Black Phillip starts simply and proposes the taste of butter or a pretty dress. He asks, “dost thou wish to live deliciously? Dost thou wish to see the world?”

This scene, while being a little bit spooky, is MONUMENTALLY intriguing to say the least. Thomasin’s options are limited due to circumstance, which the forest and the Witches in it brought upon her house. These “witches” while literally doing evil deeds in the film, are metaphorical representations of independent women: the very thing that God and the church fear the most.  The very first witch in the film murders and eats an infant child: this is a (relatively violent) metaphor for any woman who has opted to forego the traditional life of motherhood in pursuit of her own independence. 

While it’s easy to assume that Black Phillip only represents “Satan”, I like to think he actually represents something more: education, independence, knowledge and experience.  His portrayal in the dark and foreboding form of a black goat and his seductive transition into a black-clad man only further drive home the notion that, in order for any woman to grow, she must abandon tradition and the expectations of those around her and become what is in her heart.

I love this movie.