A carnavalizada máscara das bruxas: a visão burlesca da violência em As bruxas, de Roald Dahl

Abstract

Who is the villain to be feared? In this dissertation, we use the Grand High Witch from Roald Dahl's The Witches to think about the power dynamics and violence surrounding the witch-both fictional and historical. This dissertation is a construct, a peculiar structure that leans over the body of the Grand High Witch in Roald Dahl. She is a Homo Sacer, a body that can be killed without punishment for its executioners. The analysis follows a pendular movement, oscillating between diegesis and the fiction of reality to understand the social relations that construct bodies. Seeking to address the villainous body and the abjection of the hero, this repressed and violator desire laden with sadism, we find the fiction of the sabbaths. This is where we find the impasse: humor, because on one hand, we read the humor of the hero who violates bodies, and on the other, the carnivalization that diminishes power, so thinking about this dynamic is to understand the politics of bodies. So, a question from Roald Dahl arises: for whom does he produce humor? For this, we explore the facets of the Grand High Witch, from her disgusting body to her aversion to children, which connects her to the sabbath, but also to Carnival. Finally, it is Bakhtin who brings an ideological possibility to this issue. This text demands a keen vision of a fiction of reality, that is, our capture and fictionalization of reality thru political means. It is impossible to think of a witch (a villain) without understanding her pains. The world of witches is a dark world, mainly due to the prejudice and ill intentions of their opponents. This work considers this villainous body not as a being that deserves to die, but as a being already outraged and hurt. Think of this villainy beyond a nature and a judgment of crimes. In the end, we do not try to redeem the character, that is, we will neither take on the role of judge nor that of lawyer. Understanding this literary body, especially in children's texts, from a social perspective, is to broaden the reading about the position of art before the reader. We seek to reinforce carnivalization as an esthetic for the oppressed. The connection is very natural, but still complex. We can laugh at the villain, it's true. But, before this situation, questions arise: What is a villain? And is the Grand High Witch really the only villain in The Witches? What does it mean to be a villain when we move between fictional and social realities?