Thus far, I'm finding a lot of information on werewolves throughout Europe and generally the tales are very similar. Many of the transformations are due to interactions with the Dark Arts or with the presence of sin in a person's life. Overall, I believe that shape-shifting, wereness, and lycanthropy in general have been noted to occur due to corruption somewhere in one's life.
Noting this, I am very excited to begin reading The Duchess of Malfi, knowing that it will be an interesting tale and in many ways related to my study. I hope to get some information out of it that will lead to additional tales of were-people. I never imagined I would find that much information on this topic, but Europe, as a whole, and truly the entire world (I have found) has at some point been almost obsessed with the idea of humans transforming into animal-like beings. It is a universal idea, found on almost every continent, most certainly Europe, Asia, Africa, and North, Central, and South America. So what's left is Antarctica and Australia. I'll find out more about those eventually. But coincidentally, and unfortunately for me, England does not have the number of cases as some of its surrounding areas in Europe, some say due to the lower (almost extinct) wolf population. However, the stories I am finding are very intriguing and I expect to find a great deal of appealing info in them.
Something else I failed to realize was the abundance of biologically founded tales of how and why were-people occur. Some believed it was due to different salves that could be applied to the skin, some rituals including wearing the skin of the animal one wishes to transform into, and others simply involving an attack from a previously established were-person. On a more "logical" (if you will) level, the people of Europe especially found the risk of becoming werewolves high based on the common attacks (or at least more common than you would expect) from packs of rabid or hybrid wolf-wild dogs. The hybrid state of these animals caused them to be highly unstable in mind and would therefore lead to their pursuit and assault on especially women and children.
As I continue to study, I consistently discover more common beliefs on continents separated by oceans. I find that extremely fascinating that these ideas could be conjured or observed (if you find them true) across huge uncrossed barriers which at that point prevented transmission of these tales.
Obviously, I am very excited about this project as it continues. Any information anyone has to contribute, feel free. Whatever information I can gather that will contribute to my own personal knowledge and study of this topic would be greatly appreciated!!! :D Thanks.
3 comments:
I wish I had something of use, but I fear I know next to nothing of werewolves. I do have a quirky friend who might...
Anyway, I know where you're coming from with the England-specific stuff. I've got loads of fairy stories to look into, but all my favorites seem to center around the Scotland/Ireland area. Ah well.
This is a very interesting post.... I'm looking forward to hearing your presentation this week in class. I know that is will be good, you have certainly done your research (you had about 30 library books with you the other day).
I enjoyed reading about what people thought might have caused were-people. I've found it most intriguing throughout our course to look at the thought patterns of people from this age. They certainly seem to have been completely different people from us today. Because while most of us today either flat out don't believe in were-people, or may have somewhat of a hunch that they exist, we generally don't have these fears of animals biting us... and we shape-shifting. There have been so many changes in life since then, that at least in our part of the world these ideas are fairly unknown. Anyways, I hope that the rest of the research goes well..... see you tomorrow.
I agree that it is very striking how different we are from the people of the Renaissance in so many ways, however some of our superstitions and abilities to not find out facts on our own lead us sometimes to the same blind faith (in God, in the government, in the media) that commonly overpowered that period. Thanks for inspiring me with another blog-topic, Ronnie.
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