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Witch’s Mark

Folklore
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Synonymous with Witchmark; a physical sign identifying a witch, often interpreted as a seal of pact or innate power.

Detailed Definition
Witch’s Mark in poetry represents the body as scripture. It appears in Puritan and feminist verse as the site of persecution—where society reads the flesh for sin, and the mark is not of demon, but of defiance.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Macbeth, the witch’s mark is the “third eye” of the devil: “I have a witch’s mark upon my hand”; in Blake’s “The Human Abstract,” the mark is the sign of envy’s growth; in Coleridge’s “Christabel,” Geraldine’s neck bears the witch’s mark; in Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott,” the mark is the curse that binds her to the mirror; in Emily Dickinson’s “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” the mark is the weight that presses the soul down; in Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy,” the mark is the boot that stamped on her heart.
Additional Notes
Witch’s Mark is synonymous with Devil’s Mark—a physical sign identifying a witch, often interpreted as a seal of pact or innate power. In folklore, it was used to justify persecution. In poetry, it represents the body as text, the stigma of difference, and the violence of labeling. Poets use it to explore identity, persecution, and the reclaiming of the marked body as sacred.
Also Known As
Devil’s Mark Sign of the Witch Witchmark
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