In many of the stories told, witches are evil, who only use their powers for bad things. These witches are so powerful that their spells and enchantments can take lifetimes to break. An example of this in American Horror Story: Coven is Madame Delphine LaLaurie. The African, voodoo queen, Marie Laveau, had cursed her to immortality and kept her locked up in a trunk since the seventeenth century for torturing, killing, and degrading black slaves in her own home. When the Coven finds her locked up it is the present day and Madame LaLaurie is still alive and well, the curse unbroken. Even in Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty, Princess Aurora is cursed to death, and all her fairy godmother can do is lessen the extent of her curse, putting her in an eternal slumber until true …show more content…
The fairy godmother cannot even break it because Maleficent is too powerful. Just like Maleficent, Marie Laveau is a metaphor for a woman who is aware of herself. Because she is aware of how strong she is, everyone else sees it as a threat. Another example of witches being a symbol for female power is in the fifth episode of the season, entitled “Burn, Witch. Burn!” The witches of the Coven and the voodoo witches have had bad blood for centuries due to racism and power struggle between the two groups. Marie Laveau receives the head of her lover on Halloween from the Coven to send a message that they are more powerful. In retaliation, Marie Laveau performs a voodoo ritual, levitating above a symbol, that resurrects an army of the undead to cause trouble for the witches of the Coven. As the undead encircle the house, one of the young witches, Nan, rushes out to the front of the house to save the next door neighbor, Luke. Nan and Luke cannot escape, and they seek refuge