Politics of Magic Realism in Paulo Coelho’sThe Witch of Portobello

Abstract

To read Paulo Coelho’sThe Witch of Portobellois to decode the negative portrayal of female character Athena. Though, she has different identities, almost all of them indicate magical qualities like witch, and her transformation in to different objects, like, ashes, wind, light etc. through dance and music. During her journey, she faces many problems, only because of male dominated society. Coelho, by exploring magical realism, intends to show his dominating attitude because in the combination of reality and magical, he has recognized magical qualities with the female and positive qualitieswith male.