Quest for Female Identity in Coelho’s The Witch of Portobello

Abstract

Paulo Coelho's The Witch of Portobello provides quest for women's independent identity in the newly built Europeon society. It also portrays women's struggle for freedom and autonomy which is possible but not so easy. Coelho, through this novel, tries to expose the women's power to overcome the boundaries created by patriarchal authority. He seems to provide women's own authority to make themselves free from the biased norms and values of the patriarchal ideology. Athena, the protagonist of this novel challenges patriarchal norms and values and fights throughout her life for her freedom and autonomy. Patriarchal society tries to make her subservient towards the norms and values of male authority, they force her to move in the path created by them but Athena struggles against the biased attitude and exposes her own way to move which the patriarchal society doesn’t accept. Though she is blamed as witch, she moves forwards with her own values and ultimately becomes the martyr for the women's dignity and self-identities.