Katherine is one of the main characters in The Witch (2015).
Biography[]
Katherine was the wife of an English settler named William, and lived with him and their 5 children. After being banished from their Puritan Plymouth colony and left to live in the wild, they decide to build a home near a forest, which, unbeknownst to them, was infested with witches.
Some time passes, and the family eventually manages to finish building their barn. During this time, Katherine gives birth to a newborn son, whom she names Samuel. One day, her eldest daughter Thomasin is playing peekaboo with Samuel when the baby abruptly disappears. It is soon revealed that a witch has stolen the unbaptized Samuel, killing him and using his remains to make a flying ointment.
Katherine is left devastated by Samuel's disappearance, and spends her days crying and praying. About a week after, Katherine accuses Thomasin of either stealing or losing a silver cup that belonged to Katherine's father (when, in reality, William had secretly sold it for hunting supplies). Katherine also suspects her to be responsible for Samuel's abduction. After the children retire to bed, they overhear their parents discussing sending Thomasin away to serve another family. Caleb doesn't approve of this, however, and so early the next morning, Thomasin finds him preparing to hunt for food in the forest and forces him to take her with him by threatening to awaken their parents.
In the woods, the two spot a hare, which sends their horse into a panic and their dog Fowler promptly chases. Caleb pursues, while the horse throws Thomasin off, knocking her unconscious. Caleb, meanwhile, becomes lost in the woods, and eventually ends up being attacked by the witch. William finds Thomasin and takes her home where Katherine angrily chastises Thomasin for taking Caleb into the woods before William reluctantly admits that he sold Katherine's cup.
More and more problems begin plaguing the family, such as their vegetation being rotten and their goats producing blood instead of milk. Caleb then is found outdoors in the rain that night, naked and delirious from an unknown illness. When he awakens the next day, Caleb expels a bloody apple from his mouth; Katherine believes it to be witchcraft. Caleb passionately proclaims his love to Christ before he dies, though Katherine believes Caleb to have been under some sort of spell. The twins then accuse Thomasin of witchcraft and, in retaliation, Thomasin reveals to the parents that the twins have had conversations with Black Phillip, the family's Billy goat, of whom the twins say is telling them that Thomasin is evil. Thomasin turns the accusation around and tells William that she believes the twins are witches, and that Black Phillip might be Satan himself. The twins refuse to respond to the accusations, however, and a frustrated William ends up boarding both Thomasen and the twins inside the goat house. Thomasen overhears William break down and confess to God that he has been prideful and made his family leave their old village out of stubbornness rather than sincere religious devotion.
Later in the night, the three children are woken by the sounds of rustling in the goat house and discover an old woman drinking milk from the goats. Meanwhile, inside the house, Katherine awakens to a vision of Caleb holding Samuel. After a brief discussion, Caleb offers Samuel to Katherine so she may breast feed the baby but the baby is shown to be in fact a crow that is pecking away at her breast.
Death[]
The next morning, William wakes up to find the stable destroyed, with some of the goats dead, the twins missing, and Thomasin lying down unconscious with blood-stained hands. As Thomasin awakens, Black Phillip suddenly attacks and kills William before her eyes. A now unhinged Katherine then confronts Thomasin, and blames her for the tragedies that have beset the family. She then attacks her daughter and pins her to the ground, but Thomasin fights back in self-defense and kills her mother by slashing her to death with a nearby cleaver.
Trivia[]
- Katherine is played by Kate Dickie, who was also Ford in Prometheus and lady Arryn in Game of Thrones