What Makes a Mother Goose a Mother Goose?

Mother Goose as Crone

Mother Goose is often portrayed as an old woman or crone. Although crones have frequently been represented as somewhat evil witch-like figures, contemporary feminists have redefined them in a more positive light as matriarchal and nurturing images of mature females.

How old was Mother Goose in the images you viewed in previous segments of What Makes a Mother Goose a Mother Goose? Is her portrayal positive or negative? Comforting or frightening? Does Mother Goose remind you of a witch in any of these images? If so, what parts of the images are witch-like? In the segment on Mother Goose in Flight, does the time of day Mother Goose flies correspond to her positive or negative characteristics? Is there such a thing as a “good witch” in the previous images or in those below? What aspects of these images help to portray Mother Goose in a positive light in spite of some witch-like characteristics?

Although the appearance of the old woman in the last image below is less like a witch’s, she is struggling with the goose and seems determined to destroy, and perhaps cook, that goose.

What does Mother Goose carry or hold in these images? Why might she carry a broom, a cane, an umbrella, or other stick-like object?