The Witches of New York

The witch’s ladder is a recurring symbol within the narrative that loosely gestures toward the theme of The Limited Power of Magic. Though initially presented as a charm by which to cast a simple spell, the witch’s ladder quickly comes to signify a physical manifestation of belief and wishes. By Eleanor’s assessment, the witch’s ladder provoked Beatrice’s awakening as a witch and manifested her powers. She reasons that, as a receptacle for wishes, the witch’s ladder responded to Beatrice’s desire to discover the nature of magic and thus enabled it. Whether Eleanor’s reasoning is sound remains debatable, as Beatrice’s encounter with the obelisk might also have provoked her magical powers.

Nevertheless, Beatrice’s willingness to attempt magic with the witch’s ladder comes to symbolize her determination—a notion that is carried through to the end of the novel when she constructs a second witch’s ladder. In this instance, Beatrice’s desperation to escape Townsend is at its peak, and she makes a witch’s ladder both as a symbol of defiance in response to his abuse and as a wish for freedom. Given that Lena believes the witch’s ladder can be used for curses as well as wishes (“They say you can cause great illness that way, even death” (368)), Beatrice’s refusal to use it that way also adds to the ladder’s meaning, as symbolizes her good-heartedness.