Either way, the connotations are largely negative and create a sense of foreboding. What is noticeable from our contemporary vantage point, however, is that modern prejudices colour how the scene is interpreted, with one recent historian stating ‘the cleric may be making a pass, or slapping the woman for having impure thoughts or for being a witch’.57 The cliché of woman as victim, witch or whore is still rife.58
