The Devil in the Shape of a Woman by Carol Karlsen

The Devil in the Shape of a Woman by Carol Karlsen

Carol Karlsen was born in 1940. She is currently a professor in the history department a the University of Michigan. A graduate of Yale University (Ph.D, 1980), she has taught history and women’s study courses at Union College and Bard College.

In this book Carol Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in 17th century New England, and brings forth the portrait of gender in the New England Society.

The books thesis is based on why a person was accused of being a witch and the relative circumstances thereof. Marital status, sex, community standing, wealth, and relationships with others all play an important part of a person chances of being accused of being a witch. Karlsen’s words make for a richly detailed portrait of the women who were prosecuted as witches. The witch hunting hysteria seized New England in the late seventeenth century. Why were those and other women likely witches? Why were certain people vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft and possession? These are the questions answered in this book.

The book focuses mainly on the time period between 1620-1725, give or take a few years. Colonial New England is the setting. The author puts great emphasis on towns where witch trials were predominate. In these towns religion, social status and wealth seemed to be important to most people. The courts in these towns relied on religion as much as the law to run their trials.

Colonial New England in the early 1600’s was in a state of decision. A lot of the beliefs about witchcraft came from the policy’s of England, the mother country. During the early years of settlement, puritans in Massachusetts Bay were uncertain about how to translate their sexual belie...

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...ring these times. The largest amount of reference comes from the Peabody Museum where 522 original court documents pertaining to witch trial have been preserved.

Did Karlsen prove her thesis? She did show that women in general were accused more than men. Sexuality seemed to play an important part in the witch hysteria. I feel that more important was the social, marital, and economic state of a woman was the deciding factor of the accusation of witchcraft. Her references are excellent since they are preserved documents of the time.

Did I enjoy this book? I thought the book was hard to follow. It is written more like reference material as opposed to a story. The title would lead one to believe the book is about the use of witchcraft, but it never touches on the practice. The book does have a purpose, showing who, why and where people were accused of witchcraft.