The Devil In The Shape Of A Woman Summary

The Devil in the Shape of a Woman by Carol F. Karlsen is an analytical novel about the social construction of witchcraft in the 17th century in New England. It describes how women who were either considered weird or outcasts at the time, were proclaimed to be “witches” that did work for the devil. The women and (on rare occasions) the men accused were burned at stake or tortured excessively. The purpose of the book is to show the unfairness that women would have to live with if they did not meet the expectations or demands of a male-ruled society.The intended audience is for people who study law, study history, or just generally are interested in social happenings that have happened in the past. The author mostly uses expository rhetorics. …show more content…
For example the book mentions Ann Cole, a young women that was taken to court because she had “very strange fits”. This was one of the cases that started to fuel witchcraft in Connecticut. Not knowing that the young women had epilepsy, the court appointed her as being a worshipper of the devil. On one of her episodes she was described as “dancing for satan”( writhing on the floor) and “calling out for the devil” ( nonconsecutively screams or clicking of the tongue). She was unfortunately burned at the stake. By using expository rhetorics, Karlsen describes events of women that didn't live up to the male-ruled society. Discussing how strange events that might have happened to a women, would be viewed as something catastrophic to the society they lived in, unknowingly that the circumstances that were happening to them would be viewed as something normal or treatable in the …show more content…
Previously, Ann Cole’s case was discussed but she wasn't the only case that Karlsen described in the novel. Mary Johnson was a servant in Connecticut that was accused of stealing, even though thief had nothing to do with the witchcraft, she was convicted as using some kind of power to help her steal objects because she was never caught in action. She was hanged as a witch. Not even the social class women were saved of being convicted. Ann Hibben, a very wealthy widow in Boston, was accused of putting a spell on her neighbor. The only fault that Hibben had was verbally cursing (bad mouthing) her neighbor for something and having the unfortunate luck of the neighbor finding out that he had some health problems after her curses. Promptly accusing her of casting a spell on him and being the source for his bad health. Ann Hibben was tried and profusely tortured after she denied ever doing