The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England

In the final chapters of The Devil in the Shape of a Woman, Karlsen shifts her attention to the accusers to further enlighten both the witch and the society that produced her. Indeed, Karlsen’s analyses in these final chapters—particularly in Chapter 7, with its spotlight on possessed accusers—are crucial to the overarching argument in the book because of their emphasis on the whole of female oppression in 17th-century New England. Whereas earlier chapters focused on how patriarchal politics expressed themselves in witchcraft accusations, the final chapters showcase how all women (including the accusers) of Puritan society suffered their own forms of oppression. In their purposeful lack of focus on the witches themselves, these final chapters serve as a linchpin to Karlsen’s argument that the history of American witchcraft is the history of the whole of American women.

Karlsen follow the negotiations of female agency that characterized Puritan society. These negotiations varied in form based on which group is being studied. Some women explored their sexuality outside of marriage despite the laws of the church, defying the patriarchal power structure. Others enjoyed independence through land ownership. For those accused as witches, they used their defiant voices, either speaking on their execution block or writing letters to men in power, such as Abigail Faulkner as discussed in the epilogue. In the case of possessed accusers, these young women expressed their discontent by engaging in the socially accepted ritual of possession. Karlsen makes it clear that in the full range of these experiences–no matter their age, class, or other demographic factors–all these women suffered oppression in Puritan society.

However, only one group in this range of women came remotely close to being heard and acknowledged by the men in power in 17th-century New England. Karlsen devotes an entire chapter to this group of possessed accusers because their experiences differ so vastly from other women in Puritan society. While other rebellious women were labeled as witches, these young, working poor women expressed their agency in a particularly shrewd fashion. Possessed accusers are a unique component to the history of American witchcraft because they both rebel against and reinforce the patriarchal order that oppressed them. Crucially, as Karlsen herself points out, previous histories of the American witch trials overlooked possessed accusers. Yet, they are essential to understanding the nuances of female rebellion in 17th-century New England—a battle for power that Karlsen terms a “fierce negotiation” (246).

Possessed accusers gained positive attention by men in power because, unlike the women who drew negative attention (read: witchcraft accusations) they engaged in socially acceptable behavior. Engaging with anthropological sources once again, Karlsen explains that it has been well established that if a society is built on a foundation that believes in possession, then it is not unexpected for behaviors associated with possession to manifest in that society. In other words, if a culture believes in possession, then people will act possessed because they believe it as a naturally occurring reality. Karlsen insists that the possessed accusers were not devious young women launching accusations for fun. Rather, “the possessed […] did not step beyond the bounds of their social world; they stood firmly within it, articulating vital aspects of their culture” (235). Here, Karlsen affirms that these accusers embraced possession as their route of negotiating female agency precisely because it was comfortably within the confines of Puritan beliefs. These young women were terrified of being labeled witches themselves; indeed, they were fearful of their own emotions, with discontent being labeled as prideful and sinful by the Puritan church. Possession was a viable route for these women because they could express their discontent without explicitly challenging the church.

However, possession as an expression of female discontent came at a high cost. With every case of possession came a wave of older women accused of—and perhaps even killed for—witchcraft. Further, as the case of Elizabeth Knapp illustrates, possession did not have any sufficient payoff for the accuser herself. Although Knapp was able to draw the attention and concern of her pastor, Samuel Willard, she did not control the situation for long. Willard soon began to define Knapp’s behavior on his own terms through the controlling lens of the church, pushing the girl to admit to talking with the Devil. After Knapp initially engaged with the demands of the church, she tried to directly express her frustrations by withdrawing her comments and explaining that she was tired of her lifestyle and pressures put on her. Willard did not believe her, and Knapp reverted to her story of Devilish possession. Knapp’s story is a direct illustration of Karlsen’s definition of possession and its place in Puritan society: it was a “dramatic religious ritual through which young females publicly enacted their struggle to avoid internalizing witchcraft” (244). Knapp used possession to try and express her discontent, but as soon as she drew close to witchcraft accusations herself by explicitly stating her feelings, she withdrew behind the public ritual of possession. In doing so, Knapp (and other possessed accusers like her) gave control over to the church, reaffirming its belief system and the patriarchal order that oppressed them.

Karlsen’s analysis of this aspect of 17th-century New England advances the collective understanding of the history of American witchcraft because it expands the conception of Puritan patriarchal oppression beyond the witches themselves. Instead, Karlsen’s final chapters emphasize the systemic scope of the framework that produced the witches and the infamous trials. Importantly, Karlsen uses her epilogue to point out that these systems of patriarchal oppression still exist in contemporary society. In its final pages, The Devil in the Shape of a Woman explicitly states that this 17th-century history has direct applicability to today and reaffirms Karlsen’s argument that to study American witchcraft is to study the history of American women.