The Devil in the Shape of a Woman by Carol Karlsen Essay...

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.†¦show more content†¦Even though these laws were written to be fair to all, the magistrates and clergy delegated punishment by who was being punished. This type of reasoning was typical in New England, and set the stage for the witch trials. The content of The Devil in the Shape of a Woman is broken down into sections, by time and place. There are several charts in the book showing the relationship of gender, age, wealth and place on how an accused witch was treated. Most show that women were targeted at a greater extent than anybody. Most observers now agree that witches in the villages and towns of the late Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century New England tended to be poor. They were usually not the poorest women in the community, but the moderately poor. Karlsen tries to show that a woman who was vulnerable was most likely to be accused of being a witch. Even women who had gained wealth because of the death of a husband were prime candidates. Promiscuity was also known to be a reason for being accused accused of witchery. Marital problems often led to a disgruntled husband screaming witch. A woman who could not conceive a child, or one who would not give into her husband’s wishes could easily be accused. Karlsen touches on the events leading up to the witch trials of Salem in almost every chapter. The events which led to the witch trial actually occurred in what isShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Book The Devil On The Shape Of A Woman By Carol Karlsen Essay1637 Words   |  7 PagesConversely, Carol Karlsen who was a Professor of History and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan had a different take on the trials. Karlsen wrote The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England in 1987, a book examining the role of women in the Salem Witch Trials. Karlsen was â€Å"concerned with the meaning of witchcraft for New England’s first settlers†¦ and why most witches in early American society were women.† Karlsen obviously felt that there was a disparity ofRead More Comparing Salem Possessed by Paul Boyer, The Story of the Salem Witch Trials by Bryan Le Beau, and Devil in the Shape of a Woman by Carol Karlsen1819 Words   |  8 Page s and The Devil in the Shape of a Woman by Carol Karlsen The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 spread just about as fast as the Black Plague. This epidemic caused chaos among neighbors in a community. The chronology of events describes an awful time for colonists from June 10th to September 22nd of that year. The books Salem Possessed by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, The Story of the Salem Witch Trials by Bryan Le Beau, and The Devil in the Shape of a Woman by Carol Karlsen all describeRead MoreCarol Karlsen s The Devil1692 Words   |  7 PagesName Class Professor June 22, 2015 Carol Karlsen s The Devil in the Shape of a Woman† Carol Karlsen s The Devil in the Shape of a Woman† was written to provide the reader with an understanding of the role of the â€Å"witch† in colonial New England. During the early colonial period, pilgrims lived in a male-dominated society and the classical witch hunts were conducted in an attempt to maintain this societal structure. Since these hunts were placed under a religious guise, it was simple for theseRead More Witches Essay1357 Words   |  6 Pages The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: A Review Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England. New York: Vintage, 1987.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The Devil in the Shape of a Woman by Carol Karlsen takes a closer look at the females being accused of witchcraft in colonial New England. American history has few subjects as interesting as witchcraft, because it confronts us with many different ideas about women. It confronts usRead MoreThe Witchcraft Crisis Through Colonial New England1419 Words   |  6 PagesThe witchcraft crisis through colonial New England is visualized through the work of Mary Beth Norton and Carol F. Karlsen. The scholars demonstrate deep understanding in the subject, and both present valid information through their overall theses. In order to understand the complete story of witchery in the seventeenth-century, these two books intrigue the reader in what the authors want to present. Although, their research seems bias, both historians similarly delve into the topic with an openRead More Salem Witchcraft Essay2617 Words   |  11 Pagesdecided to condemn the people around them as witches and why they did w hat they did to one another. Carol Karlsen in her book The Devil in the Shape of a Woman and Bernard Rosenthal in Salem Story give several factors, ranging from woman hunting to shear malice, that help explain why the Salem trials took place and why they reached the magnitude that they did. The theories put fourth by Karlsen of a society that accusations against women as witches explain the trail, and Rosenthals ideas of discourseRead More The Devil in the Shape of a woman Essay734 Words   |  3 Pages The Devil in the Shape of a Woman â€Å"The Devil in the Shape of a Woman† was an excellent book that focuses on the unjusts that have been done to women in the name of witchcraft in Salem, and many other areas as well. It goes over statistical data surrounding gender, property inherence, and the perceptions of women in colonial New England. Unlike the other studies of colonial witchcraft, this book examines it as a whole, other then the usual Salem outbreaks in the late 17th century. To completelyRead MoreThe Role of Young Women in the Salem Witch Trials Essay examples1329 Words   |  6 Pageswitchcraft is defines as the practice of magic intended to influence nature. It is believed that only people associated with the devil can perform such acts. The Salem Witch Trials was much more than just America’s history, it’s also part of the history of women. The story of witchcraft is first and foremost the story of women. Especially in its western life, Karlsen (1989) noted that â€Å"witchcraft challenges us with ideas about women, with fears about women, with the place of women in society andRead MoreEssay about Gender Politics in the US Criminal Justice System1736 Words   |  7 Pagespublic and private. Once a woman crosses over into the public sphere, by doing something as simple as drinking, she is punished and sent away to be to the private world of prison. This struggle still exists in modern day. Because of the equal rights movement many p eople would consider women to receive the same punishment for the same crime as a man, however, this is anything but true. Women will either receive lesser or harsher punishment depending on their crime. If a woman has committed a minor offenseRead MoreEssay on Salem Witch Trials1396 Words   |  6 Pageswitches and the devil. During the seventeenth century, people were executed for being witches and follower of Satan. Most of these executions were performed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Mostly all of the accused were women, which makes some modern historians believe that the charges of witchcraft were a way of controlling the women who threatened the power of the men. During the witchcraft trials, hundreds of arrests were made, and some were even put to death on Gallow’s Hill (Karlsen 145). In 1698