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

Chapter 6 focuses on the relationship between the witch and accuser. Karlsen poses witchcraft as intrinsically tied to colonialism. The process of colonizing land and creating a new society created communal stratifications where certain individuals were “othered” for their difference from the rest of the community. In this way, the witch is a specifically social figure constructed by her neighbors.

Karlsen then goes into a demographic analysis of the witchcraft accusers of 17th-century New England. She finds that most non-possessed accusers were middle aged, married men. Because little has been written about witchcraft accusers, Karlsen then devotes her chapter to situating them amongst broader Puritan society to understand what factors led them to accuse their neighbors of witchcraft.

Firstly, there was an imbalance of the sexes in Puritan New England for some time. When Puritans first came over to American shores, there were nearly double the number of men to women. The abundance of land plus the scarcity of women meant that for a time, Puritan society was flexible regarding its inheritance and land-owning rules. This created independent, land-owning women who flew in the face of traditional gender roles. Simultaneously, the Puritan church consistently policed women for their behavior.