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

Karlsen establishes how the ideology that informed the society, religion, and politics of 17th-century New England shared a complicated relationship with the attitudes found in England. This ideological relationship, comprised of foundational similarities and evolutionary differences, is reflected in the two lands’ understandings of witchcraft. Colonial New England’s understanding of witchcraft was intrinsically tied to English witchcraft and yet it was also markedly different. The relationship between how witches were defined in England and the colonies suggested an ideological shift embodying why the Puritans fled England in the first place. Karlsen’s comparative study of witchcraft in Europe and the colonies show that the religious and social politics concerning women were a significant factor in the English-Puritan ideological divide. Karlsen incorporates this historical trajectory of the Puritans’ ideological evolution out of European attitudes to emphasize the role that gender played in both societies and illustrate the global scope of the patriarchal systems that produced witch trials.

Colonial New England’s ideological relationship with England is one of the earliest themes developed in The Devil in the Shape of a Woman. Early on in Chapter 1, Karlsen links the 1656 execution of Ann Hibbens to English witchcraft cases. Explaining that Hibbens was one of the many trials and executions that had occurred in New England from 1646-56, Karlsen contextualizes the prevalence of witchcraft trials in the colonies by drawing in England.