While
demonological theorists of the 15th and 16th centuries painted
a dramatically peril picture for women and the plight of their sexual, albeit
sometimes violent, encounters with the Devil, stories regarding that softer
romantic side of the Devil spread throughout the lands, further threatening the
slide of righteous women into the debauchery of witch craft. The Devil was not just a nasty demon cast to
Hell by God, but was for all intents and purposes a real being that sprang into
the lives of women that were at their most sexually vulnerable. “The Devil is not a one-night stand but a
long-term relationship, the culmination of a passionate wooing” (Roper
88). It was a time for which women may
have felt they did not have the man that provided the needs, but rather created
more longings and dissatisfactions in every aspect of their marriage. Where a mere human lacked to provide, the
Devil seemed appealing to provide not just the sense of renewed romanticism,
but a whole life inconceivable otherwise.
It wasn’t as if the women wanted to rule the world; they simply wanted to
fulfill their needs of “security, pleasure, and love” (Roper 89).
The common
overtone in such romantic pacts with the Devil is the unhappy woman’s heart
being open to the wanting of more intimacy. The Devil is skilled at the art of sweet
nothings: “that he will not leave her”, “she should be his”, typical valentine
candy kind of stuff, save for the pact of denouncing God and serving the will of the Devil. The promise of love and marriage to numerous
women across the ages, but what did he actually provide for them? The occasional coincidence of wish granted
such as the coincidental death of Margereta Moll’s abusive husband, Hans Hepp. After being consoled by the Devil at her
lowest, she conceded to his will so that her misery should end. End it did, as Hans met his at the execution wheel,
ironically, for being a “’witch-man’, murderer, and fish poacher” (Roper
90). While this romantic picturesque
relationship is painted by many women under the most grueling of interrogation,
it is a far cry from the short trysts generally described in wildly popular cautionary tales
embedded deep in the witch craze that describe relationships ending with “the Devil letting out a terrible fart, the stink of brimstone dirtying
the aftermath of lovemaking” (Roper 84). In either case, the women were now bound to the Devil's will, and left with the tattered leftovers of yet another relationship that is worse than the one before.
Given the time period, were the struggles women faced in
relationships a signal in shift in the common paradigm of man and woman?
Could it be that many of the stories were merely a form of entertainment and escapism that eventually got out of hand from both sides of the spectrum?  |
| The Devil as the Witch's Lover, 1490, woodcut |
Friday, October 9, 2015
Human Romance: King of Hell's Guide to Speed Dating
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Kevin,
ReplyDeleteIn your first paragraph you state how the women imagine a love story between her and the devil as simply something more than what she has in her every day to day. I believe that the women conflicted with their lack of love towards their husbands (as marriage was more of a basis of economical gain for families) imagined these scenarios or had dreams of a lover whom they could actually love physically and mentally. With these thoughts they condemned themselves as summoning the Devil and preforming witchcraft when all they desired was to be loved and wooed.
I am nodding in agreement that you are heading in the right direction on this one. I hinted at it, and the author Roper did as well in the research of what lacked in the lives of these women. Marriage was a necessity, and many times did not account for emotional needs; many tied to meaningful physical needs. It was also described by Roper in the same (Ch. 4) that many times the descriptive violent side of the Devil was synonymous with the action of the husbands themselves. The stressful and likely traumatic dispositions resulted in spawned fantasy and fairy tales for those women whom suffered such pain emotionally and physically. Your last sentence in which you point out their desires could have absolutely been a catalyst for eventually being labeled a witch given historical context.
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