How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women

“It was only by the strenuous effort of godly people that we managed to all but banish quarrelsome women—sorry, we mean witches—from our society.”

This sentence uses sarcasm to expose how misogyny was reframed as moral righteousness. By correcting “quarrelsome women” to “witches,” the authors reveal that social nonconformity in women was deliberately reclassified as evil to justify removal and control. Their ironic tone critiques the ideology that cast persecution as a moral achievement rather than violence, introducing the theme of The Persecution and Scapegoating of Vulnerable Populations.

“Back in Scotland, when he heard of the witches’ work, it dawned on James that his return trip had also been deviled by bad weather, quite literally it seemed.”

This quote illustrates how King James VI interpreted natural events through a theological lens, reinforcing the belief that the Devil actively intervened in worldly affairs. The phrase “quite literally it seemed” emphasizes the ease with which coincidence became confirmation of belief. This demonstrates how power and paranoia combined to legitimize mass persecution.

“After receiving the witches’ oaths for their good and true service, the Devil then departed. The witches ventured back to sea and so to home.”

The language here mirrors a calm narrative structure, which normalizes the extraordinary claims being described. By recounting diabolical acts as routine events, the text shows how belief systems rendered the implausible believable. This reflects a society where ideology overrides skepticism and reinforces collective delusion.