Damned Women by Elizabeth Reis

She gives an account of evidences from the women as well as the males, magistrates and the clergy concerning the condemnation of the women souls (Reis 32). She tries to focus on the deeds of the women during the trial and explains why some of the women felt they were innocent whereas some felt they were guilty of the crimes presented against them. The book also focuses on the reasons why women were the targets during the trial whereas men were not. The main reason as presented by Reis was that women believed that they inherited evil in their souls while men believed that their souls were strong. In her book, Reis writes "New England culture as a whole regarded women as more likely to be damned than men" (Reis 43). The preaching did not do enough to qualm these sentiments. Men condemned women as the weaker ones who would bring trouble to the place. The women thought that renouncing their sins and changing one's way for the better was not enough to free their souls from eternal damnation. Reis argues that women felt worse than men about their sins because most of them were becoming too much involved with religion. The society felt that women were more likely to be tempted by the devil because they were considered inferior. The "insatiable and unfulfilled" nature, as Reis puts it, makes them an easy target of the devil in his quest to recruit minions and army.
             The perception of the people at that time was that strong bodies protected the soul well than weak bodies. This made men spiritually strong compared to women, and this is evident from Reis' saying, "The representation of the soul in terms of worldly notions of gender and the understanding of women in terms of the characteristics of the feminine soul, led by circular reasoning to the conclusion that women were more likely than men to submit to Satan (56)." Reis tries to show how women are unfulfilling and weak, and by doing so, she generalizes the views of the whole society.