Responce to E-Literature: Deviant

Deviant: The Possession of Christian Shaw is an excellent piece of e-literature. It serves as a great example as to what is the Digital Humanities. Deviant tells the story of a young Scottish girl in the 16th century, who seems to be “possessed” by demons and showed remarkable signs and symptoms. The piece itself is interactive and does not rely on text.  The “reader” will be kept on their toes while going through the story, often being surprised or shocked by the content.  

While one is going through the piece, there is not much insight given as to what you need to be doing to get to the end of the ‘game.’ You are left to just point and click, then try to make sense of what you were just seeing.  The story relies on your own inquisitive nature to make your way through to the end.  This often will lead to confusion and a whole lot of frustration, which isn’t a very nurturing way to learn something. Fortunately when you finally complete the ‘game,’ everything finally makes sense. You are lead to a page with text describing the history of the story and the symbolism of the images used are revealed.

When looking at the historical basis of the story, it is important to note the strong superstitious nature of people during the 16th century.  Fear of witchcraft and demonic possession was a real concern for many people. In this story, the author tells us how 6 people were tried for witchcraft and forcing the possession of Christian Shaw. The author also tells us that the same people may have been “bullying” her.  This possibility brings up the suspicion of ‘was this vengeance or was there actual witchcraft going on?” With matters like this, a fair trial was hard to come by. The only evidence they had against sorcery would be those who can claim to have “witnessed” the alleged performance of witchcraft. So someone could essentially bear false-witness and put them to burn on the stake out of spite. Instances like this mirror the occurrences during the infamous Salem witch trials.

Overall, this piece of electronic literature serves as an excellent example of what is produced in the Digital Humanities.  Deviant itself tells an interesting story that really gets the reader involved and interested.  The subject matter that surrounds Deviant leads to further questioning of the historical account that the story is based on.  In the end it can lead to great discussion about instances like that of Christian Shaw, while all being  introduced in an interesting, interactive manner.