Rather than being a neutral academic history in the modern sense, the book is a highly imaginative and romanticized interpretation of the Middle Ages. Michelet portrays witchcraft as a form of secret rebellion by oppressed peasants—especially women—against the authority of the Church and feudal power. He presents witches not simply as figures of superstition, but as symbols of resistance, suffering, and marginalized social groups. The figure of Satan, in Michelet's interpretation, is often reframed as a symbolic ally of the oppressed rather than purely an embodiment of evil.
