Essay on How Social Tensions Led To Wit

It is often difficult to understand the thought process that other people’s might have had many years ago. A college professor and writer, Richard Godbeer attempts to explain the thought process of the people who were involved in witch trials in the year 1692 in his text “How Could They Believe That?”. He often tells students in college and high school that we can relate to how society was in 1692 and how their views on life, and specifically the supernatural forces, are completely justifiable. In this article he explains the social atmosphere, the environment in which the settlers lived in, as well as how thorough the process of persecution was.

During this time, there was no recorded witch craft going on, instead the true root of these problems started because of an issue between two families, the Putnam’s and the Porters. The Putnam’s were a family that was already living in the tow and used to own most of the area’s wealth, that was until, the arrival of the Porters. When the Porters moved into town they began gaining all the wealth and prestige from the people of the colony. Therefore, it was no surprise that the accusers of witchcraft were the Putnam family and the ones being wrongfully accused were the Porter family. The goal of the Putnam’s was to get rid of the porters all together in attempt to bring back wealth and prestige to the family name.

Towards the middle of the play more accusations keep appearing. Well respected and known towns people begin being accused of being a witch. Most towns’ people are now in disbelief because such accusations should not be. “Believe me, Mr. Nurse, if Rebecca Nurse be tainted, then nothing’s left to stop the whole world from burning. Let you rest upon the justice of the court; the court will send her home, I know it.” (Miller71)

To learn more about the Salem witchcraft hysteria, Historian Paul Boyer, and Professor Stephen Nissenbaum sought to further understand the accusations of witchcraft. During the late 1600’s life in colonial New England was one led by religion and politics. Salem was broken up into two factions, Salem Village, and Salem Town. Salem Village, which was led by the Putnam family was a rapidly growing

The purpose of this book was to examine the history and social life of Salem Village to try to figure out what was the cause of the events that occurred there. I believe that the authors achieved their objective at least they did to me. Boyer and Nissenbaum's explanation for the outbreak of witchcraft accusations in Salem hinges on an understanding of the economic,

Promiscuity was also known to be a reason for being accused accused of witchery. Marital problems often led to a disgruntled husband screaming witch. A woman who could not conceive a child, or one who would not give into her husband’s wishes could easily be accused.

The Salem Witch Trials was an uncanny and eerie event of hearings and prosecutions of people being accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts. Although it lasted from 1691 to 1692, it lead to more than 200 people, including men and women, being accused and arrested of witchcraft and 20 of those people executed. The hysteria began with two young girls: Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams claiming to be possessed by the devil, causing the “witch-fever” among the Salem village. In this essay the circumstances behind poor harvest, sickness and the conjecture of witches and witchcraft being highly considered as a cause in this era will be described. The Salem Witch Trials were caused by environmental factors because the Salem community had limited understanding of natural causes such as poor harvest, sickness and diseases.

The Salem witch trials, that occurred in colonial Massachusetts, were a hostile part of American history. People lived in a constant state of paranoia and fear. A great number of people were accused of practicing witchcraft, which was thought to be connected to the devil, and some were even executed. Eventually, the colony realized the faults in the trials. By reading the primary sources ‘A Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft Chapter II’ by John Hale and Two Letters by Governor William Phips, we are able to discover a wealth of knowledge about the aforementioned trials. The two sources allow the reader to gain insight into how the trials were flawed by showing the nature of the Salem Witch Trials, the evidence used to find the witches guilty, and the role native americans played in the trials. While also exhibiting how primary sources can be a disadvantage in navigating through historical events.

Many people are aware of the witch hunt that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692, however these same people may not be as familiar with the other witch hunt that also occurred in New England during the same year. Escaping Salem: the other witch hunt of 1692, written by Richard Godbeer, is a historical monograph that reconstructs the, mostly unheard-of witch hunt, that occurred in Stamford, Connecticut. The book also gives its readers insight into the minds of early American citizens. Thus, the theme of Escaping Salem, beside witchcraft, is human nature and Richard Godbeer’s thesis is that humans demonize others before recognizing their own share of human frailty. It is evident that he is biased toward the witches and sympathizes with them. This, of course, is not surprising since they were irrationally punished because of their neighbours unsubstantiated accusations. Richard Godbeer is currently a Professor of History at the University of Miami, who offers courses on a broad range of topics, including sex and gender in early America, witchcraft in colonial New England, religious culture in early America, and the American Revolution. He is also the author of 11 other historical monographs.

The large-scale witch-hunts that occurred from 1638 to 1651 gathered momentum via major happenings in the political, societal, and religious domains developing at the time. Individuals who had either political, religious or economic power in society, also known as elites, together had absolute control over the pursuit and prosecution of individuals who partook in witchcraft. The clergy played a crucial role in the witchcraft prosecutions and were slower than the state and localities to desert their beliefs in the reality of witches as the prosecution of witchcraft was, in their eyes, an effective tool to eradicate social deviance. Though local authorities and the Parliament did contribute to the witch-hunts significantly, without the kirk of Scotland declaring and encouraging this sanction on witchcraft, both other parties would not have taken the actions they ultimately did. This essay will provide a brief description of events that took place from 1638 to 1651 and then utilize evidence from a multitude of sources to argue that the religious elites were the most influential of these forces during the witchcraft prosecutions that occurred in the 1640s.

The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft the focus is on witchcraft culture that took place Europe between 1400’s and the 1700’s. The text offers intriguing views on witchcraft and its popularity. Although witchcraft persecutions did result in thousands of deaths the author argues that it was not as big as many people think. This is because at least according to this source there were not all out which hunts like we envision it was more made up of isolated incidents with possibly only two accusations in a town a year. The author also makes points suggesting that social construct along with other problems such as bad weather, disease breakouts, and unknown illnesses caused most

None other.” (93). This quote demonstrates the doubtful evidence for the witchcraft cases. Nobody can prove anything unless someone confesses. It is a chain reaction when one person accuses another because they then have to convict someone or they

These arguments are not necessarily firm reasons why witch-hunting was so prevalent in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, but do show the ambiguity of the topic. Lawrence Normand and Gareth Roberts argue that adjustments in the social and economic state of Scotland, after there being a lack of change for a length of time, “helped bring about witch hunting.” The notion here is that disruption in the order on the country, with famine and disease present, caused disarray. Normand and Roberts even suggest that witchcraft gave meaning to a peasant’s life when they were deprived. There is, however, a somewhat opposing argument to this, proposed by Christina Larner.

In this paper, I will explore many aspects of the outbreaks of the witch accusations and witch trials which plagued England and the rest of Europe from approximately 1450 to 1750. Though numerous theories have been provided as to the reasons for these hunts and trials, there are three which are the most prevalent, and able to support themselves. These three theories are the topics of: gender, as a stepping stone towards the oppression of women; social class, as a relief of tension and stress formed by the socio-economic gaps between the wealthy and the poor; and finally religion, as a result of the encouragement to conform more steadily towards one religion. I chose to argue towards the third theory I have stated, that of the religious

In England, during the 15th and 16th centuries, the previously underground and ignored practice of witchcraft became an offense that was punishable by death. Women were the majority of the citizens who were tried for the crime of witchcraft. The belief that they were given their supernatural powers by the devil and aimed to crush all Christian values and people caused their excessive persecution.1 This paper will explain why most individuals accused of witchcraft in England were women and will be backed by primary sources from a variety of historical individuals and also secondary sources from various historical backgrounds. King James I was particularly interested in witchcraft and through his life changed his opinion about how those