Salem Witchcraft Essay

From the time of the 1690’s the entirety of Salem, Massachusetts were Puritans. “The Puritan lifestyle was restrained and rigid: People were expected to work hard and repress their emotions or opinions. Individual differences were frowned upon.” (Salem Witch Trials, The World Behind the Hysteria). These people believed that doing anything sinful would result in punishment from God. Just as much as they believed in God, they also believed in the Devil. Keeping up with the Puritan code, it led to the first women being accused of witchcraft. They were viewed as pariahs, and seen differently. Had the Puritan government let the afflicted defend themselves, not be so dependent on religion, not investigating the facts or scrutinize the trials the killing of many could have been prevented. The hangings from the trials would ultimately be the last in America.

In the article by Kamensky, once again the role of the woman in Puritan society is put under scrutiny, this time not for disrupting the order of land transfer, but for the patterns of speech, which by virtue of being spoken by a female could indicate a demonic presence. The tone, content, order and style of speech was important in determining a witch from a devout follower of God. Certain verbal traits were ascribed to Satan's followers. Kamensky gives examples of women who spoke as if they knew too much about the Bible. The gender biases of the time led people to assume that they had to be witches since only men could have attained that level of verbal prowess. This meant that women could never defy the all male authority of the church. Another common indicator of witchcraft was speaking out against authority. To defend one's self against the charges of consorting with the devil was seen as a challenge; men were allowed to speak aggressively, women

humanity would have come to an end, but that was not so. In 1692 a

Salem Witchcraft Trials Thesis Statement = == == == ==

Mather neglected to include Bridget Bishop’s side of the story on purpose. In 1962, Mather wrote a book titled The Wonders of the Invisible World. He wrote the document in an organized and professional manner so that it could be credited it as an official record and taken seriously. Inside of this book was a section titled “The Tryal of Bridget Bishop”, which specifies the events that took place during Bridget Bishop’s trial (Walker). Mather writes in detail about the case of Bridget Bishop in order to provide an account of the outrageous ways in which the Salem Witch Trials were conducted. Although Cotton Mather includes direct quotations from many different individuals and recounts their accusations with great care, he does not pay tribute to the words of Bridget Bishop herself during her own trial. In “The Tryal of Bridget Bishop”, Cotton Mather omitted Bishop’s own rebuttals and responses because he did not find it necessary to include them; he had all the evidence he needed to make the court system look guilty of injustice.

The ideals of the Arbella sermon do not seem to influence the judgments of the Suffolk County Court or the testimony against Bridget Bishop. Michael Johnson, author of Reading the American Past, notes that, "the court records of Suffolk County between 1671 and 1673...illustrate the New Englanders deviated from the highest aspirations of the Puritan founders and that courts did what they could to curb those deviations" (52-53). The theme of love in Winthrop's sermon must have gone unaffected judging by the type of cases in Suffolk County. For example, a wife was sentenced to be whipped ten times or pay a twenty Shilling fine to the County for striking her husband. For being drunk and abusing his wife, John Veering was punished by being whipped thirty times and humiliated by standing in the open marketplace with a sign across his chest declaring his guilt. It is obvious that the ideals of the Arbella sermon were not present in the case against Bridget Bishop. She was accused of witchcraft and eight days after her trial she was the first accused witch to be hung in Salem. Once again, love is not evident in either of the two works.

According to Document C, during Bridget Bishop's examination the accusing girls’ fell into fits,looked tortured, and rolled up their eyes when Bridget Bishop, the accused witch, rolled her eyes. Document D, states that Charles Upham believed that both of the girls were lying about their testimony, and since we know the recorder of the transcript was,Samuel Parris, the father of one of the girls, I believe that Charles Upham conclusion is supported. Essentially, Charles Upham has a point because the girls were notorious for their acting, which then created a long line of liars throughout the

The girls at trial could have mass panic attacks as probable evidence at each woman 's trial. The villager suspected certain men and women of witchcraft no one was safe. The same was for the slave named Tituba whose West Indian ancestry mad the villagers extra suspicious of her practicing some form of voodoo, a Haitian religion. A group of small girls which it started from Becky Panis and Abigail Williams a game was played amongst the girls which involved experimenting with fortune telling and little spells. The girls hid anything they did in secret from their parents, because they knew that what they were doing was forbidden(Magoon 37). “ One of the first trials was of Bridget Bishop. Bishop was accused of transforming into a cat. She was found guilty and on June 10, 1692, she was hanged. The putnam family accused Rebecca Nurse of being a witch. She happened to have a long-standing quarrel with the family. In her trial, the jury found her not guilty, but the judge overruled and gave her guilty , she also hanged(Dunn 22-23)”. Modern Psychologist who studied the situation of this time era may have believed that the girls suffered from a psychological disorder that caused panic attacks. These girls were never forgotten by many historians till this day do not understand the inquiries of the situation.

The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692 Have you ever wondered what caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692? The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria was a time when people accused others of being a witch or performing witchcraft. People who were accused either went to jail or were hung. The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria was caused by curiosity, religion, and greed.

A good example was with Adam and Eve being punished for the sin of pride,

I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” (48). With great concern for their own souls, not a singe soul openly doubts the accusations made by the group of young girls. Sent into complete hysteria, the people of Salem break into uncontrolled and irrational feelings of fear; a mere accusation from one of Abigail’s troop is enough to incarcerate and convict even the most well respected inhabitant of Salem. Moral values are lost amidst chaos, with people acting in a primitive way of self-survival.

Two of whom were she mentioned as witches were then put to trial for witchcraft. Questions about whether Kate’s screaming and mostly pain were due to natural or unnatural causes arose. If she were bewitched, how can people believe her story when the mere fact is that her information came from the devil? These questions still remain as Godbeer reveals through narrative how the judges and the trial were such a legal covert. It was decided that all witches must have posed a tremendous danger to the Salem community and the Stamford, Connecticut that as proving such an invisible matter was almost impossible since they relied on “the Devils Magic”(Godbeer 89-109) to account for another. The fact that the court used Kate Branch to determine other witches through the same method, the witchcraft; others were convicted from, showed how the courts in Connecticut were controversial and embroil in it on their use of doubtful evidence. Kate’s credibility was questioned by many and this showed that it was almost certain the screams from Kate Brunch were mere natural and had nothing to do with the supposedly mentioned witches who were bewitched her. Using the “Devil’s Magic”(Godbeer 109-104) others were convicted for, it can be also concluded that whatever information she had given could not have been trusted by the judges since her information came from the same source other witches are accused and convicted for. The author gives his view on this case – Kate Branch as he

The author attempted to describe the witch trials from colonial New England and informing why they were accused of being witches. She mainly talks about Sarah Good, Jane Hawkins, Ann Hibbens, Anne Hutchinson, Mary Johnson, Margaret Jones, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba. The reason for Karlsen mainly mentioning the said women in the above text is they are on of the first women to be accused. Also, they were living in such a religious time period and location. The way Karlsen proved the social construction of witchcraft by having a wide range of witchcraft trials that occurred from different centuries. Karlsen also, had a comprehensive understanding of what happened during the accusations and the outcome of their punishment for being a “witch.” Types of evidence used in the book were statistical evidence and documentary evidence. The author examined the religious beliefs of the Puritans and New Englanders. In addition, Karlsen evaluated the demography of witchcraft by analyzing the records of the period and discovering the social and economic characteristics of the accused witches. The author attempted to reach people who were in the studies of colonial times in the Americas. She also attempted to reach the females who are feminist for Karlsen talks about how mainly women were accused of performing witchcraft. Karlsen used an expository writing style to explain and

During the inquiry period, Judge Hathorne could not ignore Bridget’s previous encounters with the law. “They say you bewitcht your first husband to death” was the common question Judge Hathorne asked Bridget. When interviewed about this inquiry, Bridget said that she simply replied back with honesty; “I am innocent to a witch. I know not what a Witch is.”

Anyone could have been convicted of being a witch, but the finger was usually pointed at, “an old, isolated, poverty-stricken woman” (The Royal Play: James I and Macbeth). Women had little to no