She is a Witch!

In response to The Hammer of Witches and the papal bull issued by Pope Innocent VIII, major witch hunts broke out in Europe. Moreover, these were aided by new technology, the printing press, which helped to spread the mania, even across the Atlantic to America. It is not surprising that the witch hunt started around the13-15th century. During this time, Europe was overpopulated and in a poor condition with dirty streets, crime and diseases everywhere. There had to be a scapegoat for all of the mess which the church decided was witchcraft. A complex social matrix was created once an accusation was made: the accusers would try to prove the source of what had been troubling them, and ideally to gain control over that source by forcing her to back away and remove the

Females in the 1692-1693 were one of the largest groups accused of being part of the Salem Witch Trials. According to Washington State University, “As events unfolded, 185 people were accused at Salem, 141 women and 44 men. Of that number, 52 women and 7 men were tried; 26 women and 5 men were convicted; and 14 women and 5 men were executed, the last group on September 22, 1692.”(Campbell 1) this statistic shows that women were more likely to have been accused of being a Witch. Women were thought to be much lesser than men and weren't

What had been just a suspicion turned into a craze, the conflict these people had created would kill many innocent people until a compromise was found. Most women accused as witches were older, ugly, and unkempt (Wilson; 26; Roach 84). If someone was different in any way they could be accused as a witch; age, physical disability, mental disability, looked down on, powerless, outcasts, or criminals (Smith; how). The witch trials would then continue, so special courts were needed. A special court was set up by Sir William Phips to decide the fate of the witches. The two courts were Oyer; to hear, and terminer; to decide the fate of witches (Cellania; Roach 3). People were accused as a witches if they denied their existence (Latson). All the witches had

Before the 1500s, prosecution of witches was rare. Trials were conducted against those who were seen as suspects of “practicing harmful magic and occasional mass trials" (Bever, 2009, p. 263). These accusations were often made by children and that of their imagination. The decline; however, occurred not through the prosecutions but through its “suppressing roles” and the overall “decline in witch beliefs” (Bever, 2009, p. 285). The title of the article is “Witchcraft Prosecutions and the Decline of Magic” and it is written by Edward Bever. Bever is the Associate Professor of History, SUNY College at Old Westbury.

During the late fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries, thousands of individuals were persecuted as witches. It was thought that these individuals practiced black magic and performed evil deeds, the deeds of the devil. This all happened during a time of great change in Europe, during the time of the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and the consolidation of national governments. They were persecuted for a variety of reasons, but three major ones were religious reasons, social prejudices, and the economic greed of the people. Religious leaders such as Martin Luther and John Calvin influenced the ideas of their followers. Religion dominated the time period and it’s easy to see how many opinions

There are countless different assumptions about witches. The majority of individuals in the sixteenth and seventeenth century presumed that God and Satan were real (Lambert 1). They also assumed that “witches” were in allegiance with Satan and made a vow to bow down and serve him (Lambert 1). Furthermore, another common belief was

Were the witch-hunts in pre-modern Europe misogynistic? Anne Llewellyn Barstow seems to think so in her article, “On Studying Witchcraft as Women’s History: A Historiography of the European Witch Persecutions”. On the contrary, Robin Briggs disagrees that witch-hunts were not solely based on hatred for women as stated in his article, “Women as Victims? Witches, Judges and the Community”. The witch craze that once rapidly swept through Europe may have been because of misconstrued circumstances. The evaluation of European witch-hunts serves as an opportunity to delve deeper into the issue of misogyny.

Before exploring the reasons that the number of executions of witches was so low in England, we should first explore the English conceptualization of a witch. During the witch craze of the 16th to 17th

In the 1680’s and 1690’s there was mass hysteria in New England over supposed witchcraft. The most famous outbreak was in Salem, Massachusetts, hence the name Salem Witch Trials. In Salem, there were young girls who started acting strangely, and they leveled accusations of witchcraft against some of the West Indian servants who were immersed in voodoo tradition. Most of the accusations were against women, and soon the accusations started to shift to the substantial and prominent women. Neighbors accused other neighbors, husbands accused their wives, etc. and it kept going on for a while. There was this nature of evil and the trials didn’t end until nineteen Salem residents were put to death in 1692, more importantly before the girls

For decades now Witches have been persecuted throughout their existence. In the sixteenth and seventh century, witches had become more known. During the 1500 and 1600 the execution rates of witches in Europe was estimated between 50,000 and 80,000 speculated witches were killed. At the peak of the witch hunt in the late 16th century and early 17th century. However, in 1692 is when hysteria swept the nation. In Salem, Massachusetts nemours young ladies began showing unusual behaviors. Some symptoms consisted of convulsions, crying and yelling. Many civilians thought that theses ladies had been bewitched. For instance, in 1604 Joan Guppy made one objection to her discomfort to her Star Chamber of the town. Margaret Abington the Chamber and her husband Andrew accused her of being a witch.

In 1656 Mary was accused of being a witch, the person who accused her was Sarah Bridgman. The judge set her free with the fine of £10 but rumors still spread about Mary. Mary was accused a second time in 1675,

To recap what many of us know, back in the 1600-1700's and before that of course, gender played a major role in everyday society. Each gender had their own role in everyday life and was expected to complete certain tasks each day. The point made above helps us briefly understand why woman were more commonly targeted as witches. To expand, a female as a whole, were viewed as a easier target for the devil to take over or posses. Because of this gender bias, men were viewed to be able to fight off the devils attacks. Now the main reason certain women were being accused of being witches is because all these woman had something in common. These particular females did not fit into society, or more precisely, society's norm at the time. For example,

Witch hunts blazed across Europe over the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries not just killing innumerable innocent people, but stripping women of much of the power they had once held, and changing society's perceptions of women all together. The economic hardships, religious rivalries, and troubled politics of the time made accusing your neighbors of witchcraft convenient. Where there was war and poverty, or merely bad luck, peasants would assume witchcraft and rush to blame an old, defenseless woman in trials which involved unbelievable cruelty and horrible sadism. As religion and the Catholic Church began to complement and perpetuate the increasing hysteria, European society as a whole could do nothing but

Anyone could be identified as being a witch if the accuser had evidence to prove they were followers of Satan. This caused citizens to be nervous of being accused, creating conflict. Identifying a witch started with rumors and usually led to executions (Wallenfeldt). Due to the fact that many rumors were spread conflict was created. Magistrates declared that it is proof that a person was a witch if individuals had a “devil’s treat” or “devil’s mark” on an individuals body (Latson). They would use use things like birthmarks, freckles, bruises etc. as evidence that the individual was a follower of Satan. If people deny witches existed one could be declared a witch (Latson).

Macbeth’s Reflection of Witchcraft During the 17th Century During the early 1600’s, English society was mostly comprised of Puritan Anglicans whose views on certain aspects within the society were very particular. Given that religion influenced the law during the time, many activities were considered illegal if they went against God or the Anglican Church according to the Bible. (“History of Witchcraft”)