The Role Of Women During The Early American Witch Trials Essay

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

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.

The Salem Witch Trials were a dark part of American History that we learn about today. The question always remains as to why this hysteria of witchcraft outbreak happened. How the outbreak of accusations started is something that is speculated to be from jealousy, a disease caused by a rye poisoning, or from a psychogenic disease. We should also be asked what were the roles of men and women in these trials, why was it mainly women accused, why was it only men holding the trials? The gender roles in these trials were based upon the belief that women were somehow still incapable to handle such things and were not made to do such things. Yet when young girls accused grown women of acts of witchcraft, unless a man defended that woman, they could do nothing but let the men prosecute them for something they never did. Men ran everything in towns, because that was the norm for this time period. So, what could women do to defend themselves? They had no power to fend against the men who ran everything in their society.

In January 1692, when a group of juvenile girls began to display bizarre behavior, the tight-knit Puritan community of Salem, Massachusetts couldn’t explain the unusual afflictions and came to a conclusion. Witches had invaded Salem. This was the beginning of a period of mass hysteria known as The Salem Witch Trials. Hundreds of people were falsely accused of witchcraft and many paid the ultimate price of death. Nineteen people were hung, one was pressed to death, and as many as thirteen more died in prison. One of the accused Elizabeth Bassett Proctor, a faithful wife and mother, endured her fictitious accusation with honor and integrity.

Throughout the Salem witch trials, there were many important contributing factors that spiced up the trials. The witch trials were nothing more than land grabs, economic opportunity, jealousy, and people trying to get retribution on their neighbors. The Puritans religion, politics, and economics were the factors that played a colossal role during the investigation for witchcraft. During the trial of an incriminated person, the community would constantly use their religious and political belief against them. Many accused witches hardly stood a chance if they were known as sinners, stood on the wrong sides of political views, or owned property that someone wanted. If an accused was not known to sin, they believed the right side of politics, and they did not own anything of value, they would most likely be found innocent during the investigation for witchcraft.

During the time period of 1691 to 1692 the town of Salem, a small thriving community within the Puritan Massachusetts Bay colony, was struck by widespread hysteria in the form of witch trials. The way these trials and accusations played out are historically unlike any other witch trials found in European and American history. Historians have pointed to a number of economic, political, and social changes of the then existing institutions throughout the Massachusetts Bay area to be the cause of the Salem witch trials, along with the direction they took. If studied closely however, it becomes apparent that the main cause for the Salem witch trials can be found in the way the people of Salem viewed and

Salem Witch Trials was a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in the Salem Village of the 17th century New England. The trials caused executions of many people, mostly women. Salem Witch Trials exposed the different gender roles during the seventeenth century. Women were supposed to take on “wifely duties” such as, be mothers and housewives. Women were taught to follow the men. There were strict religious norms during the seventeenth century. There was rigid moral code believed that God would punish sinful behavior. Those who were under the covenant by the church of the Salem Village believed that Satan would select those to fulfill his work and those who followed Satan were considered witches. Witchcraft was considered a punishable crime. Salem Witch Trials revealed that gender played a role for the accused and accusers. The trials also revealed that one’s relationship with God will set deliverance from Satan’s attacks. Salem Witch Trials demonstrated how rumors, jealousy, and the idea of male dominance affected people of the Salem Village.

1692. The year of ill children, women fits of convulsion, and hallucinations. The year also consisted of swimming tests and prayer tests for women with English Puritan backgrounds. The Salem witch trials occurred in Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 300 people were accused of practicing witchcraft (the Devil 's magic). 20 woman were executed. Before all of this happened, life in Salem was like any normal day. Women and children had expectations as well as men did, you did not disobey God nor go against him, or act out of character. Life in the 1690’s was more of a man’s world and which always gave them the upper hand. Women were always looked down upon which gave men greater power. Unlike God’s followers (men), women were considered evil worshipers of the devil. During the trials, men proved that they really did have the upper hand.

During the 17th century, people were hung even if the did not deserve it. The trials started when little girls acted like they had been bewitched. The trials took place on a famous site called Salem Village, Massachusetts in the summer of 1692, killing more than 20 people. Salem’s infamy has bewildered many, for nobody truly knows, entirely, what caused the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Clearly, there were a few possible causes of the hysteria; however, these three stand out as the main causes envious, young, single woman; sexism; and lying little girls.

As long as mankind, women have usually always come second to men. Since ancient times, a woman’s status in Egypt usually always depended on the father or husband, but they had the right to own property and could attend court. During the Salem Witch Trials and Hunts, sexism was a huge part that ignited the trials between the 15th and 18th centuries. Also, until the 20th century, the English law stated "by marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law; that is the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage" (Blackstone, 2008). By this, it meant, legally, women were not defined as a “person”. To this day, sexism is still a major problem, not just in the US, but all around the world. Some of the sexism that still goes on in today’s society all around the world include gender stereotypes, gender targeting of advertisements, catcalling, sexual harassment/violence, domestic violence, rape, health rights, and the infamous wage gaps.

It began in 1692, over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter, when a minister 's daughter began to scream and convulse, while other girls manifested the same symptoms. Their doctor suggested one cause, witchcraft. That grim diagnosis launched a Puritan inquisition that took 24 lives, filled prisons with innocent people, and frayed the soul of a Massachusetts community called Salem. It ended less than a year later, but not before the hanging of 20 men and women, including an elderly man who was crushed to death. The hysteria spread quickly, involving the most educated men and prominent politicians in Salem. Aside from suffrage, the Salem witch trials represent the only moment when women played a central role in American history. There are many theories as to what caused the mass hysteria of the Salem witch trials and the bewitchment of several young girls including the lack of freedom and want of attention from young girls, the role of religion and Satan in Salem, lack of verifiable evidence, economic and social divisions within the community, and the possibility of ergotism.

The term witchcraft is defines as the practice of magic intended to influence nature. It is believed that only people associated with the devil can perform such acts. The Salem Witch Trials was much more than just America’s history, it’s also part of the history of women. The story of witchcraft is first and foremost the story of women. Especially in its western life, Karlsen (1989) noted that “witchcraft challenges us with ideas about women, with fears about women, with the place of women in society and with women themselves”. Witchcraft also confronts us too with violence against women. Even through some men were executed as witches during the witch hunts, the numbers were far less then women. Witches were generally thought to be

The Salem Witch trials caused the deaths of many women, but it also helped many women gain power among a male dominated society. The Salem Witch trials gave women the power to accuse other people of joining forces with the Devil, thus it also gave women the power to kill off the members of society that they disliked. However, women did not exactly have the power to accuse anyone of witchcraft, they only had the power to accuse other women of witchcraft. This caused a war amongst women as they constantly accused each other of witchcraft in order to save themselves, or in order to get rid of women who caused them trouble in the past. The Salem witch trials did not last forever, but a women’s struggle to gain power in a patriarchal society is still a problem that exists today. Witchcraft was a way for women to assert their will and power in a system dominated by men. And although witch trials are part of America’s history now, a woman’s struggle to have the same rights as men is still an issue that continues to persist in society today.

A fever in Salem: A new interpretation of the New England witch trial. (84) According to the article in the seventeen centuries people would experience all kinds of symptoms that were unmoral. Twisted joints, their vision would become blurry, teeth marks on their body’s would appear and even been capable to bark like a dog. But most imported causing them death. And all of this because they believed someone was doing witch craft to them. On 1692 the residence of Massachusetts in a town of six hundred residence of Salem Village. Started to have all different types of estrange physical harm happening to them. The doctor they had

The Salem witch trials occurred between February 1692 and May 1693 in Salem, Massachusetts, where many Puritans were tried and killed for practicing witchcraft. These trials were unfair, cruel, and largely based on fear. People seemed to be accusing others of practicing the Devil’s magic simply because they could. However, the structure of Puritan society, their religious beliefs, economic standings, and even disease played a crucial role in the development and execution of the Salem witch trials.