Witchcraft Is Futile Without The Devil Analysis

The books thesis is based on why a person was accused of being a witch and the relative circumstances thereof. Marital status, sex, community standing, wealth, and relationships with others all play an important part of a person chances of being accused of being a witch.

Bever clarifies why he believes historians often focus only on the rise of witchcraft rather than their decline. He believes the reason this occurs is because, historians assume “their defeat seemed self-evident” (Bever, 2009, p. 264). The author explains how the rise of witches occurred, “chain-reaction trials started with a few stereotyped suspects but gradually widened to include previously unsuspected commoners and eventually friends” (Bever, 2009, p. 272). Bever also gives discusses of how witchcraft came to affect the society and how it became “an integral part of late medieval culture and society” (Bever, 2009, p. 288). The work relates more specifically to the field of the first centuries of colonization because, although some ideas presented in this article can be inferred, most are not that of the general

The novel A Delusion of Satan written by Frances Hill describes the history of the Salem Witch Trials (“Salem”) in 1692, the causes and effects of the witch hysteria, and the biographies of major characters associated with the trials. In the novel, Hill started out explaining the Puritans’ beliefs and customs, the gender roles of men and women in Salem and why women were easily accused of being witches and practicing witchcraft in the 17th century. During that time, women were easily accused of practicing witchcraft because they were viewed as physically, politically and spiritually weaker than men. Men were perceived as the power, status, and worthy in the society, and they dominated women’s behavior and social status. In the 17th century, “Hegemonic Masculinity” was the criterion, and women were seen as “physically weaker” and inferior compared to men in the society, which made them easily become the targets of witch hunt (Mammone). Women were politically weaker than men because all of the high positions in the society and the Puritan Church were held by men, such as the position of judge, prosecutor and minister. As the Puritan believed in the biblical story of Adam and Eve, women were viewed as spiritually weaker than men. The souls of women were perceived as vulnerable to the devil’s traps, while the souls of men were less susceptible to the devil’s temptations (“The Salem Hysteria”). Therefore, the gender roles of men and women in the 17th century Salem society showed

Witchcraft was defined for the masses by the publication of the Malleus Maleficarium also known simply as the Handbook. Written by two Dominican friars in 1486 it’s purpose was to be used as a handbook to identify, capture, torture, and execute suspected witches. Opinions stated as facts and written in the Malleus Maleficarium, “handbook”, were based their faith, church doctrine, and the Bible. No doubt a religious masterpiece in it’s time this handbook is a neatly woven together a group of beliefs, experiences, wisdom of ancient writers, religious ideas, and God inspired writings that justify it’s purpose. Written by and used by Catholics this handbook proved useful for Protestants as well. Based on biblical interpretation and ideas the handbook provided Protestant Church leaders biblical authority to prosecute witchcraft as well. Translated into today’s vernacular phrases such as, “everybody knows that women are feeble minded” or “everybody knows that women are more superstitious than men” and “all women have slippery tongues” are included in the handbook and presented to the reader as foregone conclusions. Specific

The witchcraft phenomenon of the Renaissance period was shaped by a wide range of cultural factors; witchcraft was not necessarily subject to a single cohesive idea or concept, and it was often instead a conglomeration of many different societal concerns, concerns which spanned through all spheres of society. Textual evidence from this period provides insight into the way in which witches were conceived, and how witches were dealt with, while visual images present a companion visualisation of the tensions, which influenced created the witch, and the imagery, which came to be associated with witchcraft.

When analyzing all of the information provided in the two books, Witchcraft in Europe by Alan Charles Kors and Edward Peters and Magic and Superstition in Europe by Michael D. Bailey, there are a multitude of common themes that appear repeatedly in both pieces of work on the topic of witchcraft. These common themes vary in topic with some relating to the stereotypical appearance of witches, the actions witches performed, or even the legal procedures involving the conviction of witches. These themes do not only show themselves in those two pieces of work, but also in The Trial of Tempel Anneke by Peter A. Morton. While common themes can be seen in reference to Tempel Anneke’s trial, there are also many

While the Salem Witch Trials is the most well known case of accused witchcraft to students in the United States, it is not the first. In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII acknowledged that witchcraft was happening throughout Europe, and appointed two friars to investigate and report on this suspected witchcraft. In 1486, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger published Malleus Maleficarum, which explained how witches are real, and are not harmless, but powerful, and working hand in hand with the Devil (Wicasta, 2007). Kramer and Sprenger’s work was not only a model on how to identify, prosecute, and stop witchcraft, but also put forth modern fears and superstitions

Historians of European witchcraft can all agree that there was definitely a period of time where people were accused, tried, and executed for witchcraft. They cannot agree on the ‘whys’. Why did it happen, why did the demographics of the accused change from place to place, why did it end? As a result there has been much work on the subject, all with vastly different conclusions. For Lyndal Roper, some of those ‘whys’ are fertility and fear. More specifically, fear of losing it. Roper describes witchcraft as “an intensely physical experience” (Roper, 9). The effect the witches ad on their surrounding involved the physical world, but mostly the vitality and fertility of it. Babies were harmed, breast-milk dried, people were made to become impotent

The image of the witch did not exist until the late fifteenth century. While the witch did exist in the popular imagination, the term “witch” was not yet synonymous with “female.” Although the witch craze was an early modern phenomenon, the stereotype of the female witch is rooted in several elements of late medieval witchcraft which antedate the witch hunts, and the time period that scholars recognize as most critical for the formation of the witch lies between the years 1430 and 1660. Before this time period, witchcraft, sorcery, and maleficium (magic) were dismissed as false superstition. Gradually, much of Medieval Europe began seriously believing that they were dealing with an omnipresent, uncontrollable threat of as many as “ten

In the town of Salem, things were becoming strange. People thought their town had been invaded by “witches”, It sounds pretty unreal and there is no way people really believed that there were witches, but at this time of confused religion and the new world, people would think twice. They said people were showing signs of the Devil, but there were real explanations to these strange happenings.

In this unit we have been exploring the theme of witchcraft during different periods of time. In particular, we have been looking at how women were falsely accused of conducting witchcraft during the medieval times. From my own knowledge I know that there were many unexplained events that took place and subsequently witches were blamed for it. There were also frequent outbreaks of the Black Death, for which there was no known cure. Society needed something or someone to blame this disease on and medieval witchcraft and witches were the only scapegoats for society at the time.

The witchcraft controversies were a reflection of the highly religious character of Puritan societies. Belief in witchcraft was not a marginal superstition, rejected by the mainstream. However, it was not engendered from the widespread hysteria. It was actually provoked by a symptom of a persistent set of social and psychological tensions between the poor and the rich. The rich people, including local officials, tried to end the social tensions within a society by charging turbulent poor people who were angry about social and economic grievances. Since Puritan society had little tolerance for independent women, many “witches” were middle-aged, low- class women who were not securely lodged within a male-dominated family structure.

Midelfort’s research shows that the number of cases of individual possession between 1490-1650 reports 16 more female possessions than male (215). While this difference is not entirely substantial, it is relevant considering the amount of cases that may have gone un-reported, as well as the consideration of the other countries of Europe where witchcraft persecutions were prevalent. As Larner states, the high prevalence of female witches to male witches is not concrete proof for the gendering of witchcraft; however, it may be a contributing factor that “added fuel to the misogyny of the age” (255). This parallels the notion that females would willingly admit to possession, as it was one of the few ways in which they could obtain power in the largely suppressive patriarchal society, thus contributing to the gendering of

Over the centuries, the image and the meaning of a witch have undergone a strange transformation. Most people affiliate the word with that of a woman that practices some form of magic; often depicted as evil conjurers who laid curses on others. However, they have been a popular myth throughout the history of humanity. It is safe to assume that people created witches in order to explain some phenomena that existed in ancient times. With modern times, the concept of a witch is nothing more than a fictitious belief because science has discredited the existence of real witches; or perhaps real witches have evolved into something else.

Throughout No Witchcraft for Sale, Doris Lessing develops a theme surrounding the topics of family, trust, and religion. Lessing does this by developing a cast of characters including Teddy, the Farquars, and Gideon. She mentions how the Farquars and their servant Gideon had grown close to each other after the birth of the Farquars’ son Teddy. She also explains how the Farquars were a deeply religious family and that Gideon was a mission boy himself. However, when a scientist arrives from the city to explore the native knowledge of medicine, Gideon’s trust and relationship with the Farquars is tried. Although Gideon is not a direct relative of the Farquars, the theme of this story is a trial of family and family’s strength to overcome.