Escaping Salem Essay

Salem Village was one of many non-urban inhabitants. They were looked upon as country folk because of their interests and beliefs in the church and growing tobacco to survive in this new land. There was not much for children to do except go to church, work on the fields, or go to school. You can imagine how bored these children can get. In such a secluded lifestyle as this, you would be a crazy person if you were at all different, and this episode would be so different that it would be traumatic to the people of this small village. Traumatic as it was, I believe the people just did not know how to react in such a situation.

The year was 1692 when people called Puritans who believed in spreading their beliefs, in which witchcraft is forbidden. Anyone accused of being a witch was hanged, 20 people died. It all ended after the goner of Salem’s wife was accused. The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 was caused by being accused of being a witch which also was a crime worthy of death and being possessed by the devil.

“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”. In 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, puritans believed that witches existed and because of this belief twenty innocent people were sent to their death. The puritans believed every single word of the bible. There were at least three causes of the Salem Witch Trial Histeria of 1692, One reason was gender, age and marital status. Another reason is girls lying, jealousy.

Reasons for being accused of witchcraft are multidimensional, and although there is no definitive reason, gender was likely a major reason as to why someone was seem as likely to be a witch. In colonial New England, gender was set by strict standards and was in no way fluid. It is indisputable that women were especially vulnerable to be charged with witchcraft. Puritans were guilty of sexism even before the witch trials; the biblical story of Adam and Eve was an example of how Eve had disobeyed God and caused the downfall of man. Consequently, rebellious women were accused of witchcraft because they emulated Eve’s disobedience (Godbeer 13). Most notably, acting outside of one’s gender roles was grounds for accusations. As previously mentioned,

The creaks of the swaying rope were loud in the deafening silence. The victim’s life was hanging on a thread—just like the noose around her neck . . . . In Salem Village, the year 1692, twenty men and women were accused of witchcraft and was executed accordingly. Many historians are still bewildered at what exactly caused the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. There were a few possible origins of the hysteria; however, jealous, young, single women; sexism against women; and lying little girls stand out as the main sources.

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.

In 1692 nineteen women and men were accused of witchcraft. There has to be reasons for the accusations; however, scholars disagree on what led the accusers to accuse the "witches". Some believe it was character traits that led the village to do this act; others still think it was sexist’ intolerance. Because religion is the biggest factor of being Puritan, religious persecution is the main motive for making people of Salem accuses others of witchery; because of its fundamental part in the Puritan society.

1. The first essay clearly shows the impact that an ideology of domesticity on women in New England in the 1830’s. The writer at first calls this time period a “paradox in the “progress” of women’s history in the United States”. During this time apparently two contradictory views on women’s relations to society clashed, unusually, those two being domesticity, which essentially limited women, giving them a “sex-specific” role that they must abide to, this mostly being present at the home with their husbands and whatever kids they may or may not have had at that time, and feminism, which essentially tried to remove this domesticity, trying to remove sex-specific limits on women’s opportunities and

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

Witchcraft accusations and trials in 1692 rocked the colony of Salem Massachusetts. There are some different views that are offered concerning why neighbors decided to condemn the people around them as witches and why they did what they did to one another. Carol Karlsen in her book The Devil in the Shape of a Woman and Bernard Rosenthal in Salem Story give several factors, ranging from woman hunting to shear malice, that help explain why the Salem trials took place and why they reached the magnitude that they did. The theories put fourth by Karlsen of a society that accusations against women as witches explain the trail, and Rosenthals ideas of discourse in the community are supported or partially disproved by

1.Historian Nancy Scott focuses on the New England women’s gender roles. A two-fold role, Domesticity and Feminism. A paradox in “progress” of women’s history in the United States of 1830’s. “New England women in 1835 endured subordination to men in marriage and society, profound disadvantage in education and in the economy, denial of access to official power in the churches that they populated, and virtual impotence in politics. A married woman had no legal existence apart from her husband’s”. Women had no voting and inheritance rights. Widows and single women with property had to submit to taxation without being represented. In economy they had second-class position. Those who worked earned one-fourth to one-half to men for

In the time of Wollstonecraft, women were being blindly submitted to authority. The ladies of the community would do as the others say and “become a prey to prejudices, taking all their opinions on credit.” (Wollstonecraft 160) It goes on to say that females are being brainwashed to follow these set principles like a military man, their minds are stored with the knowledge of house chores instead of the basic life lessons that a woman in this era would understand. They were taught that “they have less mind than man,” (161) During this time, women did not understand that they deserved any form of education. This was due to the fact that the society which they lived in never had the slightest idea that women could be educated.

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

The late 18th century can be known as the historical period of the Enlightenment. During this time, society was undergoing drastic changes that would impact people even today. These changes were known as “reforms,” and played a big role in politics and ruling during this time period. One of the bigger reforms of this time was that which would grant women a higher education and place them in a position closer to their male counterparts. The enlightenment authors, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Mary Wollstonecraft, took part in a debate in which they argued about the purpose and education of women. In an article recently written in The New York Times by Nicholas

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