Salem Witch Dbq Essay

People were falsely accused in court of being witches because there were girls seen dancing in the woods, flying around, and casting love spells. The girls are now being accused of being witches, and accused of witchcraft by the people of Salem. In fact, in the crucible, on page 15, Mrs. Putnam accused Tituba of knowing how to speak to the dead. Also on page 15, Parris accused Abigail of conjuring spirits that night. Abigail is the character that accuses others the most in the book. She will do whatever she can to make herself look the best. Furthermore, she says “We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some

The reason why these two documents were chosen was because of my beliefs in witches, and my interest in the contradiction between good versus evil. Also, another reason why this subject was chosen was because I have study the Salem witch trials back in high school, so I already knew something about the subject matter. The theme that connects both “Insufficiency of Evidence Against Witches” and “Wonder of the Invisible World” is that both Increase and Cotton Mather were both puritan ministers that participated in the Salem witch trials. In addition, both father and son had different views on how the trials should be handled.

The Puritans during the witch hunt believed that women were unholy by nature and felt that women should be “sweet” and responsible, and if you didn’t act as such they would accuse you of being a witch. They lived under harsh rules and brought the same intolerance they had from fleeing England to escape to Massachusetts Bay Colony. Majority of the accusations of being a witch were women but not all. An Indian woman named Tituba that was purchased from the Barbados by Samuel Parris was being a witch. She had very good knowledge of the supernatural and they began to suspect her of being accused for witchcraft or

You're on trial, someone has accused you of murder. You know you are innocent but the crowd chants and chants, “murderer”. Everyone is swept up by the frenzy and no one is listening to your pleas. The ignorance, paranoia, and jealousy of the people had brought panic. This is what 17th century Salem might have felt like. Everyone accusing each other of witchcraft and in the end over 100 people are imprisoned with 20 people hung at gallows hill. However, this is not why the Witch Trials actually occurred. The mass hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials was caused by the socioeconomic problems the inhabitants of Salem experienced.

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.

Puritans believed in the devil and his role as strong as they believed in God and his role. For many centuries, Puritans had the idea that the weakest individuals in society often committed diabolical acts and sins. Furthermore, Satan selected the most vulnerable individuals to do his bidding, among these individuals, women were often held responsible for many sins, including witchcraft. (Godbeer 12). According to Richard Godbeer, in his book, The Salem Witch Hunt, “it was Eve who first gave away to Satan and seduced Adam.” (Godbeer 12). In 1692, witchcraft became a panic among Puritan society. Even though both men and women were accused of witchcraft, women were seventy-six percent more likely to be accused in Salem than men. (Godbeer 12). Puritan society was a male dominate society and men looked down upon women. The reasons to why women in particular were often accused of being witches, was in regards to certain events that associated with accusations. These events were being of relatively low social status and income, being rich or financially independent and being a midwife or nurse.

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

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

How far would you go to get what you want or admire ? In Massachusetts Bay there's a variety of things young foolish girls would do. Which left a mark in time, the period of The Salem Witch Trials Hysteria 1692. Furthermore, to say the Salem witch trials was when male and women were either an accuser or the accused of witchcraft but, that was acquisitiveness the time. Finally, to say The Salem witch trial Mania was caused by three main reasons, the first reason for the hysteria in Salem Village was when the young, single women of Salem accused older, married women of witchcraft to get a husband for themselves. The second reason was that the beset girls was lying and there parents protected them. The third reason was the conflict of the west (farmers) and the east (Political/wealthy).

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Gender roles were heavily put upon Puritan women, “women were seen as inferior beings that needed to be dominated by a male figure, and those who broke the mold were viewed as dangerous.” When speaking of puritan women and church, women were not allowed to pray with the congregation or lead a prayer. The fact that women were viewed as dangerous should they not conform to their gender roles should really show just how ridiculous their belief system was. One can only imagine that the paranoia of women being witches derived from the belief

In the colonial era in Salem, Massachusetts the idea of witches became present in this time, this caused the Salem Witch Trials which killed and falsely accused many people from 1692-1693. Those accused of being a witch or part of the witch trials usually had some strange oddity to them, or they were different than the average person. People with any abnormality from the regular society of 1692-1693 would have been accused of being a part of the Salem Witch Trials and was the cause of this horrific event that happened from around 1692-1693. The largest “abnormality” group was the females at the time, most females in this area and time period would be accused of being a witch which would lead to the idea of sexism. People who wouldn't attend church like the rest society would be thought as outcasts or abnormal, and people who always had to depend on others and were less than average society, would most likely be accused of witchcraft.

Naturally, women are easy targets, especially those women who are either not known very well in town because of the amount of time that they spend at home or, rather, the social presence one resonates within the community of Salem or any other for that matter. The first victim of the madness of the day was Margaret Jones from Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1648. Although, it wasn’t until 44 years later when in Salem, the witch hunts became very outstanding and public. In the years of the Salem Witch Trials many were accused, often times by their neighbor, enemy, or even friend. Citizens threw these hoarse accusations at those who did not do a thing- involving witchcraft that is. Eventually, the number false accusations would surge, now it was about fame, finding these "witches", and sometimes the accused would accuse the accuser causing for even more stir in the community. Many of the witches knew what lie ahead of them, humiliation and

Besides being accused of witchcraft earlier Bishop also had some other characteristics that helped mark her as a witch. Karlsen points out that many witches, including Bishop, where accused of witchcraft only a year or two after they had become widows.3 The loss of her husband leaves Bishop without a male protector for a bit of time and allows for more accusations to come up against her. Bishop’s husbands passing gives her power that Puritan women don’t usually have. Bridget was granted the write, “for the sale of the land aforesaid unto Mr. Daniel Eppes.”4 This action shows how Bridget Bishop was not in the usual role of women because she was in control of some property and was able to use some power over that land. Women in Puritan society where expected to be married and to help their husbands. Karlsen points out that Puritan women where expected to fit into certain rolls in which they should be submissive.5 If a woman did not fit into the roll of the Puritan woman then she had a better chance of being accused of witchcraft. Bridget Bishop did not fit the perfect vision of women that the Puritans

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