Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Influences of cotton mather in todays society
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Cotton Mather 's The Wonders of the Invisible World is a text that is attempting to justify the transpiring of the Salem Witch trial. This text is rich with biblical allusions and an effort to bring to a society that is filled with chaos and confusion, a sense of order and structure as well as something to believe in. However, while attempting to do so, Mather does not entirely offer a distinct opinion on if the trails are justified or not. Whereas this text was created with the purpose of supporting the Salem Witch trials and their primary cause, in the preface to the account of the trails themselves, Mather offers a diverse viewpoint concerning these trials. In The Wonders of the Invisible World Mather 's proves to be an unreliable narrator …show more content…
Through his “justification” of the Salem Witch trials, Mather proves to be an unreliable narrator. Mather specifically states that, “For my own part, I was not present at any of them; nor ever had I any personal prejudice at the persons thus brought upon the stage” (The Wonders of the Invisible World 557). Mather is providing information to the readers that he himself was not even present for. This reduces his own authority since he is receiving, as well as giving, this information to his audience secondhand. Furthermore, this statement brings to light the question of if Mather himself supported the trials. This is further supported through his statement of “But having received a command so to do, I can do no other than shortly relate the chief matters of fact” (The Wonders of the Invisible World 557). Here Mather is providing his audience with an important question of, is he composing this because he supports the trials and their supposed purpose, or is he simply doing this because he was “commanded” to do so? He purposely avoids his own feelings in regard to this and mentions that “I can do no other than shortly relate the chief matters of fact” (The Wonders of the Invisible World 557). This is providing a detached, unbiased view from Mather that is severing his connection emotionally from the right or wrong of these trials. By adopting this strategy, Mather is providing an unclear view to his audience concerning the justification of these
The problem with this is the fact that he only used one case. The case he uses shows how it was not the same as Salem but does not give the reader the idea that this was the norm. Salem is the most well known witch hunt and trial in American History, and most Americans know about it. But, for the ones who are not aware or educated on the event, Godbeer’s purpose of writing the book would be hard for the reader to understand. This is a downfall in this writing. If he would have included other sources and other accounts of witch trials in New England, his argument that Salem was not the norm would be more effective. The book does a good job of explaining how the trial was handled in Stamford and how the judges and townspeople took into consideration the evidence, although not all townspeople did this. Some were very quick to judge and wanted the accused put to death. Godbeer’s thesis would be much stronger if he would have included the other accounts around New
The Salem witch trials are a huge part of America's history regardless of whether because of it being an embarrassment or triumph. After reading the novel "The Devil in Massachusetts" by Marion L. Starkey it is evident she is trying to display this in her version of the trials. While it is true to historical documentation Starkey's version seems to be an attempt at an `easy read' for those wishing to learn about a detailed listing of events. I enjoyed the attempt at which she took to make historical facts more appealing and interesting to those who may find it dry. While the objective is supposed to be a more interesting way for those to learn about history, her vocabulary, grammar and sentence structure can often at times be confusing and cause there to be a break in the flow of the sequence of events.
The Salem Witch Trials marks a vulnerable era in history. The play allows us to see that uncontrolled rage, pride, and even religion at times, can lead to destruction and mayhem. With these factors, it’s quite clear to see why Salem was vulnerable to these
The Salem Witch Trials is a devastating event in which 19 people and dogs were killed due to the cry of witchcraft. The outburst of these events could be blamed on several things. Certain things like economics, medicines and culture have to be taken into account when trying to understand the events of the Salem Witch Trials. People like Franklin Jr. Mixon, Linnda R. Caporael, Dr. Allan Woolf, Elaine G. Brewslaw, and Isaac Ariail Reed take into account one of the three: economics, medicines and culture and explain as to why or why not the event happened the way it did disregarding all the other factors.
Through the use of repetition and Imagery, Cotton Mather significantly enhances his account, “Wonders of the Invisible World”, of what exactly happened in the dreadful Salem Witch Trials. The trials began in the summer of 1692 after accusations of witchcraft started to surface in the settlement. Many were condemned, however, contrary to popular belief, none of them were burned at the stake. Mather was asked by the judges of the trial, shortly after it ended, to explain and record what had transpired in Salem. He employs literary elements to dispel skepticism as to if his writings are genuine and be accepted as history.
The thoroughness is one of its key strengths, allowing for people of varying knowledge about Salem to gain an understanding of the events and background of the witch trials. The author includes multiple sources to show the exceptionally varying ideals and their effects on Salem. “the peace that came under Joseph Green's conciliatory leaders... the important role religious strife played in the events of 1692”(Latner, 2006, 118). Joseph Green completely paralleled his predecessors, he was responsible for restoring order to Salem. This is significant because it shows the impact that ministers had, they had the power to change the town completely, Green was one of the first to not cause strife. Compared to Christine Leigh Heyrman’s “Witchcraft in Salem Village: Intersections of Religion and Society” Latner’s article correlates with the central idea that religious leaders and religion itself started the witch
Even though The Crucible is not historically correct, nor is it a perfect allegory for anti-Communism, or as a faithful account of the Salem trials, it still stands out as a powerful and timeless depiction of how intolerance, hysteria, power and authority is able to tear a community apart. The most important of these is the nature of power, authority and its costly, and overwhelming results. “But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or against it,” says Danforth conceitedly. With this antithesis, Miller sums up the attitude of the authorities towards the witch trials that if one goes against the judgement of the court they are essentially breaking their relationship with God. Like everyone else in Salem, Danforth draws a clear line to separate the world into black and white. The concurrent running of the “Crucible” image also captures the quintessence of the courtroom as Abigial stirs up trouble among the people that have good reputation and loving natures in society. In a theocratic government, everything and everyone belongs to either God or the Devil.
The notorious witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts occurred from June through September. It is a brief, but turbulent period in history and the causes of the trials have long been a source of discussion among historians. Many try to explain or rationalize the bizarre happenings of the witch hunts and the causes that contributed to them. To understand the trials and how they came to be, we must first examine the ideals and views of the people surrounding the events. Although religious beliefs were the most influential factor, socioeconomic tensions, and ergot poisoning are also strongly supported theories. A combination of motives seems the most rational explanation of the frenzy that followed the illness of the two girls. This paper looks closely at the some of the possible causes of one of the most notable occurrences in history.
The Crucible was a rather strong book, it had battles both internal and external, there were also betrayals and vendettas… but a few stuck strong to their morals of what was wrong, and what was right. After the girl’s acts were, undoubtedly, in the eyes of the law, seen as entirely real, people who would not otherwise have been accused of witchcraft were now eligible to be under Satan’s spell. One John Proctor, saw himself above the nonsense, that witches could not exist in Salem, his wife, his children nor him; But, when Mary Warren said to the court that he used his spirit to drag her into court to testify against the girls, the judges deemed her word more truthful than his. After actively and repeatedly denying the claims, he was sentenced to death, for only a witch could lie in the face of god.
(Ray p.32). However, as more fragments of textual evidence occur, historians are making new evaluations of how the witch trials were exaggerated by recent literature. Some historians like Richard Godbeer,
The Salem, Massachusetts Witch Trials have generated extensive evaluation and interpretation. To explain the events in Salem, psychological, political, environmental, physical, and sociological analysis have all been examined. The authors Linnda Caporael, Elaine Breslaw, Anne Zeller, and Richard Latner all present differing perspectives to speculate about the events of the Salem Witch Trials. This changing interpretation and perspective has resulted in an extensive historiography to explain the
John M. Murrin’s essay Coming to Terms with the Salem Witch Trials helps detail the events of these trials and explains why they might have occurred. The witch trials happened during a “particularly turbulent time in the history of colonial Massachusetts and the early modern atlantic world” (Murrin, 339). Salem came to be in 1629 and less than seventy years later found itself in a mess of witch craft.
“The Wonders of the Invisible World”, written by Cotton Mather, is an account of the Salem Witch Trials. He retells information that has been passed down to him without actually being present at the trial and simultaneously explains his theory to why witches were suddenly emerging in Salem, Massachusetts. There were quite a few holes in the Salem Witch Trials, especially regarding whether or not these events occurred the way they are said to. Mather’s book shows us how intense the Puritan ideals were, attaching anything out of the ordinary to a higher power and in doing this shows the flaws of the religion which caused to Salem Witch Trials.
In the beginning of the late seventeenth century a sense of fear and panic was sweeping throughout the colonies of North America this fear began in a small town in Massachusetts called Salem and would lead to the death of nineteen people. This fear was caused by young Puritan girls who started randomly convulsing and accusing people of being witches many of the accused were women many single or widowed who owned land and this event was titled The Salem Witch Trails, but another smaller very significant event also took place during this period of time that event is the attempted hanging of Mary Webster. Both of these events are very significant in the fact that they would become a basis of American literature and would bring about a very big theme even in today`s literature that theme being “A majority does not always make the right decision.” Both of these events would lead to the writing of two significant pieces
The author wrote about this specific subject because of his profession, where he lives, and to clarify any confusions about the actual events of the Salem Witch Trials. The author wrote about the specific people and places mentioned in the book to establish the events of the trial through more than one point of view. By using an unprecedented format for writing, and by retelling the accounts of different people, places, and how they compare, Baker established a sense of confident understanding for his readers to