Before and during the times of the Salem Witch Trials, Puritans who were a god-fearing religious sect, always believed in two worlds. They believed that God controlled both worlds, and that if they displeased him, he would punish the entire community. The Puritans did everything in their control, so that they wouldn’t displease him. They paid attention to things that occurred around them, because they believed that he was sending them signs. At the time, they believed that every terrible thing occurring to them was God showing his displeasure with them. Since the Salem community was ruled by the Puritan Church, they instilled their same beliefs and ideals to everyone else in the community. The people of Salem were all taught and shown to fear …show more content…
God and the consequences that could occur if they were to act out. No one acted in an unruly matter, because they feared what could happen. In 1692, the young daughter and niece of Reverend Parris decided that they wanted to enjoy some adventure, so they asked their servant Tituba to show them a white magic game that could foretell their future. Little did anyone know that the fun and games of two young girls could turn into a killing spree of innocent people. The girls continued to play the game, because they thought that it was daring and dangerous. On one fateful day, the girls played the game and one of them noticed that the egg white looked like a coffin. They were then frightened and believed that it was a sign that they had gone too far, and that they were to be punished for their disobedience. From that day forth, the girls began to act strangely, and no one knew what was happening, so they automatically assumed that it was the work of the devil terrorizing the girls. The girls were frightened and didn’t know what to do so they then used this to their advantage and began accusing older women of witch craft. The lies of two girls led to a chain reaction, thus beginning the persecution of innocent people. Throughout the different story variations of the Salem Witch Trials, Abigail Williams and her cousin Elizabeth have been blamed for beginning them. In my opinion, I believe that they aren’t to blame for what occurred during the time period. Although many disagree, people fail to realize that both the girls were just children with the minimalist idea of what their actions could cause. Many say that if the girls hadn’t lied then the situation could’ve been avoided, in part yes they are right, but for most part they are wrong. What I fail to understand is why people blamed the start of this injustice on the accusers, when they should’ve been blaming the Puritan Church. The Puritan Church is the one who instilled these ideas in the minds of the people in their community. They basically brainwashed the people into believing that they had to live a perfect life with no “sin,” because if they did something wrong they would be punished by God. The Puritan Church used their religious influence and they pushed a mentality of fear upon the people in the Salem community. It has become known that when a person is in fear, they are more prone to vulnerability and easier to manipulate. The Puritan Church used this to their advantage to hide their underhanded things. According to different people who have studied the Salem Witch Trials, the topic of magic was brought about to cover various frauds and deceit. The Puritan Church used the power they had over the people to cover the things they had done. These aren’t the only theories that historians have about the Salem Witch Trials. Like Peck says in Euripides, Orestes, “When one with honeyed words but evil mind, Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.” This quote describes exactly what happened with the town of Salem. The people of Salem let themselves be persuaded by the Puritan Church and their beliefs, so it caused massive destruction in there society. The destruction was so massive, that everyone distrusted each other. Husbands turned on their wives, wives turned on their husbands, siblings turned on each other, masters turned on their slaves, and everyone was in chaos. No one knew who to trust anymore, because they were all terrorized that they would also be bewitched. What no one knew is that everything was all a lie and it was basically all for attention. “In Puritan New England, girls and young women were expected to be quiet and reserved. Even girls as young as Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam, Jr., had chores at home that filled their days. Now, they shrieked and writhed and raced about and neglected their house duties. Instead of being punished for creating a disturbance, the girls were comforted and fussed over.” (Kent, pg.61) For this reason I believe that more girls joined in the chaos, because they got the adventure and attention they seeked. Before the Salem Witch Trials began, girls lived boring lives following the rules that the church set out for them. They never experienced any thrill or fun, because they were always so focused on their actions. I believe that more people joined in on this madness than just girls, because no one could say anything to them, or punish them. I think that the people found some liberty in doing this, because no one could stop them, and they were tired of following the rules. What people fail to realize is that sometimes a person’s pleasure comes with a price and nothing is free. Every action has a reaction, and I have concluded that they weren’t aware of what big of an impact their actions could potentially have. In the book “Witches,” that I read it, never states why the girls began acting the way they did. I have concluded that each writer from all four books have either included extra information and has really gone in depth, or they lack information and briefly cover the subject. I believe that the author from “Witches,” is biased, and didn’t include the information about the girls, because they wanted the reader to believe that it was more fact than it was a myth like many historians assume. No one has really come up with an actual concrete theory as to why the Salem Witch Trial occurred. I don’t believe that this topic is as simple as it seems. We won’t ever really find out the actual cause of it all, because nothing is ever as simple as it seems. Society needs to realize that not only were the accusers at fault, but also the Puritan Church for attempting to push their beliefs on people and attempting to control them. This comes to show that people are too independent for this to actually work. Thus being the reason why the United States created laws to separate church and state, because it would be too controversial. Too many problems would arise if the two weren’t separated, and we would have more chaos like they did in the Salem Village. In conclusion, the only people that should be blamed for the start of the Salem Witch Trials is the Puritan Church itself.
They were too superstitious and took everything to an extreme level. Innocent people were killed due to their beliefs. This situation could’ve been avoided if they would’ve been more open-minded and less God-fearing. “The history and the belief in Witches and witchcraft in England was sanctified by the law, the crown and the church. These strong beliefs in witches and witchcraft were brought by the English to America, it was part of their belief system and culture passed down from one generation to the next and responsible for the Salem Witchcraft Trials.” (Salem Witchcraft Trials n.p. n.d.Web. 21 September.2015) When the Puritans came to the New World they brought ideals and beliefs that were passed down to them, and they passed them down to the other people in the society. The Puritans brought their own destruction, since their arrival in the New World. One cause of the Puritan belief was, because science wasn’t as developed as it is now. Now we have the fundamentals to research anything that we are weary of. We don’t need to use religion as an excuse for everything that occurs to us in life. If science would’ve been more developed in that time, I’m almost certain that we could’ve prevented the situation from occurring. We now use the Salem Witch Trial, as an example to never let the ideals and beliefs of someone influence us in our lives. People are corrupt and selfish, it comes as human nature. We have now come to the understanding that you can never trust anyone, because they could easily be lying to you. Not everyone is trust worthy, even the people close to you. We need to use these events as a life
lesson.
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”, Exodus 22:18. In 1692 , in Salem Massachusetts , the Puritans believed everything in the bible, they also believed in witches and that witches should not be able to live.There were at least 3 causes for the Salem witch trial hysteria. There are: age, gender, and marital status , lying girls, and a divided town.
During the time of the Salem Witch Trials the intertwining of religion and government did not allow citizens of Salem, Massachusetts the right to a fair trial, so it was the states responsibility to separate the two. In the 1600’s the Puritan religion was greatly enforced by the government. It wouldn’t be until many years later that separation of church and state became a law.
Being isolated from any other group of people with different beliefs created a church led Puritan society that was not able to accept a lot of change. The church was against the devil, at the same time it was against such things as dancing and other premature acts. The reputation of the family was very important to the members of the community. When the girls were caught dancing in the woods, they lied to protect not just themselves but the reputation of their families. They claimed that the devil took them over and influenced them to dance. The girls also said that they saw members of the town standing with the devil. A community living in a puritan society like Salem could easily go into a chaotic state and have a difficult time dealing with what they consider to be the largest form of evil.
A series of events occurred leading up to, and during the Salem Witch Trials making the situation far detrimental than it should have been. Salem, Massachusetts became the main focus in 1692 when over one hundred people were falsely accused of practicing witchcraft. Twenty were executed by being hanged, one by being pressed, and one-hundred and fifty-six jailed. Women played a big role in the trials. Most of them were the accusers, and the unlucky ones were the accused. The Puritans of this town had just recently moved from their old homes, so living in a new environment may have had an effect on the outrageous hysteria. People were not good with change. With that being said, Individualism began to conquer the principles of Puritanism while trying to protect oneself. Humanity was in a panic from trying to deal with new economic expansion. “The Puritan inhabitants were always alert to the “signs” that
During the time of the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692, more than twenty people died an innocent death. All of those innocent people were accused of one thing, witchcraft. During 1692, in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts many terrible events happened. A group of Puritans lived in Salem during this time. They had come from England, where they were prosecuted because of their religious beliefs. They chose to come live in America and choose their own way to live. They were very strict people, who did not like to act different from others. They were also very simple people who devoted most of their lives to God. Men hunted for food and were ministers. Women worked at home doing chores like sewing, cooking, cleaning, and making clothes. The Puritans were also very superstitious. They believed that the devil would cause people to do bad things on earth by using the people who worshiped him. Witches sent out their specters and harmed others. Puritans believed by putting heavy chains on a witch, that it would hold down their specter. Puritans also believed that by hanging a witch, all the people the witch cast a spell on would be healed. Hysteria took over the town and caused them to believe that their neighbors were practicing witchcraft. If there was a wind storm and a fence was knocked down, people believed that their neighbors used witchcraft to do it. Everyone from ordinary people to the governor’s wife was accused of witchcraft. Even a pregnant woman and the most perfect puritan woman were accused. No one in the small town was safe. As one can see, the chaotic Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were caused by superstition, the strict puritan lifestyle, religious beliefs, and hysteria.
First, the Puritan values and expectations were strict, and those who had defied their teachings would have been at a much higher chance of being accused as a witch. Second, economic struggles within Salem Town and Village had further divided the two, by crop failure and livestock death. Ultimately causing economic damages. Third, personal opinions and disputes had contributed to the trials and accusations. The law system was unfair during the trials, so when or if someone was accused the court would side with the accuser, unless of course, they were a witch themselves. In conclusion, the people who died and who were accused of witchcraft were not really witches, Salem and it’s inhabitants were under the influence of mass hysteria, personal beliefs and grudges that eventually became the chaos of the Salem witch hunts of
I think this goes to show how deeply Puritans analyzed and practiced their faith. The fact that they were able to accuse people of witchcraft and convince people that they were possessed by the devil also shows how powerful the church was at the time in order for these trials to occur. In his work, Wonders of the Invisible World, the Puritan minister Cotton Mather goes in to detail what the proceedings and times of the Salem Witch Trials were like. Mather believes that these works of the devil were planning attacks on the people of the time. I think that some of these beliefs are similar to what we see around the world today. I think that this ideology is similar to what we think of terrorism at the time. With the recent terror attacks in Paris, many people are living with great fear. I think that the Salem Witch Trials are similar to what the world is doing to chase down terrorists. I think that this is similar because our country and the rest of the world is spending countless time and resources to hunt down terrorists in order to make our world better and free of
In the modern day it’s hard to believe there’s even still ‘’witch hunts’’ as you can say where a group of people are stereotyped as something without them doing the actual stereotypical thing. We live in a world where blacks are getting shot for no reason when they were just walking down the street unarmed and not harming anyone. Blacks and Latinos are always looked down upon in any shape or form. They could be driving a nice car they get pulled over for suspicion of a stolen car, they can get pulled over in an old broken car and they will get pulled over for suspicion of ‘’criminal activity’’. But if it’s a white person the cops will NOT bat a single eye at them despite being in the same situations as the black. And you know what the problem
Salem Village, Massachusetts was the home of a Puritan community with a strict moral code through 1691. No one could have ever anticipated the unexplainable events that were to ambush the community’s stability. The crisis that took place in Salem in 1962 still remains a mystery, but the accusations made by the young girls could be a result of ergot poisoning or the need for social power; this leads the people of Salem to succumb to the genuine fear of witchcraft.
In 1692, the occurrence of “witchcraft” began after the Massachusetts Bay Charter revolution and the outbreak of small pox. The rebellion caused hysteria and a sad injustice. Friends were pinned against friends; upstanding citizens were forced to flee for their lives and men and women were put to death (Jurist Legal News and Research Services 2008).The fear of the devil influenced the cruelty that took place. Most of the settlers that established their homes in the colony were puritans, a member of a group of English Protestants who revolted against the Church of England. The belief that God punished sinful behavior with misfortune did not help circumstances. The puritans targeted outcasts, people who never really fit it in; they wanted to rid the towns of these suspected sinners.
Society throughout time has proven to be a frail and feeble structure that has failed to maintain organization on multiple occasions. People have demonstrated that with just enough chaos and pressure, they will have no qualms with deserting their morals at the sight of adversity. Whether it be creating a witch hunt to better the lives of the poor, or putting fellow American citizens’ in concentration camps based off their Japanese ancestry. There is no boundary that people won’t cross in order to feel safe and justified in their decisions. In Isaac Reed’s article,” Deep culture in action: resignification, synecdoche, and metanarrative in the moral panic of the Salem Witch Trials”, he examines the concept of
In the Puritan New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, a gathering of young ladies goes moving in the timberland with a dark slave named Tituba. While dancing, they are gotten by the nearby clergyman, Reverend Parris. One of the young ladies, Parris' little girl Betty, falls into a trance like state like state. A jam accumulates in the Paris home while gossipy tidbits about witchcraft fill the town. Having sent for Reverend Hale, a specialist on witchcraft, Parris questions Abigail Williams, the young ladies' instigator, about the occasions that occurred in the backwoods. Abigail, who is Parris' niece and ward, confesses to doing nothing past "dancing." While Parris tries to quiet the jam that has accumulated in his home, Abigail converses with a portion of alternate young ladies, letting them know not to confess to anything. John Proctor, a neighborhood agriculturist, at
The Salem witch trials weren’t based as much on the Puritans and their God versus Satan and his followers, as it was on human greed. The greed of one man in particular, Reverend Parris. For Parris the witch trials gave him an opportunity to get rid of all his enemies. Many people who opposed Samuel Parris, a Salem minister were convicted as witches. One of the first people accused of witchcraft was Rebecca Nurse, “...a deaf old woman whose family had for years been contending with the Puritans in a fight for land.” Rebecca Nurse opposed Parris, and if she had been convicted of witchery she would have lost her possessions, and Parris would have gotten her land. The greed of Parris and his church, not only added to the witchcraft hysteria, but also costed many people their dignity, possessions, and
Witch hunt is defined as, “an investigation carried out ostensibly to uncover subversive activities but actually used to harass and undermine those with differing views” (“Witch Trials.” The Free Dictionary, Farlex, www.thefreedictionary.com/Witch+trials). In the winter of 1962 in Salem Village of Massachusetts, the notorious witch trials took place. It began when Betty, daughter of Reverend Parris (the towns minister) was ill, she would not wake, and then when she did, she acted possessed. Abigail, Parris’ niece was discovered dancing in the forest with a fire, singing, and mixing a pot over the fire with Betty and a group of girls. When further questioned by ministers, Abigail accused Tituba of making her dance and drinking chicken blood,
Religion played a huge part in Salem Massachusetts during the witch trials. They left England for religious freedom but in Salem they don't offer that there is just one religion Puritanism. Puritans were wanted to live by a fixed set of moral code, they believe that all sins should be punished. The Puritans also believed God would punish sinful behavior. Puritans also believed that the Devil was a real God. Everyone was faced with a struggle between good and evil, but they believed that Satan would select the weakest individuals which was children, women, and the mentally ill to carry out his work because their will was easily bent. Puritans who fell into the Satans hands were considered witches. In Salem, Witchcraft was on of the greatest