The Hysteria of Salem Witchcraft

The Hysteria of Salem Witchcraft

Although there has been a long history of witchcraft, the main concentration is

from the periods of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the British North American

colonies alone there were over 100 witchcraft trials alone, were 40 percent of the accused

were executed. Now two professors, Carol F. Karlsen of history and Kai T. Erikson of

sociology, examine the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria to see if it was caused by a fear of

women and give two entirely different interpretations.

The first professor, Carol F. Karlsen, agreed that the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria

was caused by a fear of women. She agrees that the belief in the Puritian culture, that

women were evil, existed because they were seen as a potential threat to the order of the

society. That is why women were generally seen as witches.

When witchcraft was initially seen, it was uncertain of wether or not it would

benefit the New England society, because of the fast changing conditions of the early

settlement. By the late 1640’s, New Englanders believed that a witchcraft belief system as

integral to their society. The Puritian rituals, myths, and symbols from then on were seen

perpetuated to the belief that women were a danger to their society. This idea of women

connected directly to witchcraft was only reinforced by the newer post-Reformation ideas

about women.

Puritanism in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century in England caused

much controversy over the nature of women and their roles in society. Puritian and

Catholic witch-hunters both believed that women were, “evil, whorish, deceitful,

extravagant, angry, vengeful, and, of course, insubordinate and proud.” Women “are

altogether ...

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...ere being held due the shellfishes of the

settlers. In all of this chaos I feel that it was inevitable that something would arouse from

this madness as a scape goat for the disorder that was happening. If you read through the

argument of Karlsen, you get the sense that she herself wasn’t sure of her own evidence.

She didn’t have any solid or physical evidence to support her ideas, she

only had biblical evidence that doesn’t stand out for much. I feel as Erikson did when she

said that all of the outbreaks or wars or any disturbance of that time always started with

the execution of witches. From this evidence I can only agree with that of Erikson that

the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria was not caused by a fear of women but only of the

settlement not knowing how to deal with all of their misfortunes and chaos with having an

explanation or scape goat for them.