Hale - Well, women are used to worrying over trifles.”** Clearly, we see in the play, how men treat the women. As if whatever women did were unimportant little things like trifles. I believe the men were so narrow minded that they thought they were better. However, the women demonstrate the entire contrary. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, the main characters in this story, were the ones to first find the evidence.
During the early decades of the 14th century to 1750, Europeans executed between 200,000 and 500,000 witches, most of which were women. (Ben-Yehuda, The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th Centuries: A Sociologist's Perspective). The nature and timing of the executions and the persecutions that preceded these women were based upon the changes of the Inquisition, as well as their distinct differences played within the medieval society. In conclusion to these changes within the medieval social order, the witch craze accounted for the need of a redefinition of moral boundaries. The fact that these executions and the accompanying demonological theories were accepted and popular amongst society can be further explained through the lack of social and ethical standards of people, which spread throughout society at that time.
The problem was a damned if she does and damned if she does not. This accusation of a woman being a witch meant that “their feminine souls made an explicit and aggressive choice to conjoin with the devil” (Reis, 94). Puritans believed they were not just manipulated by Satan, they willingly desired to be possessed by him. This was aggressive stance most Puritan men had towards Puritan women. Satan could get to their soul through their body because it was weak.
The Salem Witch Trials took place only in America, but the idea of witches has existed in many parts of the world. In Europe witches were believed to be anti-Christian, and to have sold his or her soul to the devil in order to obtain magical abilities, usually to harm others. However, witches in Africa and the West Indies involved concepts other than the devil. From the 1400’s to the 1700’s, the annihilation of witches and witchcraft in England, France, Germany, Italy, Scotland, and Spain was promoted by church officials. Between 1484 and 1782, around 300,000 women were accused of practicing witchcraft, and were put to death.
In The Crucible, innocent people were accused of being witches, simply because other people in the town had something against them. The people who accused others of being witches found themselves to be better than the accused, and they looked at them as if they weren’t human beings anymore. For example, Abigail wants to replace Elizabeth Proctor and have John Proctor for herself. Abigail and John had an affair when Abigail worked for John and Elizabeth. Now, Abigail wants to eliminate Elizabeth from the equation, so she accuses Elizabeth of being a witch in hopes that Elizabeth will be hanged and John Proctor single.
The main factors that started and fueled the trials were politics, religion, family feuds, economics, and the imaginations and fears of the people. The following essay on these causes and the events surrounding the Salem witch trials of 1692 is divided into four sections: 1) Salem Politics 2) Cold Winter Days 3) Salem Witchcraft 4) Aftermath. Salem Politics Salem Village had a very colorful history before the famous witch trials. It was not exactly known as a bastion of tranquillity in New England. The main reason was its 600 plus residents were divided into two main parts: those who wanted to separate from Salem Town, and those who did not.
Black witchcraft was believed to be inherited from the female side as women were seen as inferior to men and more likely to fall to temptation to the devil, for example 90% of those charged were women. A common charge for black witches was for bringing harm to people or property that they made possible by making a pact with Satan and having access to his invisible power. Those who were charged with witchcraft were often not random accusations but more an excuse to victimise women who were seen as "different" within that community, and over 50% of those charged were acquitted. However witches could be acquitted alive or dead as many tests
This began an outbreak of hysteria that would result in the arrest of over one hundred-fifty people and execution of twenty women and men. The madness continued for over four months. 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.
The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 The Salem Witchcraft Trials are so famous that people say it as if it’s one word: Salemwitchcraft. But do people really know what went on in Salem? During the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 in a few terror-filled months, nearly 200 people were condemned as witches. Historically witches are not the funny mischievous Samanthas of the 1960s show Bewitched, nor are they the cartoon green warted witches on brooms that you see so often on Halloween decorations. Historically witchcraft has been thought of as violent horrible things.
A review of the research of various writings, particularly the Malleus maleficarum, will demonstrate that the social hostility against women gained momentum throughout the centuries and was based upon various social, economic, and religious factors which culminated in the witch hunts and subsequent trials. To begin with, the social and economic factors of the witch hunts are numerous and author Alison Rowlins states that older women “were particularly vulnerable to accusations of being witches” and that fifty percent of the women accused of witchcraft were at least 50 years old. During the time period, older women were disproportionately represented. Women were thought of as “prey to the evil influences” and Roper states that a woman’s status “shifted through her life cycle, from maid to mother to crone.” Apparently, the life cycle of a woman was well documented by the community. In Germany, “the preoccupations about fertility, women’s bodies and the fragility of infancy lay at the heart of the witch craze.” Additionally, witchcraft was thought to come from “carnal lust , which is in women insatiable.” Midwifery was considered witchcraft as