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Life in salem during the time of the crucible
Life in salem during the time of the crucible
The roles women had during the salem witch
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There are several incidences in history when someone was accused of witchcraft. Maybe they didn’t have anything to do with witchcraft but if someone said it, everyone believed them. Some many people’s lives were taken because of something they didn’t do not had a part in. From June – September 1692, 19 men and women have been convicted of witchcraft. They were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village for hanging.
Living in Salem in the summer and spring of 1692 would’ve been an extremely hectic experience, especially if you were a married woman with another woman who wanted your man. Many people were put to death in the months between June and September, and had it not been for a mass hanging, it might have continued for who knows how long. The accusers of the Witch Trials were mainly jealous women who were out for the man(or land) of an accused woman, but that was not always the case. Some men(boys, really) accused others of being witches for the reason that a.) they wanted their land, or b.)
“The American Promise” claims the amount of men accused was about twenty percent leaving eighty percent of the accused being women and most of those women were “past the normal childbearing age”. Although the amount of women charged with witchcraft compared to men is considerably larger, it shows that outspoken women were not only the targets of the Salem witch hunt. With speculation, one might say, that the age of the women could have played a role in the decisions of who was accused of being a witch. Especially since the sentence for being found guilty of being a witch was death.
Accused and Betrayed Throughout the late 1600’s women had been accused of being a part of witchcraft. In this time women went through many disgusting torture treatments and got charged with many different things. When a women had been accused she would be “treated” with many different types of torture until they had died or had admitted to doing witchcraft. Some of the tortures were called: “The Garotte”,” Dunking the Witch”, and “The Boots”.
The novel A Delusion of Satan written by Frances Hill describes the history of the Salem Witch Trials (“Salem”) in 1692, the causes and effects of the witch hysteria, and the biographies of major characters associated with the trials. In the novel, Hill started out explaining the Puritans’ beliefs and customs, the gender roles of men and women in Salem and why women were easily accused of being witches and practicing witchcraft in the 17th century. During that time, women were easily accused of practicing witchcraft because they were viewed as physically, politically and spiritually weaker than men. Men were perceived as the power, status, and worthy in the society, and they dominated women’s behavior and social status. In the 17th century,
Salem Witch Trials Do you know about the history of Salem, Massachusetts? Have you ever heard about the 20 women that were executed there in 1692? Well if you haven’t, you are about to learn all about what happened. It all started in February during 1692, when a few little girls from a place called Salem Village in Massachusetts supposedly became possessed by the Devil. These girls were caught doing conjuring and doing other things associated with witchcraft.
Salem Witch Trials was a very controversial and trying time for women. The assumptions of these trials were all around socialism, politics, and what was growing on the wheat, ergot. People who were accused of being a witch were vulnerable in the community. Women were chosen to be tried as witches because they were seen as weaker. Women were also feared because of their independence.
Christianity was prevalent in the 1600’s and anyone who didn’t believe in God was seen as a heretic and put to death. In 1641 the colonists established a legal code and put witchcraft as the second one, the punishment for that, of course, was death. The Devil was highly feared and if there was word of somebody using witchcraft a big deal would be made out of it; as The Salem Witch Trials have proven. Women were mainly the ones who happened to be executed because they were also feared, if any woman had the same amount of power as a man she must’ve made a deal with the Devil. All of this made 1692 was an intricate time for the people of Salem Village, Massachusetts.
Imagine being a wealthy 45-year-old woman in 1692 being accused of being a witch. The Salem Witch trials were caused by jealousy, fear, and lying. People believed that the devil was real and that one of his tricks was to enter a normal person 's body and turn that person into a witch. This caused many deaths and became a serious problem in 1692. First of all, jealousy was one of the causes of the Salem witch trials.
Gender played a very significant role in the witchcraft craze that took place from 1645 until 1677 and the Salem witchcraft trial that also took place from 1692 until 1693. Majority of the accused were women because they were regarded as vulnerable, delicate and defenseless and so needed special care and protection from evil. Between 1645-63 thirteen women and two men were executed in a witch hunt throughout England. It was followed by the Salem witch trial was primary carried out by the puritans when people think of the puritans, they think of the Salem witch trials and so it is believed that where there are many women there are many witches. Young Girls were the primary accusers of their fellow women, pointing fingers at old single women as witches an example was Susana Martins.
The witch trials that took place around the 15 and 1600’s ruined many lives and crippled many towns. One of the most notable towns that this witch hysteria broke out was in the town of Salem. Salem was a normal puritan town during that time period in the new America with religion being the core of the town. Most of the people had good relations with others in the town before the witch trials, were people would accuse one of perfoming demonic arts in attempt to steal one's wife, land, or goods. Of the characters in The Crucible Abigail Williams who was the niece the town's reverend is the main reason that the mass witch hysteria broke out in Salem.
Salem Witchcraft Trials In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 there was an outbreak of teenage girls who were accused of practicing witchcraft. If you were accused of being a witch you had two options. One option was for the person to deny their practice of witchcraft, which resulted in their hanging, while the other option was for them to confess their practice of witchcraft and be exiled from the community. The following paragraphs will examine events and details concerning two specific Salem Witchcraft Trials; one in which the accused confessed to the practice of witchcraft and another in which the accused denied being a witch.
In general, women in the Puritan society of Salem had little autonomy and agency, which made them easy to blame. In the Journal Dissenting Voices, Maggie Rosen states that “the reinforcement of the strict gender roles (i.e., women as mothers, caretakers, and homemakers) made it easy to target the women who stepped outside of their assigned role. Powerful women and/or women who transgressed the boundaries of the gender binary were seen as an evil.” The expectations of women in Salem in 1692 were incredibly limiting. Hence, any kind of step outside the boundary is incredibly noticeable and even labeled as “evil.”
Not many people know much about what actually happened in the Salem Witch Trials. Maybe someone would think that it was just about witchcraft and crazy people being hanged, but it is a lot more than that. The Salem Witch Trials only occurred between 1692 and 1693, but a lot of damage had been done. The idea of the Salem Witch Trials came from Europe during the “witchcraft craze” from the 1300s-1600s. In Europe, many of the accused witches were executed by hanging.
A group of young girls began to behave strangely, complaining of physical maladies, visions, and trembling, and babbling uncontrollably. They blamed their behavior on three village women who, the girls believed, practiced witchcraft upon them. (“Salem Witch Trials” Gale). Women who were accused of witch crafted were imprisoned, then hanged, drowned and stoned (Karlsen). Throughout 1692, 156 women were accused of witchcraft, and 20 of them were sentenced to death (Karlsen).
