Compare And Contrast The Salem Witch Trials

While witch trials were on the decline across Europe and the American Colonies by the end of the 17th century, there remained a dangerous remnant in some regions, where the social context could easily spark another panic. This essay will compare the Salem village witch trials of the early 1690s to those in Scotland, with particular emphasis on the case of Christian Shaw in Renfrewshire in the late 1690s: two areas in which a sudden resurgence in witchcraft accusations can be seen. It should be noted that witchcraft cases in Scotland were highly varied, and the cases used here cannot be taken as standard across Scotland during the period. Both societies were highly religiously centred, with doctrine permeating every aspect of life, making them

The church and the nature of Protestant culture present in both places played a vital role in fuelling accusations and fear. Salem village in the 1690s was a strictly Puritan, in which the monotony of theocracy could not be escaped. Central to the Puritan beliefs was the uncertainty of salvation, with even the most godly men still vulnerable to temptation by the devil. Vital to Puritan theology was the view that Satan was an instrument God used to punish the sinful, and that troubles during one’s lifetime were a manifestation of God’s judgement against sin. Witches were one means by which the devil might penetrate society, with a witch’s pact with the devil interpreted as the antithesis of Christian baptism. Life in Puritan Massachusetts was the eternal struggle against Satan, and when faced with the threat of the Devil’s agents working among them, they reacted with pious fear, with the trials acting as a means by which they demonstrated determination to stamp out the devil’s lies. Scottish Presbyterianism offered similarly a negative view of human nature and susceptibility to sin. Everything in life came from God or the devil and, as witchcraft came not from God, so it must be from Satan. Presbyterian preaching was zealous in its “glamorising,” of witchcraft, believed by Burton to have fuelled the Scottish enthusiasm for witch hunts. The hunts in the 1690s came at a time of moral panic, with ‘the identification and abolition of witchcraft… part of the new pattern of moral endeavour.’ As in Puritanism, it was believed that personal or national disasters were a manifestation of God’s wrath upon the guilty, however there was no shame in falling victim to witch attacks. The belief that one could appease God and prove ones faith by acts of righteousness likely only fuelled the desire to punish witches who