Salem Witch Dbq Essay

In today’s society witches are usually linked with Halloween. Kids envision witches flying across a moonlit sky on broomsticks and having slinky black cats as pets. Evil cackling, pointy hats, bubbling cauldrons, and ugly physical appearances spring to mind. All of this is in good fun and people open their doors and give little witches candy and smiles. There is no fear. However, in 1692, the idea of witchcraft sparked a crisis of community fear when hysteria and fear of witches broke out in 1692 in colonial Salem, Massachusetts. When Puritans first settled into Massachusetts, their goal was to create a perfect religious society that worshipped as purely as possible. Neighbors looked to each other for evidence of a pure soul and conformity

Being female automatically means less power, so the girls “[become] intoxicated...by the terrible success of their imposture (acting), and [are] swept along by the frenzy they [have] occasioned” (Doc D) to get more power. After seeing that they have the power to condemn someone to death, the girls went power-crazy and started to accuse random women and men of witchcraft. Consequently, with each success, they become more more confident in their acting and continue to send innocent women to their deaths. Having this power makes the girls feel important and valued; because of this, they don’t care about the fact that helpless women are being sent to their demise. Additionally, whenever the accused person “[turns] up her eyes,... the eyes of the afflicted [turn up]” (Doc C). By copying the actions of the accused woman, the girls make it more likely that the “witch” will be put to death. Furthermore, girls normally tend to overreact in certain situations just for attention, which is the case in the Salem witch trials. Getting attention is satisfying and make people feel like they are needed, so the girls acted just to have the upper hand. Even though acting was a reason why the witch trials hysteria occurred, actual panic could’ve triggered the many

The Puritans believed that the Devil would “enter a normal person’s body and turn that person into a witch... [who] could make all kinds of trouble” (Background Essay). Reverend Samuel Parris’s daughter and niece accused Tituba, a slave, of witchcraft. She confessed to practicing witchcraft, so her life was saved. However, this caused the undeniable fear of witches in the town. People were afraid that there were more witches on the prowl, so they started to accuse everyone of witchcraft. The people did a mass hanging on “July 19[, putting] Sarah Good... Elizabeth Howe...Susannah Martin…{and] Rebecca Nurse” to death. The purpose of these mass hangings is to make it easier to hang people and also to provide relief that quite a number of witches are being hanged. In the fear that there are witches everywhere, seeing a large amount of them die makes room for relief. But even so, there is that fear that there are more witches on the hunt, which ultimately leads to 20 deaths. The Puritans were afraid that the Devil was at work, leading to hundreds of accusations, which was a cause of the Salem witch trials