Question: 3. According to Reis, why was it better, in Puritan terms, for women to confess to than to deny charges of witchcraft?
Puritans' lives could be compared to walking on rocks. They had put all their faith and followed God’s Will with precaution in order to receive God’s full blessing. Whenever they were in a horrific situation, they would often relate the event to God punishing them. A punishment was imposed to puritans as women were more and more accused of practicing witchcraft. Puritans acknowledged that certain women had signed pacts with Satan, as the latter offered them more satisfaction than what was promised by God. In New England, more women than men were being accused of practicing witchcraft because puritans believed that
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They were continuously under the pressure of these accusations that were being shouted from different directions of the court. This alone was the first step for certain women to believe that they might have actually been witches. These women started to doubt their innocence since some of them actually confessed to the false accusations while others never did. I came to think why would an innocent suddenly admit to a crime that she did not commit. After reading Elizabeth Reis point of view in chapter 4 “Gender and the meaning of confessions", it was clear why certain women admitted. Since women were more prone to be under the influence of Satan, they actually considered that their weak flesh had succumbed to Satan through their sins, even ordinary sins. To them, that was the invitation lead to them by Satan, they were damned. It became important for these women to realize that they now belonged to Satan in order for them to ask for forgiveness. Many women also realized that those, not all, who had confessed, would be kept alive either for them to give out the names of other witches or for them to start the process of redemption. Redemption was very important, as it may give them a chance to reintegrate the community. Those who denied were seen as the ones who were lying, those who never acknowledged their pacts with Satan and those who never opted for redemption. These women would eventually be executed. For all these reasons, in Puritan terms, it was better if women confessed to be witches even when