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Salem Witch Trials Research Paper

833 Words4 Pages

Hangings, trial, hysteria are just three words to describe the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. The events began happening when the teenage girls in the town, as well as a slave named Tituba, suspected of witchery. Tituba was firstly accused and chose to confess to a lie in order to keep her life. The teenage girls, seeing this, joined in on Tituba’s lying to save their lives. Soon after the girls let the lies get out of hand. Unexplained occurrences spread through the town, calling a religious perspective to be taken on the situation. Christians blamed those who faltered in the ways of Christian life, thus deeming them witches. Trials were held and people were hung, but what caused the Salem Witch Trials hysteria? The Salem Witch Trials hysteria …show more content…

Around 1486 in Europe women were discriminated against and treated as a lesser being to men, making women look weak and insignificant thus causing them to turn to witchery for strength. “...early modern European discrimination against women was the conviction of thousands of women for witchcraft.”(A&B). People like Heinrich Kramer were large influences on people. “Kramer also argued that women were particularly susceptible to the crime…”(A&B). The crime referred to turning to the Devil and practicing witchery. The men took this seriously and believed women to be weak and easier to turn to witchery. Kramer’s word was spread and set in minds of Christian men especially that women were simply more susceptible to the crime of witchery. The documents provided by Francis McCormick, the U.S. history teacher, state, “...Women were particularly susceptible to the crime because of their inability to control their passions,”(A&B) making women the number one target when it comes to accusing someone of witchery. In men's minds women were unable to contain their passions and would use witchery to obtain their passionate goal. Men truly believed women to be so weak that they could only turn to the devil for strength. “Therefore let us chiefly considered women; and first, why this kind of perfidy is found more and so fragile as sex than in men.”(A&B). Men believed women to be fragile making them more susceptible to

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