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The Puritan Movement: Women In The 17th Century

1362 Words6 Pages

From the era when Christianity was becoming famous, the only way that females would gain visibility was through activism via religion. During the period when the Puritan movement was splintering, women in England had an even broader opportunity and scope to lead and thus gain a better position to voice their opinions. Even though this was a way of preserving female voices in most historical records, women were still oppressed by the society as they were only allowed to undertake some activities and not criticize leaders in the society. As in many societies during that time, Anne Hutchinson was persecuted with a lot of enthusiasm because of the manner in which their actions intimidated the so called harmony and stability in the existing Puritan society that existed in the 17th …show more content…

For instance, Hutchinson could maintain her leadership position mainly because it was supported by the Bible. However, the men would occasionally quote verses in the Bible to illuminate the weaknesses of women. For example, ministers in the Puritan society would talk about eve who gave Adam the apple. All this is done with an aim of quelling radicalism and the arising of a society where women who were the majority did not ask any question but followed instructions fully. These ideas did not resonate well with Hutchinson, and she always tried to inculcate the knowledge of stability and independence in women. Considering that most of the ministers were against such conversations, Hutchinson was arrested without anyone to protect her or witnesses to speak on her behalf. Hutchinson taught antagonistic messages that negated the lessons taught by the ministers so as to create awareness in people. For example, she said that the Covenant of Grace was indicative of salvation and not the fact that they were supposed to yield into every whim of the

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