Who Is Elizabeth Knapp A Victim In The Salem Witch Trials

In the year 1692 one of American history’s most infamous events occurred; the Salem Witch Trials. More than two hundred people were accused of using witchcraft, one hundred and fifty people were jailed awaiting trial. Out of those one hundred fifty, twenty were eventually executed. It all started in 1692 with a girl who was having fits and convulsions to which the only justifiable diagnosis was witchcraft. This launched the Puritans into a state of hysteria and delusions. Prisons were overflowing with innocent people as the Massachusetts Bay Colony slowly unraveled into restlessness. The Puritans were very homogenous and reserved but behind that there was underlying tension. Some historians believe that the character traits of the puritans

At the age of 16, she was a servant in the household of Reverend Samuel Willard of Groton, Massachusetts when she first exhibited signs of being “possessed” by the Devil. From the Puritan perspective, Elizabeth Knapp's possession was the result of her discontent with her condition, with her place in the social order. Had she been willing to be content with her lack of financial resources, her work as a servant, and with her limited horizons, she would not have become possessed. It was the same sin that defined other women as witches and the one that led Elizabeth, at times, to perceive herself as a witch. She admitted that the Devil came because of her unhappiness with her station in life, and that he came more frequently once she started to work as a servant in the Willard household, that was very religious. But the Puritans saw possession as the potential for witchcraft, not necessarily being a witch. Ministers could prevent the onset of witchcraft by helping the possessed adjust to their place in society. In Elizabeth's case, the Devil was able to take advantage of her discontent by attracting her with the things she most desired and leading her to think about committing other sins identified with witches. The story of Elizabeth Knapp reveals, that “tensions originated in the religious expectations of

The colonists brought with them forms of magical practices that to the Puritans. When the Puritan ministers heard about this new form of magic they condemned magic as “blasphemous and diabolical”(Boyer). Magic had no place in their vision of a sinfree environment and so they were appalled to discover that colonists were using magical techniques. The ministers’ greatest cause for alarm was that magic appealed not only to those who rejected Puritanism, but also to church members.
Contrary to popular belief magic during this hysteria was not being used for evil rather it was being used to improve improve lives. Magic enabled people to harness the world and adapt it to their own ends: to heal the sick and to protect against harm. Through magic, men and women overcame their natural limitations: it made the world a more immediate and accessible place, giving new powers of perception and action to those who mastered its possibilities.
Because of their religious beliefs Puritans became blind to the possibilities magic could bring to the colony. Puritans took bible sayings such as “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” as a result “witches had to be eliminated”(Fremon 13). This bible verse could of been interpreted in many different ways, puritans believed “God entered into a special relationship” (Godbeer). Puritans could’ve used this “special relationship” to help change the “witches” mindsets or help