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Witch Dbq

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Recommended: Critical interpretations of witch hunts in salem

Religion, regardless back in the 1600’s or now, is a major aspect of life today. It is something that many people believe and follow, as well as, is taken very seriously. Unfortunately, Religion in England at the time was becoming overpowering and aggressive towards the societies of England. With Queen Elizabeth at rule, she was not over bearing with what religion you practiced, but let Catholics practice Catholicism quietly and hidden since England was under one religion, the Church of England. From the cities of England came a man named John Calvin, a philosopher. John was a thinker and writer around the time Elizabeth became Queen. Calvin’s big idea was over pre-destination which was ultimately explaining how God selects who will be saved …show more content…

Witchcraft was the ultimate deviancy in Puritan society. Puritans believed that the devil exists and was a very literal being that was watching them all the time waiting for them to mess up or make a mistake. Ministers frequently used this devil idea during service to scare citizens into behaving. Maleficium translates to the power of malice, meaning to give people power to ruin things such as crops, beer, or make hens lay fewer eggs. These supernatural powers were spoken about and very relevant in trial cases that were recorded during this time period. Mostly woman were accused of witchcraft during this time period, however, men could be dragged into the accusations and sometimes persecuted as well. Citizens that were high in the community usually did not bother to believe those who were accused of being witches, however, if someone was accused of being a witch and they were not high up in the community, then they were usually accused and convicted. These types of cases were not fair to the slighted and was a major reason why the Puritan religion had some bad qualities behind …show more content…

She began talking about hearing voices and seeing ghost. Soon other girls came forward for seeing and hearing the same things. Soon, they blamed the incident on the minister’s slave woman who was from the Caribbean. She confessed to the accusations and then gave up other witches in town who were then put on trial and accused as well. Close to the end of this trial, the Governor of Massachusetts heard about the trial and went to Salem. He took over as the judge of the town and threw out all the ways they accused these woman and men of witchcraft. The Governor changed the way they did trials and saved the town from falsely accusing people of witchcraft and other

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The novel A Delusion of Satan written by Frances Hill describes the history of the Salem Witch Trials (“Salem”) in 1692, the causes and effects of the witch hysteria, and the biographies of major characters associated with the trials. In the novel, Hill started out explaining the Puritans’ beliefs and customs, the gender roles of men and women in Salem and why women were easily accused of being witches and practicing witchcraft in the 17th century. During that time, women were easily accused of practicing witchcraft because they were viewed as physically, politically and spiritually weaker than men. Men were perceived as the power, status, and worthy in the society, and they dominated women’s behavior and social status. In the 17th century,

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1202 Words | 5 Pages

She was one of twenty people executed in Salem in 1692 on witchcraft allegations. While it is clear that this witch hysteria had a profound impact on the community of Salem, what is unclear is why this event occurred, and more specifically, why did it occur in 1692? The main cause behind the Salem Witch Trials was the Puritan Religion which led to beliefs in the supernatural, strong associations with the Devil, as well as an a strong divide between

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375 Words | 2 Pages

Salem Puritans accused women of witchcraft, in order to oppress women, and as a reaction to greed and religious fear. The Salem Witch Trials were motivated by the oppression of women. Puritan women could not own land. Women were told to keep quiet and stay in their place.

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1177 Words | 5 Pages

Puritans believed in evil supernatural beings like witches, werewolves, and the devil. Their beliefs of these supernatural presences led them to accuse women of witchcraft because they believed the devil possessed women and made them his servants. Ultimately, they put these women on trial, thus starting the Salem Witch Trials. Additionally, their spiritual intolerance manifested in their disdain for Native

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733 Words | 3 Pages

The most common gender killed normally was women or young girls, but there were some men. Most of the people that got hung were women, a few men got killed or examined. During this time period there is strong belief in the devil, which didn’t help the Salem Witch Trials. There were various offenses like actual witchcraft practice. Over 150 men and women were imprison in towns surrounding Salem.

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480 Words | 2 Pages

In Salem, Massachusetts, Puritans were strong believers in the Bible. The Bible states, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” The Puritans beliefs led to them accusing 20 innocent people of being a witch, this resulted in their deaths in 1692. Even though the Puritans couldn’t see it at the time, their accusations were really based off jealousy, lies, and Salem being divided into two parts. One cause of the Salem witch trial hysteria was jealousy.

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682 Words | 3 Pages

John Calvin was a French Theologian who and was the leader of the Protestant Reformation (John Calvin, World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras). He first had studied to become a priest then became fascinated with theology and started to study it (John Calvin, World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras). The church taught that if you are not a part of God than you will not go into heaven. John Calvin believed that all people are flawed and corrupt so because of this they can not understand or take part in his salvation (John Calvin, World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras). John Calvin’s moral was everyone should live a moral life and hope that God will save them (John Calvin, World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras).

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1321 Words | 6 Pages

The people who were accused of witchcraft looked like normal humans. Witchcraft tended to be a female crime and most of the people accused were women (britannica.com). Out of all the people who were tried, 85% of them were female (Day). Other people who were accused were the poor members of the Puritan

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735 Words | 3 Pages

Many executions were performed during this time and most of the executions were performed on innocent people who were just accused of being a witch and were not actually proven to be witches. The girls were executed because they failed the tests to prove that they are not witches there are many cases of witchcraft such as the case of mary cotton where becaused she may have wanted the attention or simply believed she was a witch that she thought the devil came to town and was attempting to try to curse all of the townspeople. she also seemed to believe that "the devil was going to blow up and bring down all the churches in the county" and make all of the people become possessed and plunge the world into a fiery like

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611 Words | 3 Pages

The puritan religion is a very restricted ,now when someone is accused of witchcraft this is punishable by death. But in order to convict someone of witchcraft,you had to prove that by the law this was considered witchcraft. Practicing witchcraft according to theologians was that witches are servants to the devil and were out to do his bidding(p23).In most cases the puritans just wanted to know who the witch and to punish

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190 Words | 1 Pages

Three Puritan children in the year 1692 accused women of being witches, and after the accusation was made the witches were put on trial. The women that were accused of witchcraft were outsiders, which made it easier to believe. According to the text “This made it easier to believe that they could be witches, especially after one of them admitted that she was guilty.” The trials of witchcraft went on for months, eventually they stopped and many people doubted of witchcraft. However, some of the people that were supposedly witches got away with it because they were found innocent.

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894 Words | 4 Pages

The patriarchy ruled during this period, with women working in lower societal positions. Women were the primary targets of witch trials during the 15th and 18th centuries. Although men might be accused of witchcraft, women comprised most of those accused and punished. The causes of this gender bias are many, but they can be traced back to social conventions, religious views, and social perceptions of women. Due to existing assumptions and sexism, women were frequently associated with witchcraft.

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893 Words | 4 Pages

With the Puritans having strict religious beliefs about the devil and God, it gave them strong feelings about the ways in which women impacted their community. Along with their religious beliefs, their society had certain beliefs about women and the way they should act which led them to suspect anything out of the “norm” as a sign of the devil. While some of this could be on women and the way we speak, the Puritans already had such strong feelings toward the vulnerable mind of women that it wouldn’t matter. The women were represented by weakness in nearly every aspect a person can be judged on and this thought of them as the weaker vessel is what ultimately led to them being accused and persecuted more than men during the Salem Witch

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820 Words | 4 Pages

Social: 1600s During the 1600s, there were plenty of witch trials and wars regarding religion. In the 1600s, there was a new thing going on. In Europe, people were hunting witches, whether they were men or women. Usually, the ones that were victims, falsely accused were women, for doing witchcraft.

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1094 Words | 5 Pages

A group of young girls began to behave strangely, complaining of physical maladies, visions, and trembling, and babbling uncontrollably. They blamed their behavior on three village women who, the girls believed, practiced witchcraft upon them. (“Salem Witch Trials” Gale). Women who were accused of witch crafted were imprisoned, then hanged, drowned and stoned (Karlsen). Throughout 1692, 156 women were accused of witchcraft, and 20 of them were sentenced to death (Karlsen).

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