Salem Witch Trials Essay Research Paper The

Salem Witch Trials Essay, Research Paper

The Salem Witch trials started in 1692 resulted in 19 executions and 150 accusations of

witchcraft. This is one of the historical events almost everyone has heard of. It is a topic that is

talked about, and can be seen as controversial. A quote by Laurie Carlson shows just how

controversial the topic can be. “(A) character myth is certainly what the witch hunts in Europe

and Salem have become, though they have more basis in fact than most myths. The stories of

the witch hunts are character myths for our time, to be told by feminists, left-wing intellectuals,

and lawyers for President Clinton, each taking what he or she needs from the story, adding or

subtracting as it seems fit.” (1).

The trials began because three young girls, Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, and Ann

Putnam began having hysterical fits after being caught engaging in forbidden fortune telling.

That’s right fortune telling, not dancing naked in the woods like the story has been told to many

times (2). The fortune telling occurred because they were trying to find out what type of men

they were going to marry. Betty Parris’ father was a reverend of the town on Salem,

Massachusetts. The Reverend, Samuel Parris called in senior authorities to determine if the

girls’ affliction was caused by witchcraft. Although Betty was sent away fairly soon, and did not

participate in the trials, the remaining two girls were joined by other young and old women in

staging public demonstrations of their affliction when in the presence of accused “witches”.

The events in Salem have been used as a theme in many literary works. Anthropologists

also take interest in these writings because they display some of the characteristics of village

witchcraft as well as some of the features of the European witch craze. Many commentators

have seen the Salem witch craze as the last outbreak of the European witch craze which was

transported to North America. As in African and new Guinea villages, the original accusations

in Salem were made against people who the accusers had reason to resent or fear. Moreover, the

first few of the accused fit the definition of “marginal” persons likely to arouse suspicion.

However, as in Europe, the accusations spread, and soon encompassed people not involved in

any of Salem’s grudges or problems. As in Europe, there was a belief that the accused were in

league with the devil.

Supposed “experts” went out to do “scientific” studies to diagnose witchcraft.

Interestingly, during the colonial period in Africa, just after WWII, there was a number of witch

finding movements in Africa that closely resembled the Salem episode. Typically in these witch

finding movements, the witch finders would come in from outside a village and claim to be able

to rid the village of all of it’s witchcraft. At this period there was great dislocation, with people

moving around because of government employment, suitable farmland, and many other causes.

Some people were improving their economic status as a result of these change, and others ended

up being worse off. Whereas in the past, everyone in a location had followed the same religion,

people were now exposed to Christianity and the local religions of people who had moved to

their region, or whose regions they had moved to. In the cities of central and Southern Africa,

many local religions and Christian sects could be found, as well as Islam. Belief in witchcraft

tended to unite people across religious differences. Frenzies increased throughout time, people

began to be accused who had not aroused any particular jealousies, possibly because they

possessed a peculiar looking item which might be said to contain magical medicine. These

crazes tended to die down, at least after considerable conflict and property damage, and the

witch finders would then move on to the next town. As witchcraft accusations still occurred in

the areas, we can conclude that the movements did not get rid of witches forever.

Witch Trials 4

There have been three basic approaches taken to the analysis of the Salem witch trials.

Scholars have sought psychological and biological explanations for the symptoms displayed by

the bewitched girls. Sexual repression in Puritan New England, the low status of women,

especially young women, in the community and the lack of opportunity for any sort of

entertainment are among the psychological explanations which have been offered. Group

Psychology , or the tendency for out of control behaviors to spread in crowds, have also been

mentioned. Various dietary deficiencies at the end of a New England winter is the third option

that was studied as an option to blame for the symptoms. Calcium deficiency is known to cause

muscle spasms and hysterical states. It has also been suggested that some of the spectral

evidence (claims to have been visited or actually sat upon, choked, etc. by the spectres of

accused witches) m

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