Development and Significance of Salem Witch Trials

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the historical development and significance of the Salem witchcraft trials, and argues that the Salem trials were pieces of a larger phenomenon, i.e. the system of belief of New England which integrated witchcraft. In doing so, the paper considers the following aspects: the historical and social circumstances of 17th century Massachusetts, previous such episodes, the profile of the people executed on charges of witchcraft, as well as the effect of race and gender on the formulation of witchcraft allegations.

From the Paper:

"The Salem witch trials were preliminary hearings held in 1692 in several towns: Salem Village, Ipswich, Andover, as well as Salem Town, Massachusetts. The best-known such hearings were conducted in Salem Town and resulted in nineteen of witchcraft i.e. nineteen death sentences by hanging. One of the most interesting controversies ever associated with the Salem trials is that of the role of Cotton and Increase Mather in the trials in question . There have been countless speculations regarding the Mathers, ranging from accusations of propagating witch-hunt hysteria as a means of driving people back to church to open condemnation of being slow to speak out against spectral evident brought against the witches. Spectral evidence referred to the afflicted people's testimonies which incriminated the alleged witches; the afflicted claimed they saw apparitions of certain people who were causing the affliction i.e. witches. The most significant questions that arise when talking about the Salem alleged cases of witchcraft are, why did so many cases occur?, and secondly, what common traits can be identified among these cases? In order to be able to answer these two questions, one must turn their attention to several factors such as religious ideology, political and social context, as well as the profile of the accused and the accusers, and last but not least, what these accusations entailed and how they were responded to."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Karlsen, Carol F. 1998. New England's Witchcraft Beliefs. In Witchcraft in Colonial New England, 1-46. New York: W. W. Norton.
• Hoyt, Charles Alva. 1989. Introduction to Witchcraft. In Witchcraft, 1-41. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
• Hoyt, Charles Alva. 1989. Salem. In Witchcraft, 120-131. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
• Starkey, Marion L. 1949. The Possessed. In The Devil in Massachusetts A Modern Inquiry into the Salem Witch Trials, 21-33. 1st ed. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
• Weisman, Richard. 1984. The Social Meaning of Witchcraft in 17th Century Massachusetts Bay. In Witchcraft, Magic, and Religion in 17th-Century Massachusetts, 23-39. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.

More papers on Development and Significance of Salem Witch Trials:

• Research Paper # 96382 : "The Salem Witch Trials"
• Essay # 87906 : "The Salem Witch Trials "
• Essay # 86420 : "Salem Witch Trials"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: