Term Paper on "Salem Witchcraft Hysteria"

Term Paper 4 pages (1425 words) Sources: 8 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Salem Witch Trials

The entirety of the Salem witchcraft hysteria centered upon the needs of the males to both assert and maintain their dominance within every element of their community. For the Puritans, evil and the evidence of evil was as real and as visible as the evidence of God. While the concept of devils, demons, demonic possession, and witches have long since gone out of our religious discourse, at one time in the New World, they were part of the daily lives of the Puritan communities. Using these beliefs to their benefit, the male community leaders of Salem and other Puritan settlements in Massachusetts asserted their control over the local economy, the social order, the behavior of the people, and reinforced their superior positions through the manipulation of their religious faith.

In essence, the Salem witch-hysteria was a directed and calculated effort on the part of the patriarchal power structure to remain in place and in control.

The idea of the witch was one that found roots deep within Puritan religious practice. "Colonial New Englanders drew from a long tradition of tales an witchcraft rituals that described Satan's temptations and crafty ways," (Reis 61). One of the core precepts of religious life during the time of the witch trials, was the idea that conversion to Good could only truly occur during youth, and that becoming a true follower of God could only happen to the young. Otherwise, sinners who remained in sin for too long would find it nearly impossible to truly leave behind their devilish ways. To Increase Mather, this concept formed the philosophical basis for trying witches rather than attempting to "convert" or "heal" the

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m (Reis, 31). By establishing that the young were capable of making the choice to avoid evil and thus could truly decide which path to follow, Mather established an early control over the future leaders of the community. This had the secondary benefit of creating a social system that looked at the adult sinner as being irredeemable and thus allowing Mather and his like to rid their community of adults who challenged the status quo.

Witches became the popular excuse for personal, financial, or other failings - when a married man found himself sexually attracted to a young single woman, he blamed his resulting feelings upon the woman and attributed her power over him to witch craft. This was necessary, because admitting that feeling attracted to a woman resulted in feelings of sexual desire and desire felt outside of the wedding bond must certainly have been caused by the Devil (Ehrenreich, 32).

What we now know as the biochemistry of attraction was then considered to be the work of Satan. If a farm failed, cattle became sick, a baby was born stillborn, all of these misfortunes were attributed to Satan. "But most misfortunes were undoubtedly caused by accident, disease, and mistakes," (Hill 32). With ministerial support for these views however, it became possible for the Puritans to lay blame on earthly representatives of Satan for all of their life's woes. The result? A man or a woman could lay blame on another citizen through simple conjecture, an established history of conflict, or some perceived slight as evidence of witchcraft (Hill 98, 163, 197).

This level of control over others forced two different cultural dynamics into play - the immediate suspicion of anyone and anything that fell outside of the norm, and the power to further separate out those who defied the status quo.

Using this power, the community leaders (all men) were able to maintain the validity of their positions by first establishing themselves as authorities on witchcraft and evidence thereof, and of the final arbiters of whether or not a person was simply possessed for malicious purpose, or was in fact a witch.

Ultimately, this allowed the community leadership to single out any citizen that acted in any way different than others. These leaders also determined the criteria for the "evidence" of Witchcraft. These included not being able to say the Lord's prayer without a mistake (Hill 179).

The Puritan economy was controlled absolutely by the social elite - the ministers and officials of the towns would set the prices for crops, for labor, for commodities and would maintain these controls with an iron… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Salem Witchcraft Hysteria" Assignment:

“

Historians, since 1692, have studied and debated the causes, circumstances, and outcomes concerning the *****witchcraft hysteria. These studies and debates have their foundation on psychology, biology, geography, economic autonomy, social connectedness, paganism, law, and religion.

Eve LaPlante, in her recent book American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson*****”The Woman Who Defied the Puritans (2004) wrote, *****Witches were linked to licentiousness and female sexuality. They were seen as the cause of sudden, inexplicable, illnesses and deaths and various psychological disturbances. Anyone challenging the social order could be accused. According to the historian ***** Hall, witch was *****˜a label people used to control or punish someone,***** and hunting witches reaffirmed the orthodox male authority whenever it was questioned . . .***** (122)

Based on the numerous readings and sources address the following points: (1) the *****witchcraft hysteria represented an early colonial instance of theology being interconnected with politics and social conformity, (2) the use of evidence became a source of guilt but also contention, and (3) the hysteria represented by the *****foundations remain relevant in current affairs.

Use 8 Â½ x 11 standard white paper.

Page number all pages.

Works Cited:

Minimum of 8 sources

Argumentative Thesis Statement:

A thesis statement is a sentence that expresses the main ideas of the paper and answers the question or questions posed by the paper. It offers the reader a quick and easy to follow summary of what the paper will be discussing and what you as a ***** are setting out to tell. It should cover only what you want to discuss in the paper, and be supported with specific evidence.

A good thesis statement will usually include the following four attributes: take on a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree, deal with a subject that can be adequately treated given the nature of the assignment, express one main idea, and assert your conclusions about a subject.

Remember that your thesis needs to show your conclusions about a subject. Your thesis should indicate the point of the discussion. The reader needs to be able to see that your paper has one main point. A thesis statement should show exactly what your paper will be about, and will help you keep your paper to a manageable topic.

The thesis statement should remain flexible until the paper is actually finished. It ought to be one of the last items that you review in the rewriting process. The statement frequently appears at or near the end of the first paragraph. Avoid announcing the thesis statement as if it were a thesis statement. In other words, avoid using phrases such as *****The purpose of this paper is . . .***** or *****In this paper, I will attempt to . . .*****

Â¨ A thesis statement is an assertion, not a statement of fact or an observation.

Â¨ A thesis takes a stand rather than announcing a subject.

Â¨ A thesis is the main idea, not the title. It must be a complete sentence that explains in some detail what you expect to write about.

Â¨ A thesis statement is narrow, rather than broad. If the thesis statement is sufficiently narrow, it can be fully supported.

Â¨ A thesis statement is specific rather than vague or general.

Â¨ A thesis statement has one main point rather than several main points. More than one point may be too difficult for the reader to understand and the ***** to support.

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