ugh a real example from New England. In 1656 Ann Hibbens was executed after being convicted of practicing witchcraft. (Karlsen, 2) Hibbens was a widow who inherited a very sizeable estate from her deceased husband. This made Hibbens a female landowner, something that was entirely unheard of in New England at the time. On top of her land holdings, Hibbens had been thrown out of her church sixteen years earlier due to her challenges of religious, secular and familial authority. (Karlsen, 5) During the 17th century anyone, especially a female, who posed such a challenge was viewed to be the Devil's minion.It was assumed by many, that witchcraft was practiced by females, and then passed on to their families and friends, thus explaining why males were accused of witchcraft. Besides the example of Ann Hibbens, there are numerous other cases of women that continued to challenge social and religious norms and beliefs. These women were engaged in "fierce negotiation….about the legitimacy of female discontent, resentment, and anger." (Karlsen, 246) Accusations of witchcraft were thus an outlet where the negotiations boiled over into violence, a way to punish women who went against society.After reading, one finds two main explanations for the hysteria surrounding the Salem witch hunts. The first is the argument that it was due to ongoing social, economic and geographic conflicts between 2 factions in Salem Village that divided not only the village but the church as well. This argument was supported throughout Boyer and Nissenbaum's book, and in fact was the entire basis for their book. They used extensive research of village and church records as well as sermon logs and personal accounts to prove that the trials were in fact a calculated attack on many 'radical' individuals.Bryan Le Beau, although not outright, also supported this thesis as well. His book was arranged entirely around various case examples from 1692. He analyzed...
