Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - American History Salem Witch Trials2 Salem Witch Trials2 The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 spread just about as fast as the Black Plague. This epidemic caused chaos among neighbors in a community. The chronology of events describes an awful time for colonists from June 10th to September 22nd of that year. The books "Salem Possessed" by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, "The Story of the Salem Witch Trials" by Bryan Le Beau, and "The Devil in the Shape of a Woman" by Carol Karlsen all describe these events and provide varying explanations for the epidemic that plagued Salem Village. This review will look at the facts that surrounded the trials and then using those facts will look at the cause stated in each book for the hysteria to compare and contrast with one another. The trials themselves began following an instance involving Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, and Ann Putnam, 3 young girls in the village. (Dufour, 248) The girls were caught performing fortune-telling rituals in the woods outside the village. The claimed at the time that they were trying to find information on the type of man that would be most suitable for them to marry. Soon after this event the girls began to experience hysterical type fits. These fits prompted Reverend Samuel Parris, the father of Betty Parris, to call on authorities to find an explanation for the fits. The explanation they found was very simple: witchcraft. As the months went on more girls began to experience the same sort of events. It was only after intense questioning that the girls revealed the names of those afflicting them: Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good, and Rev. Parris' servant Tituba. (Dufour, 249) It was this revelation that sparked the fire of witch hunting that would eventually get radically out of control as the year continued. Common sense should tell any human that such an isolated event was not capable of causing such hysteria among villagers. For hundreds of years scholars, among them the previously mentioned authors, have researched the various factors that influenced the witch hunting to spread. The first factor that helps put the whole story in motion is the arrival of the arrival of Reverend Samuel Parris as the new minister for the church in Salem Village. On November 19, 1689 the Reverend Parris, with his family at his side, was ordained the new minister for the Salem Village Church. (Boyer & Nissenbaum, 153) Reverend Parris came to Salem at a very tumultuous time. The church had just gained its independence from the church in Salem Town, thus causing many rifts among residents of both the village and the town. From the start, Parris was a poor leader for the town. He was continually concerned more with increasing his salary and living allowances than he was with the happenings of the village. Parris himself also became a centerpiece of the factionalism that was plaguing the town. He continued to push his parishioners toward a more conservative and moralistic way of life that he felt would cleanse the town of all of it's problems. It was Parris's daughter and niece in fact that began the Salem witch hysteria. The Reverend Parris agreed fully with the findings of the authorities and began to vehemently preach against all forms of witchcraft as the Devil's work. He pushed his congregation to seek out all those believed to be witches and to rid the village of their souls. He continued in this manner throughout the entire event, even encouraging the hysteria to continue. As was stated earlier, Reverend Parris came to Salem during a time of conflict among the villagers that involved economic, social, and geographic differences. The conflict stemmed from the ongoing feud between two very prominent families, the Putnams and the Porters. The Putnams felt that the Porter family was crowding them out of land that rightfully belonged to the Putnam family. To add to the feud, the village at the time was deeply divided over staying autonomous or joining with Salem Town. The Putnam family and their followers, all very traditional minded people, believed strongly in Salem Village's autonomy. Reverend Parris supported them in their belief. On the flip side, the Porter family and their supporters were very interested in the possibilities Salem Town offered to the village. The Porter family was very active in mercantilism and trading in the town as well as governmental affairs that occurred in Salem Town. It was the differing beliefs along with the feud for land that continued to divide the village. The division just increased on October 16, 1691 when the Porter faction took control of the village committee from the Putnams and their friends. (Le Beau, 57) Following the election, the Porter's refused to collect taxes to pay Parris' salary, and continued to do so. This infuriated the Putnam faction immensely. Which leads up to the beginning of the hysteria. By looking at the conflict itself, people may wonder how it could be connected to the hysteria. The connection becomes very evident when one looks at those accusing witches and those being accused, and the factions they sided with. The overwhelming majority of those accusing villagers of witchcraft, including the three girls, belonged to the Putnam family or its friends. On the other side, the vast majority of those accused, especially at the beginning, belonged to the Porter faction. Examples of that include Rebecca Nurse, Bridget Bishop, as well as Giles and Martha Cory. (Dufour, 249) The feuds and conflicts are possible explanations for the conflict, but there is also another very possible one. In her book "The Devil in the Shape of a Woman." Carol Karlsen focuses her attention on the females in colonial New England. The main thesis supporting this explanation is that most witchcraft accusations were against women who threatened the orderly transfer of land from father to son. The best was to look at this belief is entirely through 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 the trials of Martha and Giles Cory, Elizabeth and John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, among numerous others. Throughout his analysis and research he continually comes back to the Putnam vs. Porter conflict and the effect of Reverend Parris' poor leadership. His book gave much more actual transcripts and quotes to help lend credit to his explanation than Boyer and Nissenbaum. Throughout the book, he tried to let the characters speak for themselves on the events that took place. This helped give more weight to his argument. Finally, Carol Karlsen took a completely different side. She used the explanation that the witch trials were more of an attack on women trying to escape social and religious norms. She too used numerous primary sources to lend weight to her argument as well as extensive examples, like the Hibbens example. If her argument did nothing else, it proved that there is still room for study surrounding the witchcraft issue in New England. It provided an excellent basis for analysis on women and the roles they played during the period. Overall, after reading each of the books as well as many primary sources in the textbooks, I am inclined to believe to first argument. I feel that the best explanation for the hysteria and witch-hunt was that it was a calculated attack aimed at eliminating one faction from control and influence in Salem Village. I think there is substantial evidence to back this up, including first hand records and accounts. I don't entirely dismiss Karlsen's argument. I think it is definitely an area that needs more analysis and research done to it. It to may have played a role in the hysteria, but I feel that Boyer and Nissenbaum as well as Le Beau did a much better job of proving their argument was the overwhelming factor in 1692. The conflict argument not only proved the outbreak of accusations was part of a larger pattern of conflict, but also warned of the potential such divisive powers have to create such a mass hysteria. In conclusion, all three books provide excellent arguments and sufficient evidence to back it up. The remaining problem lies in the fact that there are no survivors to tell the accurate and unbiased story, if such a story exists. In 1692 Salem Village got its "15 minutes of fame" and proved to people the extents humans will go to for the sake of conflict and religion. It should teach a lesson every human being needs to learn, the smallest incident can lead to hysteria of epidemic proportions. Bibliography: BIBLIOGRAPHY Boyer, Paul, and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974. Dufour, Ronald P. Colonial America. Minneapolis, MN: West Publishing Company, 1994. Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial America. New York: W.W.Norton & Co., 1987. Le Beau, Bryan F. The Story of the Salem Witch Trials. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998. Word Count: 1723
Copyright © 2005 College Term Papers, INC All Rights Reserved.