Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and Role of Women in Colonial America - Research Paper Example

? Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and Role of Women in Colonial America Number] Salem Witchcraft Trial of 1962 The year 1692 possesses great importance in the history of New England Area and colonial America. The year is marked with the disturbing, complex and tragic incident of Salem Witchcraft trails in which nineteen people accused of witchcraft were executed whereas certain others were imprisoned where they were also dead. It was a highly tensed and stressed time period in North America where the colony of Massachusetts was experiencing a tough transition phase of attaining the royal province period (Marilynne, p98). The colonized people of the Salem Village saw their colonization as a punishment for their sins. The people of the colony had strong beliefs upon the existence of devil and witches around them and they commonly used to perceive the social progressions from the perspective of witchcraft and superstition. The Salem village was experiencing witch hysteria in form of future telling and voodoo story telling practice. The Salem witch trail not only indicate the powerful faith and beliefs of people upon the witchcraft but also provide an insight to the common perceptions about the status and role of the women in the society during that era. Women were the main victims of this incident and without giving a chance of proving their innocence; they were widely hanged on the allegations of being witches (Gretchen, p221). The trails were not only reflection of the witch hysteria but also show the response and reception of the colonial American society towards wealthy, powerful and influential women. What brought the Salem Witchcraft Trials? The Salem witch trials refer to the series of hearings held before the local magistrate and country court. The trials have been regarded as the largest witch hunt in the history of America. The trails prosecuted the people accused of the witchcraft. During these trails more than 150 people were arrested and detained and finally twenty nine people were convicted by the court on the charge of witchcraft and nineteen of them were hanged as per the court orders. Among these nineteen people fourteen were women and five were men. Later five more accused people were dead in the prison, one man was crushed with stones and several others were imprisoned on the charges of witchcraft (Boyer, p65). The story began with the illness of two girls in the town. When the village doctor William Griggs failed to figure out the actual disease and its real causes he declared bewitchment as the reason behind their illness (Marilynne, p98). His diagnosis resulted in the capture of several people from the town surrounding Salem because the ill girls called their names and deemed them as cause of their illness (Lori, p23). Over 150 people were arrested and after the hearings the court declared twenty nine people as witch responsible for the illness of the girls. The decision of the court exemplifies the strength of religious prejudice, superstition and social persecution prevailing during that time period. It was actually the witch hysteria that led towards these trails and ended up with the execution of several people most of whom were women (Gretchen, p221). Place and Role of Women in Colonised American Society The trail reflects the attitude of the colonial American society towards the women and the sociocultural situation created for the women at that time. Women were the major accused of the witchcraft that also indicates the role and status of the women in the colonized American society of that era. The women were heavily charged with the obligations of witchcraft to end up their lives. The Bridget Bishop of the village Sara Good was the first woman to hang after it was decided by the court that she was a witch. The case tells about the intense exploitation of women in the society. Most of the victims of the witch hunting trial were women and if any of them refused to accept her as witch she was also killed brutally (Jenny, p132). In the male dominant society of colonial America there was great fear of women empowerment due to which influential and active women were widely killed by putting the false obligations of witchcraft. In this way, the witchcraft was used as a tool to exploit women and break their evolving leadership in the society so that the feminist movement could become weak. The women raising voice for the helpless and oppressed women were main target of the witchcraft hysteria and the society got rid of most of such strong women as they proved in the court that those women were witches and were having pact with the Devil regarding the destruction of the society and people (Gretchen, p221). Most of the women having influence among the masses were great point of concern for the males who don’t want to see the women raising voice for their rights and social equality. These people found the witchcraft as great opportunity to ruin the evolving empowerment of women (Jenny, p132). Most of the women accused of witchcraft were the women above forty years of age. Most of them were powerful and wealthy widows or the wives of selectmen having no son. It was viewed that those women were tying the up the wealth and scared resources of the colony but they were not performing the duty of raising the male children in the society (Marilynne, p98). In the court the powerful male figures inform that they have seen the real faces of several women who are actually witches. The court was also run by the male figures having importance for the male witnesses. They accepted all such statements and ordered to hand the women that were found to be witches. In this way, the trials could also be seen as an important historical example that shows the exploitation of women and disrespect of their social rights. The witchcraft was a tool of oppressing the women having influence in the society in order to protect the dominance of the men (Lori, p23). References Boyer, Paul, and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974. Print. Gretchen, A. The Specter of Salem: Remembering the Witch Trials in Nineteenth-Century America, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009, Print. Jenny MacBain. The Salem witch trials: a primary source history of the witchcraft trials in Salem, Massachusetts. London: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2003. Print. Lori Lee Wilson. The Salem witch trials. New York: Twenty-First Century Books, 1997. Print. Marilynne K. Roach. The Salem witch trials: a day-by-day chronicle of a community under siege. NY: Taylor Trade Publications, 2004. Print. Read More