The Salem Witch Trials When individuals talk about what had happened during the seventeenth century, it brings back to the dark period full of social, political, and economical challenges and gender inequality in American history. Richard Godbeer’s book, Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692, discusses the events of the story of a witch hunt in Stamford, Connecticut. Furthermore, the book details how series of witchcraft cases brought before local adjudicators in a settlement called Salem, a part of the Massachusetts Bay colony, caused many innocent people to be accused of crimes they had never committed. The Salem Witch Trial hysteria caused by fear of the witchcraft, political and social anxieties, changes in the roles of women, and
…show more content…
Godbeer provides a captivating picture of how seventeenth-century New Englanders understood and confronted witchcraft—their anxieties and their willingness to believe, but also their vigilance and their doubtfulness. Some people refer to it as the “century of saints” and the “golden age of the demoniac.” These descriptions simply explain how much religion and religious belief pervaded society. They were too afraid that the Devil was constantly trying to find alternative ways to invade and destroy Christians and their communities, especially when Tituba, one of the accused witches, admitted that she and others were in fact witches working for the Devil. Due to this, it caused so much panic and hysteria that it rapidly prompted a massive witch hunt. Even though there were still many other contributing factors, Tituba’s action of confessing is the main reason why the Salem Witch Trials happened. Nobody in the colony has ever admitted to a mistake of being a witch despite the fact that the Massachusetts Bay colonists had accused and convicted people of witchcraft before, starting with Margaret Jones in 1648. Tituba’s simple act of confessing augmented all of the colonists’ underlying
Godbeer provides a captivating picture of how seventeenth-century New Englanders understood and confronted witchcraft—their anxieties and their willingness to believe, but also their vigilance and their doubtfulness. Some people refer to it as the “century of saints” and the “golden age of the demoniac.” These descriptions simply explain how much religion and religious belief pervaded society. They were too afraid that the Devil was constantly trying to find alternative ways to invade and destroy Christians and their communities, especially when Tituba, one of the accused witches, admitted that she and others were in fact witches working for the Devil. Due to this, it caused so much panic and hysteria that it rapidly prompted a massive witch hunt. Even though there were still many other contributing factors, Tituba’s action of confessing is the main reason why the Salem Witch Trials happened. Nobody in the colony has ever admitted to a mistake of being a witch despite the fact that the Massachusetts Bay colonists had accused and convicted people of witchcraft before, starting with Margaret Jones in 1648. Tituba’s simple act of confessing augmented all of the colonists’ underlying