Was the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria a Product of Women’s Search for Power?
In the late 1600s, occurrences of “witchcraft hysteria” took place in Salem, Massachusetts. These occurrences involved young girls experiencing fits and blaming it on the practice of witchcraft. They would accuse other women of practicing witchcraft, and this eventually caused a hundred colonists to end up in jail, and nineteen hanged. How is it possible that such a tragedy could happen? In early America, there were many things that differ from today. The Great Awakening took place in which colonists put their Puritan religion at the center of their lives, and this involved the expectation of their wives to be conservative, which made them powerless in their communities. Science also wasn’t …show more content…
Her argument proves that the Salem Witchcraft hysteria was not a product of women’s search for power, but was the people’s responses to biological situations in colonial times. This is because the symptoms of Encephalitis Lethargica match what these young girls experienced, “traditional” women were also accused and killed, and Carlson has a stronger explanation to explain the fits. Koehler argues that the Salem witch hysteria was caused by women’s search for power, yet his argument seems only moderately plausible. Koehler is a reliable source considering Koehler was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for History. He believes that accusations went against women who practiced nontraditional ideals. He mentions in his essay, “The choice of victims, many of them eccentrics, suggests that bewitched females were discomforted by those women who had acted upon their own inner needs to ignore or defy the ideal sex role.” Koehler makes his statement that women in Early America were uncomfortable when it came to women who did not practice religious ideals, cheated on their husbands, and showed any form of defiance. This would not be completely true due to the
In the late 1600s, occurrences of “witchcraft hysteria” took place in Salem, Massachusetts. These occurrences involved young girls experiencing fits and blaming it on the practice of witchcraft. They would accuse other women of practicing witchcraft, and this eventually caused a hundred colonists to end up in jail, and nineteen hanged. How is it possible that such a tragedy could happen? In early America, there were many things that differ from today. The Great Awakening took place in which colonists put their Puritan religion at the center of their lives, and this involved the expectation of their wives to be conservative, which made them powerless in their communities. Science also wasn’t …show more content…
Her argument proves that the Salem Witchcraft hysteria was not a product of women’s search for power, but was the people’s responses to biological situations in colonial times. This is because the symptoms of Encephalitis Lethargica match what these young girls experienced, “traditional” women were also accused and killed, and Carlson has a stronger explanation to explain the fits. Koehler argues that the Salem witch hysteria was caused by women’s search for power, yet his argument seems only moderately plausible. Koehler is a reliable source considering Koehler was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for History. He believes that accusations went against women who practiced nontraditional ideals. He mentions in his essay, “The choice of victims, many of them eccentrics, suggests that bewitched females were discomforted by those women who had acted upon their own inner needs to ignore or defy the ideal sex role.” Koehler makes his statement that women in Early America were uncomfortable when it came to women who did not practice religious ideals, cheated on their husbands, and showed any form of defiance. This would not be completely true due to the