What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692?
Nineteen men and women hung from the tree of destruction, for they were the ornaments of hysteria. In the village of Salem during 1692, 20 people got accused for witchcraft left and right and eventually they got hanged. Experts have been determined to find out for years, but they’re still uncertain what the cause of the Salem Witch Trials hysteria was. Envy, sexism, and lying little girls stand out as the main causes.
To begin, one cause of the Salem Witch Trial hysteria was envy and jealousy. One piece of textual evidence that supports this cause is that out of thirty-four accusers, 23 were single women. Married women were the most targeted group for alleged witchcraft(Doc B). This statement presents the fact that single women could have been wanting the married women’s husband, therefore the single women were envious of them. Also, they may have been jealous of the married lifestyle. Back then being married was a positive status symbol. Another piece of evidence is on the map in Paul’s Boyer’s book, The Enduring Vision. Most of the accusers are on the west side of the map, and …show more content…
The first piece of textual evidence that backs up this cause is that out of the 134 people that were accused for alleged witchcraft, 110 of them were female(Doc B). That means 82% of the accused were female. To point out the obvious, there is almost no way that there wasn’t any sexism involved; women had four times higher of a chance to get executed. The second piece of evidence is that only four men were executed, while fifteen women were executed. Also, three females died in jail, yet only one male died in jail(Doc A). This fact shows that more women died in the trials than men did, and that they had a higher chance of getting executed. They were hanged more often, and were jailed more too. Obviously, sexism was one of the main causes for the Witch Trial
Nineteen men and women hung from the tree of destruction, for they were the ornaments of hysteria. In the village of Salem during 1692, 20 people got accused for witchcraft left and right and eventually they got hanged. Experts have been determined to find out for years, but they’re still uncertain what the cause of the Salem Witch Trials hysteria was. Envy, sexism, and lying little girls stand out as the main causes.
To begin, one cause of the Salem Witch Trial hysteria was envy and jealousy. One piece of textual evidence that supports this cause is that out of thirty-four accusers, 23 were single women. Married women were the most targeted group for alleged witchcraft(Doc B). This statement presents the fact that single women could have been wanting the married women’s husband, therefore the single women were envious of them. Also, they may have been jealous of the married lifestyle. Back then being married was a positive status symbol. Another piece of evidence is on the map in Paul’s Boyer’s book, The Enduring Vision. Most of the accusers are on the west side of the map, and …show more content…
The first piece of textual evidence that backs up this cause is that out of the 134 people that were accused for alleged witchcraft, 110 of them were female(Doc B). That means 82% of the accused were female. To point out the obvious, there is almost no way that there wasn’t any sexism involved; women had four times higher of a chance to get executed. The second piece of evidence is that only four men were executed, while fifteen women were executed. Also, three females died in jail, yet only one male died in jail(Doc A). This fact shows that more women died in the trials than men did, and that they had a higher chance of getting executed. They were hanged more often, and were jailed more too. Obviously, sexism was one of the main causes for the Witch Trial