1. How did the Salem witchcraft trials reflect attitudes toward women and the status of women in colonial New England?
The Salem witchcraft trials, according to author Carol Karlsen, reflected attitudes towards the status of and attitudes towards women in Colonial New England. In these colonies, women were held in relatively high regard, but much was expected from them. Although families and wives were highly valued in the Puritan culture of New England, Puritanism reinforced the idea of almost total male authority. As a result, women were expected to marry and to almost fully devote themselves to the needs of their husbands and families.
In Carol Karlsen 's The Devil in the Shape of a Woman, she demonstrated through deep examination of records …show more content…
Puritans had a worldview in the seventeenth century that proclaimed witchcraft to be an entirely plausible concept, so judging by how devoted they were to their faith in other matters, it is easy to conclude that they would believe in this too. Because of the tension between social classes and the witchcraft accusations often resulting in death, it is inferable that many would take advantage of this opportunity to indirectly act against those of the upper class by accusing them of witchcraft and pretending to believe in such accusations. Whether through innocuous or more sinister intentions, the belief in witchcraft by the colonists of New England proved disastrous for the women who were …show more content…
The more recent book, Mary Beth Norton’s In the Devil’s Snare, stated that the witchcraft trials were influenced by events during that time period, particularly the Indian Wars. These wars caused refugees from towns that were destroyed by the Indians to move to Salem in droves, boosting fear and social instability. The author asserts that the primary difference between these theses is that the former would have you believe that accusations of witchcraft were made solely out of devotion to faith, while the latter adds the variable of a troubled time
The Salem witchcraft trials, according to author Carol Karlsen, reflected attitudes towards the status of and attitudes towards women in Colonial New England. In these colonies, women were held in relatively high regard, but much was expected from them. Although families and wives were highly valued in the Puritan culture of New England, Puritanism reinforced the idea of almost total male authority. As a result, women were expected to marry and to almost fully devote themselves to the needs of their husbands and families.
In Carol Karlsen 's The Devil in the Shape of a Woman, she demonstrated through deep examination of records …show more content…
Puritans had a worldview in the seventeenth century that proclaimed witchcraft to be an entirely plausible concept, so judging by how devoted they were to their faith in other matters, it is easy to conclude that they would believe in this too. Because of the tension between social classes and the witchcraft accusations often resulting in death, it is inferable that many would take advantage of this opportunity to indirectly act against those of the upper class by accusing them of witchcraft and pretending to believe in such accusations. Whether through innocuous or more sinister intentions, the belief in witchcraft by the colonists of New England proved disastrous for the women who were …show more content…
The more recent book, Mary Beth Norton’s In the Devil’s Snare, stated that the witchcraft trials were influenced by events during that time period, particularly the Indian Wars. These wars caused refugees from towns that were destroyed by the Indians to move to Salem in droves, boosting fear and social instability. The author asserts that the primary difference between these theses is that the former would have you believe that accusations of witchcraft were made solely out of devotion to faith, while the latter adds the variable of a troubled time