How Is Salem Witchcraft A Puritan

To understand why and how these issues arose in Salem, first look to the history of the Puritans. The Puritans believed that the Anglican Church needed to be purified of the Catholic ideologies. With monarchs of their time disinterested in the idea of reform, many Puritans became discouraged and thought the colonies would give them a better chance to reform the church. John Winthrop along with a few other Puritans in the New World decided to create City on a Hill to set an example of good behavior and religious purity. The Puritans believed that God had made a special covenant with them so they could live according to scripture, reforming the Anglican Church, and set a good example for those who were still living in England.

Salem is a Puritan community, and its occupants live in an extremely strict society. Although the Puritans left England to avoid religious commitment, they established a society in a America founded upon religious discrimination(Critical Essays Historical Period: Puritans in Salem, 2016). Government and religious authority are virtually inseparable, and the individuals who question the local authority are accused of questioning divine authority. The Puritan community considers physical labor and strict discipline to be a religious doctrine which is the best indicators of faithfulness, honesty, and integrity.

Causing many suspicion of demonic activity throughout the salem village, hysteria spread quickly as the population ascended to witchcraft creating the act of cynicism. Most conducted these suspicions though dissecting their physical and mental image meaning that most of the civilians would convert to supernatural explanations in order to assume the act of demonic possession and I quote “Good also had a reputation for holding a grudge and for muttering curses against those who crossed her, which would have alarmed her neighbours, not least because many people believed that such curses would work” ( The Salem Witch Hunt, p.69). This quote taken from Sarah Good’s bibliography confirms the suspicions of witchcraft as these sign were depicted as supernatural to the puritans perspective. Being fearful of the devil, most puritans believed that the abnormal should endure punishment as for these acts were created against the church law leading to christian ignorance and disbelief and I quote “They also show how easily people could become convicted that hostile neighbours were wielding occult forces against them”(The Salem Witch Hunt, p.69).

The movie “Three Sovereigns for Sarah” was an accurate representation of what went on during the Salem witch hanging trials of 1692. There were five major concepts that played pivotal roles in the hysteria surrounding Salem, Massachusetts; superstition, religion, politics, economics, and gender roles. The town of Salem was consisting of mostly Puritans. A Puritan is a member of an group of English Protestants of the late 16th and 17th centuries who regarded the Reformation of the Church of England under Elizabeth as incomplete and sought to simplify and regulate forms of worship.

Puritans believed that they were doing God's work and that those who disobeyed or strayed from Puritan teachings were sinners”. This states that while not attending seems quite childish to say that one is a witch, it was more of what the public would suspect as church and public appearances were mandatory to show how faithful and abiding one

Salem Puritans accused women of witchcraft, in order to oppress women, and as a reaction to greed and religious fear. The Salem Witch Trials were motivated by the oppression of women. Puritan women could not own land. Women were told to keep quiet and stay in their place.

In Salem, Massachusetts, Puritans were strong believers in the Bible. The Bible states, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” The Puritans beliefs led to them accusing 20 innocent people of being a witch, this resulted in their deaths in 1692. Even though the Puritans couldn’t see it at the time, their accusations were really based off jealousy, lies, and Salem being divided into two parts. One cause of the Salem witch trial hysteria was jealousy.

Witchcraft was the ultimate deviancy in Puritan society. Puritans believed that the devil exists and was a very literal being that was watching them all the time waiting for them to mess up or make a mistake. Ministers frequently used this devil idea during service to scare citizens into behaving. Maleficium translates to the power of malice, meaning to give people power to ruin things such as crops, beer, or make hens lay fewer eggs. These supernatural powers were spoken about and very relevant in trial cases that were recorded during this time period.

“I am no more a witch than you are a wizard. If you take my life away, God will give you blood to drink” was quoted by Sarah Good, one of the first witches of the Salem Witch Trials that was speculated to have bewitched Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris. This was a common theme in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. There are many theories against Good and her speculated practice of witchcraft. Good was considerably lower in economic status that most of her neighbors and a lot of people accused her of being a witch because of her cited jealousy and envy (something often associated with a witches’ discontent and anger).

The Puritans were a very orderly put together society; However, they had very little freedom. They believed that social order and organization was much more important than individual rights. In America for example, we have freedom of religion, speech, and the right to equal justice. The Puritans had none of these. After reading about the Salem Witch Trials in The Crucible I noticed that they especially lacked the right to equal justice.

With the Puritans having strict religious beliefs about the devil and God, it gave them strong feelings about the ways in which women impacted their community. Along with their religious beliefs, their society had certain beliefs about women and the way they should act which led them to suspect anything out of the “norm” as a sign of the devil. While some of this could be on women and the way we speak, the Puritans already had such strong feelings toward the vulnerable mind of women that it wouldn’t matter. The women were represented by weakness in nearly every aspect a person can be judged on and this thought of them as the weaker vessel is what ultimately led to them being accused and persecuted more than men during the Salem Witch

The puritans came to New England so they could experience and practice christianity in a new form.[background] Puritans believed every word in the bible was the word of god. That said, the bible mentions Devils and witches. They believed a witch was a person who was controlled by the devil. For example, The devil can make a young girl cry in church. One way the court accepted evidence the suspect in question was a witch was when a woman confused the words when saying the lord's prayer.[background] Because of these actions more people were being accused of being a witch.

Plus, everyone in the Puritan society strongly believed that there were higher powers; God and Satan. On top of this, there was a major division between the people in Salem; the wealthy and the poor. While all of this was going on, children’s expectations were not faltered, people still wanted them to behave like adults. Fear of witchcraft was common in New England, and was even more common in Europe.

The infamous Salem witch trials of colonial Massachusetts took place between of 1692 and 1693. They involved the execution of fourteen women and five men within the the brief time period (Salem Witch Museum). New England at the time had been established by a homogenous Puritan population which emigrated from England (Taylor 165, 169). Abiding by a strict set of beliefs, the Puritans did not accept people of other backgrounds, therefore it might follow that the Salem Witch Trials of New England were a result of the strict Puritan society, which was actually primarily untrue. The Salem Witch Trials were not enacted as a result of Puritanism, but rather as a result of circumstance.

Religion was a very strong influence in the lives of Puritans as they followed a very strict moral code and based their entire lives on their faith. Most Puritans were taught from the Bible that "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Doc. A), which explains why the witch scare was taken so seriously and why the accused were punished so harshly. They believed and feared that "evil spirits were all around" (Doc. C) as noted in Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions by Cotton Mather, who at that time was a reputable expert in the "invisible world. " It seems strange to 21st-century dwellers that people believed that witches could be identified by marks of the devil, as portrayed in an 1853 painting by T.H. Matteson (Doc. D).