Salem Witch Trials (Research Paper Sample)

CAUSES OF THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS
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Causes of the Salem Witch Trials
In colonial American history, The Salem Witch Trials is one of the most infamous trials that occurred in the 17th century in Massachusetts that led to accusation and trial of at least 150 individuals and execution of 20 individuals charged of practicing witchcraft. In order to understand the nature of the trials that occurred between 1692 and 1693 it is important to evaluate the times that the accusations of witchcraft occurred. The ordinary stresses of the life in Massachusetts colony was characterized by an unending belief in the devil, there were various factions in the village, and the village was in intense competition with Salem Town. Moreover, the village was threatened by small pox disease while nearby tribes always planned attacks, and these factors created fertile grounds for suspicion and fear that exploded as the Salem Witch Trials.
Consequently, accusations, trials, and executions ran wild through a Puritan community in Massachusetts at the beginning of 1692 until late 1693; the events that took place are known as the Salem Witch Trials. The most puzzling aspect of this event is what caused it to occur.  With the trials more than three hundred years in the past, I evaluated numerous court documents and personal letters from those involved and lived through the event, in addition to the interpretations of past historians. The result of this research identifies the deceit of the afflicted girls and the personal greed of their parents, along with different members of the Salem community, as the cause of the witch trials.
Problem Statement
Many centuries ago, many religions of the world especially practicing Christians had strong beliefs that the devil was capable of giving particular people in society power to cause harm to others while they remained loyal to the devil. The witch propaganda was common in Europe from the 1300s and later ended at the end of 1600s leading to death of tens of thousands of witches especially women. Even though the Salem trials occurred when the witch craze in Europe was on the decline, there are a range of local factors that exacerbated the execution of innocent individuals due to acknowledgment of confessions of deceitful and deceiving girls.
The problems experienced by Salem are traced back to the King William wars that were waged on colonies Nova Scotia, New York, and Quebec that led to displacement of people to Essex county, and specifically the village of Salem. This compounded problems in Salem as the displaced people were straining the resources in this area , which worsened the existing rivalry between families whose fortunes were connected to the Salem port and people from the village who relied on agriculture for subsistence. In addition, there was intense controversy about the village’s first minister ordained by the Puritan church who people disliked for his greedy nature and rigid ways. In an environment characterized by fear and suspicion, the devil was blamed for the existing rivalry between the two Salem families.
The rivalry was yet to intensify when confessions from four little girls was sufficient to support the claim of witchcraft advanced by the devils loyalists in Salem leading to the trial and execution of innocent villagers. When Elizabeth aged 9, a daughter to Reverend Parris and Abigail Williams aged 11, her niece complained of having extreme fits in 1692, a local doctor diagnosed them and confessed their illness was the work of the supernatural. When another girl Ann Putnam also aged 11 experienced similar episodes, the three girls were forced to confess that three women afflicted them: Tituba who was a Caribbean slave working for Parris; Sarah Osborne who was an impoverished and elderly woman; and Sarah Good who was a homeless beggar in the Salem village.
Boyer and Nissenbaum studied the historical story of the Salem people. They looked at the social backgrounds behind the trials. Both the historians found that the Salem villagers and the town dwellers had spent some time quarrelling over several disputes. The people had unsettled scores to settle prior to the beginning of the witchcraft trials. This trials sparked ideas in the minds of some to use in settling the scores. The powerful persons in the community would cause havoc to the lesser peoples.
Bernard Rosenthal focused on the witch trials. He sought to give a different opinion on the result of the trials and described the characters of the story. He focused on the girls of Salem. He described them to be fraudsters and came to this conclusion after analyzing different opinions of different authors including Thomas Hutchinson who was a great historian. Rosenthal came to the conclusion that the girls would receive much attention from the publicized trial cases. He continued to state that Judge William Stoughton was an incredibly terrible judge. This is because of his lack of reasoning during the trial cases.
Goss explained the witch trials in the aspect of political and social factors that caused the events. He states that the fraud accusers planted their children to be witnesses of the witchcraft. The girls were not merely picked from the bunch in the society; they would be used as a political statement to the society. He stated that he cannot describe the behaviors of the girls used as they were just young. Marc Mappen seems to support the notion that the church leaders were right to eliminate the witchcraft in Salem. He uses the text of Cotton Mather to support his claims and draw evidence of the same. He states that some of the witches were guilty of the accusations.
Frances Hill also documents the events of the Salem trials. She wants the readers to understand the social and the psychological perspectives that caused the trials. She states that stress emanating from outside caused the hysteria on the witch trials. Continuous Indian attacks, the political struggle and the repressive Puritan religion caused all the havoc experienced. Enders Robinson explained that conspiracy was the main cause of the trials. Samuel Parris was a church leader who was a political ally for Thomas Putnam who had one of his daughters afflicted.
Richard Godbeer gave his opinion on the witch hunt of Salem. Hereby, he supported the notion that the beliefs and fears of the people of Salem were the main causes of the trials. The Salem people learnt about the good and evil that exists in the world. Therefore, witchcraft was already a belief that Salem had been waiting to experience. The Puritan religion motivated the dwellers of Salem to seek supernatural answers to the problems that they were currently experiencing.
Character analysis and contribution to the Salem Witch Trials
However, the confessions and accusation leveled against the three women and the subsequent trails that followed in that year were pre-meditated by a range of parties with vested interests who exploited the trials to regain what was to be lost to the displaced people who swarmed their village. In order expose the motive of the Salem trials, it is imperative to study the major characters that were involved in the trials, and who were considered planners, witnesses, and victims of the trial.
Ann Putnam aged 11 was the eldest daughter of Thomas Putnam, a wealthy resident in Salem town, and was a witness between other two girls that they were afflicted by the supernatural powers of witches accused at the trial. As a child, she lived a fearful life because of her parent’s domination over her life, and her testimony at the pitiless superior court is questionable considering the bitter rivalry that characterized the rich families in Salem town and poor villagers. However, as a witness, she is known for accusing Tituba of practicing witchcraft though Tituba had been her close friend all her life because of the fascinating stories she told her.
Amongst the accusers at the trials, Mary Warren was the oldest and had lived her life serving the Proctor family. Apart from the three little girls, Warren also confessed of experiencing fits claiming that in one of her fits, she met with ghosts of Giles Corey, but her master denied these claims putting her to work on her spinning wheel. He also threatened to beat her if she had any more fits, but she was powerless over them. However, when threatened to be hanged, she later wrote a note to the meeting house denouncing her visions, and criticized testimonies given by the girls as baseless because it was impossible to see the devil. However, the girls responded by accusing her of practicing witchcraft that led to intense suspicion by the puritans. Consequently, she was charged and imprisoned for practicing witchcraft, but it is questionable why the trial court relied on the confessions of the girls while sidelining her claims.
Another chief accuser in the Salem trials was Elizabeth Parris, the daughter to Samuel Parris, and aged 9 years, it is disputable how her confession led to death by hanging of 20 innocent lives. Her life is closely associated with Abigail Williams because together they practiced fortune telling using the Venus glass. Her afflictions began in 1692 when she was incapable of concentration and became forgetful. Moreover, her weird behavior worsened as she barked like a dog to her rebuking father, and her fits were portrayed through weird postures and ridiculous speech. When diagnosed and found to be afflicted by witchcraft that was abolished in Salem during this time, Betty Parris together with her cousin Abigail Williams accused Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good as witches at the trial on February 1692.
The deceit and trickery that characterized the confessions of the three girls is evident in the relationship that ...