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Fear & Ignorance (two awesome combinations)

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Fear & Ignorance (two awesome combinations)

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Yet another reason why the people of Salem were acting hysterical was because of fear and ignorance. People believed that witches were being possessed by the devil. But people also came to believe that anyone acting strangely was practicing witchcraft. There are many reasons that can explain why

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The witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts were a rough time for the men and women living there. It was a chaotic time of actors, jealous people, paranoid women, fearful men, hysterics, and of course, "witches." One reason why it was madness was because people weren't just accusing people of witchcraft, they were hanging them! People were fearful for their lives and blind to what was happening around them. Everyone was looking to blame, so they would be out of the spotlight. Women and poor people were jealous and seeking power. Men were fearful for their lives, also. The trials provided a sense of entertainment, but when the governor's wife was accused, the people in charge decided the trials were over. This goes to show another reason why the hysteria was continued but no one came to their senses. The hangings of 1692 were a time of distress and madness, but why? What is a witch to you anyway?

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In 1692, 20 people were hanged in Salem. What was the cause for all this hysteria?

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When you think of a witch, you think women, but in these witch trials, witches were also men. According to Doc A, there were 7 men hanged along with 15 women. This was another factor of the panic because men couldn't go free, they had to worry about being accused too.

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Since women did not have many rights in those days, holding others accountable of witchcraft provided a sense of power. They also might have thought that if they blamed it on someone else, they momentarily take the focus off of themselves which is a good way for them to not be accused. This might have been a reason why men weren't as involved with the trials as the women.

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The hangings were held at monthly intervals for a couple different reasons.(Doc A). The first reason for waiting was it gave the accused a month to confess what they've done. Confessing showed that they were willing to change and they might have not been possessed by the devil. A second reason was that the people in the town could have more entertainment much like the gladiators of the Roman Empire.

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One way to infer this was that women were jealous of others' power, wealth, and marital status (Doc E). Because the people in the western half of Salem Village lost wealth and political power to their neighbors in the eastern half (Doc E), they might have become jealous of the others and wanted power for themselves.

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The women who were accusing others of heresy held a certain power over others because everyone believed what they were saying (Doc E). And according to Doc D, "They soon became intoxicated by the terrible success of their imposture (acting), and were swept along by the frenzy they had occasioned... nothing but the blindness of the bewildered community saved them from well-deserved punishment." During this time of madness, people were scared and looking to blame anyone. When someone was put in the spotlight, they became caught up in the moment and blind to anything around them. "There can be no doubt that they were great actors" (Doc D).

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Most of the people involved in the witch hysteria were women. Witches were normally women, so they were accused more often than men. But many single, young women also blamed others of witchcraft (Doc B).

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Most of the people accused were women as the ratio was 24 to 110. Also, these women were generally married. The town was very ignorant and they believed all the accusations as truth (Doc B). In my opinion I think that the women were more involved because since men had almost all the power, accusing witches gave the women power. Some believe that another reason for blaming others was jealousy.