U.S. History: Salem Witch Trials - Reading Comprehension Analysis

This assignment provides a detailed analysis of the Salem Witch Trials, addressing key questions from the provided reading comprehension. The first question explores the origins of the hysteria in Salem Village, focusing on the initial accusations and the individuals affected by the events, including the role of young girls and the community's response. The second question examines the advantages and disadvantages of pleading guilty to witchcraft, considering the social and legal implications for the accused. The third question delves into the critical perspectives of historians like Boyer and Nissenbaum, examining their studies on the trials and the impact of their findings on understanding the social dynamics and gender disparities within the Salem Witch Trials. The assignment references key historical sources to support the analysis.

Running head: U.S. HISTORY
U.S. History
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1U.S. HISTORY
Question One
The first question in this scenario deals with the hysteria that was created in the Salem
village. One of the little girls in the village saw an ominous thing in the glass like a specter that
looked like a coffin (Davidson and Lytle 1992). This image signified that something bad as
surely going to happen. Betty, the youngest girl in the scene had begun to say that she was
feeling different sensations like knifelike pains, prickling, getting choked and some others. This
created the hysteria among people in on the Salem village. This carried the message that
something bad was surely going to happen very soon. This was completely a correct assumption
since three more girls had become victims of this kind of feelings (Davidson and Lytle 1992).
These little girls were involved in this incident and Reverend Parris found out through his
experience that it was an effect of bewitchment. Many doctors and ministers from Church had
been brought in so actual reasons for this kind of strange behavior could be understood (Upham
2017). A neighbor of the girl Mary Sibley accused that she became a victim of sorcery and she
suggested implementing New England folklore to find it out. The symptoms of the girl went
from bad to worse since she became afraid.
Question Two
There are some positive and negative points of pleading guilty to witchcraft. Salem
Village in 1692 was such a microcosmic one that almost everyone was aware of this. People who
were accused of witchcraft could not escape from Salem village since much courage and
influence was needed to escape (Upham 2017). In some cases some girls made this accusation on
their mothers and this became a huge problem in that village. Those women getting accused of
witchcraft had to go through tremendous amount torment. However, this meant that accusing

2U.S. HISTORY
someone to hide their own guilt would be punished in later times. One good thing of pleading to
bewitchment was the issue that a woman was not allowed to be executed as per law when she
was accused. This act was called ‘reprieve for the baby’. It signified that mother deserved to be
executed to death yet the baby was not (Levack 2015). Another con of this practice was people
who pleaded for innocence had to be present in courts without any lawyers to defend them. They
were not allowed any witnesses who could speak on behalf of the. They were hanged if they
could not give satisfactory answers to questions though those questions were completely
unanswerable.
Question Three
Critics like Boyer and Nissenbaum had criticized this issue of trials in court for women
who pleaded for innocence in the courts. It has been observed by historians that most of accused
people in the Salem village were females. A total of 178 people had been accused and convicted
of witchcraft in that village (Mixon Jr 2015). It had also been found that men who were accused
of witchcraft were mainly husbands or sons of those accused female. In the trial, 53% of females
had been convicted and around 29% of men were convicted. In the trial sessions, women were
harassed and they were almost forced to confess their guilt in front of ministers and magistrates.
Ministers and magistrates believed that women were witches without a shadow of a doubt. Most
of them believed that those women had a connection with Satan. The historians have always
believed that there are sure connections between witchcraft and social geography. Therefore,
none of ministers believed that men have any kind of direct connection with witchcraft. Women
did not have a strong social power in this context since inheritance patterns in society were male
dominated.

3U.S. HISTORY
Reference List
Davidson, W. and Lytle, M.H., 1992. The Visible and Invisible Worlds of Salem. inAfter the
Fact: The.
Levack, B.P., 2015. The witchcraft sourcebook. Routledge.
Mixon Jr, F.G., 2015. Public choice economics and the Salem witchcraft hysteria. Springer.
Upham, C.W., 2017. Salem Witchcraft Volume I & II. Lulu. com.