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The Puritan Beliefs Of Witchcraft In Salem, Massachusetts In 1692

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“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). Another theory was that she challenged Puritan values which automatically associated her with the “obscene” which could only lead to one explanation: witchcraft. Puritans and their view on witchcraft has a striking parallel throughout the Salem Witch Trials that can be charted throughout the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Puritan’s were a group of Protestant dissenters that criticized and abandoned the Anglican Church who believed the Church of England was corrupt and needed more “purifying” to rid them of that corruption. They didn’t wish to separate from the Church like most other denominations, …show more content…

The witchcraft hysteria was exacerbated because of the Puritan religion and the crippling fear of the Devil and his unpredictable tendencies. The Puritans liked security, God provided that and the Devil did not so that meant no one was safe from the deception of the Devil. The whole idea of the Salem Witch Trials was an act for attention from the young group of girls from Salem Village and the entire town that was infected with the fear of the witchcraft hysteria. The Puritans and their belief in witchcraft left a mark on the Massachusetts Bay Colony that has been felt in Massachusetts for centuries after all the hangings and will never be

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