The Role Of Superstition In The Elizabethan Era

What caused the Salem Witch Trial hysteria of 1692? The three reasons that caused this were revenge, jealousy, and feeling empowered. Between June 10 and September 22, 1692, 20 people got put to death in Salem for witchcraft.

There were two sorts of witches in Elizabethan times: Black witches and White witches. Dark-skinned witches were seen as the Devil 's admirers who conducted in magic with a specific end goal to cause pain. White witches, thought to be "Healers" by individuals from their town, were seen as precious individuals as the group, who used magic to help, for the most part by curing

Now superstitions have affected people's lives for ages. Superstitions really shine in the story of Huckleberry Finn. Chapter one already gives you a good glimpse of superstitions. For example, Huckleberry Finn flicked a spider off of his arm and it went straight into a candle's flame. This is apparently bad luck and he did various good luck charms to ward off the bad luck. From this amount of information you can tell superstitious affects a lot of peoples lives.

In the spring of 1692, Salem Massachusetts, the famous Salem Witch Trials begins after a group of girls claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused a group of women of witchcraft and using the so called “devil’s magic.” As the hysteria spread through the small colonies in Massachusetts a panic began to form as the innocent puritan lifestyle was threatened. In the end, 18 were sent to Salem’s Gallow Hill, and over 200 convicted of witchcraft, the known tradition of the Salem Witch Trials would undergo for years. The Salem Witch Trials grabbed American History by the neck and is not one of our most prideful moments.

Many people do not realize how fortunate they are to have the medical advances and medical technology we easily have the right to use. People from many years ago did not have specialized doctors and medicine to cure their diseases that we easily have access to today. (Ramsey) Many civilizations used what they thought to be alleviating processes, but medical experts today know now were pointless and dangerous. Among these people were the Elizabethans. (Chamberline) The Elizabethan Era was a time of accusations. People believed certain procedures were curing people when in fact they were killing them. (Ramsey) They also blamed mysterious acts they could not explain on innocent people, creating a handful of superstitions we know and use today. Unexplainable events and hazardous medical customs sparked the era of the Elizabethan Age. (Elizabethan Superstitions)

During the hysteria of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, many people were accused of practicing witchcraft. Therefore, their reputation, was ruined. Other people committed many sins in order to keep their reputation clean in town. For instance, some characters had to lie, fight, and accuse other people of witchcraft which could get the individual out of trouble and keep their hands clean. when a person got accused of being a witch, the person’s reputation would get ruined and the person would go to jail or be hanged. John Proctor, Deputy Governor Danforth, and Abigail Williams were worried about their reputation in town, and they were willing to commit many sins and harm others to prevent this from happening.

The years of 1692 and 1693 were a terrible time in Salem Massachusetts. The presence of the devil was in Salem. People living there were practicing witchcraft. Young women were barking like dogs and acting strangely. All this behavior would lead to what became known as the Salem witch trials.The Salem witch trials took place because of people practicing witchcraft and they were not witches.This resulted in the imprisonment /execution of more than 200 people.

Illnesses were affected, daily life was shaped, and modern beliefs in the form of folk tales were results of superstitions. Mental and physical illnesses were affected by superstitions, for example astrology was used to diagnose patients. The life of common citizens were also affected, because people relied on magic for protection and believed in the supernatural. Folk magic and modern beliefs were also affected because beliefs of witches and evil spirits made people believe in superstitions more than the church. Overall, superstitions heavily impacted the Elizabethan era, and expanded all over the world. The folk tales and beliefs told from years ago still exist today, and have impacted many ways of

During the early 14th century, something odd happened in Europe and colonial New England. People started believing in the supernatural. Specifically, the devil giving “witches” the power to hurt and harm others as long as they remained loyal to him. Early 1692, young girls started having fits. These fits consisted of violent contortions and uncontrollable outbursts of screaming. A nearby doctor diagnosed the fits as bewitchment. The first girls to have these fits were a nine year old Elizabeth Parris and an eleven year old Abigail Williams. These fits started here and spread throughout the community. People began accusing others of being witches. The purpose of the trials were

Around 1563. Commonly people associated witches with a woman and the beliefs were the following of that they have made a pact with the evil spirit Satan. The rush of the witch persecutions mainly happened after 1563 and by the time period of 1750 roughly 200,000 witches were tortured, burnt, or hung across the whole of Western Europe. Therefore, in this essay, I will be mainly focusing and arguing which of the hysteria surrounding witchcraft and witchcraft trials had a greater impact in Britain or the American colonies in the time period of the 17th century. And I will be arguing it following different factors which could contribute to this such as the social factors geographical factors, religious factors and also control law and order.

In today’s society witches are usually linked with Halloween. Kids envision witches flying across a moonlit sky on broomsticks and having slinky black cats as pets. Evil cackling, pointy hats, bubbling cauldrons, and ugly physical appearances spring to mind. All of this is in good fun and people open their doors and give little witches candy and smiles. There is no fear. However, in 1692, the idea of witchcraft sparked a crisis of community fear when hysteria and fear of witches broke out in 1692 in colonial Salem, Massachusetts. When Puritans first settled into Massachusetts, their goal was to create a perfect religious society that worshipped as purely as possible. Neighbors looked to each other for evidence of a pure soul and conformity

In the summer 1692 the town of Salem, Massachusetts spiraled into a witchcraft epidemic, 19 people were hanged and 1 person was pressed to death. People started to get marks and rashes on their body and when a doctor couldn 't even explain it they started accusing people of witchcraft. Bridget Bishop was the first victim of hanging during the epidemic. Then after that it went downhill. People started to take advantage of witchcraft, and accuse people they wanted gone, and it worked they could get away with it with no punishments. The main cause of witchcraft is people taking advantage of it for their own purposes.

In the first few chapters of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain, he presents Hank Morgan, who gets hit in the head with a crowbar during a quarrel. He, then, awakens in King Arthur's Court in the sixth century. Getting others to believe he is a magician like the other magician Merlin, he takes the title “The Boss.” He also becomes the right-hand man of King Arthur, all when he was originally going to be burned at the stake. While Hank Morgan works out of foolishness, modernization, and supernaturalism, the theme of the story is battling with superstitions. Firstly, at the beginning of the story, Hank Morgan comes up with an idea of fooling the people that he's a magician. He makes this decision when he first heard about

Also, the last cause of the Salem Witch Trial was the lack of knowledge of the people. People was just accusing other people of witchcraft, but the accusers did not have an idea of what was going on in the town. For example in Document A says “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” but the people really did not know who was a witch and who was not a witch. This is lack of knowledge because that was not coming for the Bible or something it was just a version of King James, Puritans let other influence their beliefs and did not give a good knowledge about witchcraft. Other example is in Document B when it talks about all the things that happened and that all of that according to the Puritans was “Witchery” that was lack of knowledge because people really did not know what was happening. People was just finding a reason for their bad luck. Because the people did not find a good reason, their beliefs came out and people started thinking about the witchcraft in Salem.

In today’s society, the idea of witches have generally become a common topic. When Halloween arrives, we see people dressed up to mimic witches in fun spirit. However, during the Salem Witch Trials, witches were considered evil and against God, which caused fear to strike out amongst the people who religiously followed the Bible and believed in God. Thus, the accusations of citizens being involved with witchcraft struck out, and the persecutions began. When the topic of the Salem Witch Trials is mentioned, we think about how creepy it was and how the people were killed. However, author of the Newsweek article titled “The Lesson of Salem,” Laura Shafiro states, “[The] witch trials represent more than just a creepy moment in history; they stand for the terrible victory of prejudice over reason, and fear over courage”. On most occasions, people tend to forget the actual significance of the witch trials. In The Crucible, a