“In their frenzy of gratified, murderous vengefulness they had come to think themselves mightier than the mightiest. They were quickly proved wrong. None of these powerful people was arrested, and a huge backlash ended the witch-hunt.”
That was the final straw. Governor Phipps wrote a letter to the governing body in London stating that there would be no more imprisonment for witchcraft. The General Court of Massachusetts met to decide what was to be done about how to proceed and on October 29 the court of Oyer and Terminer was dismissed. In May it was ordered that all those that remained in jail, by accusation of witchcraft, were to be set free upon payment of jail fees. (Kallen 80)
Before we can understand some of the interpretations of what transpired in 1692, we must first take a look at Puritanism and their society. Puritans had strict codes. A sailor who had returned after three years at sea was seen kissing his wife in public, on Sabbath, and was sentenced to two hours in the stocks for “lewd and unseemly behavior.” Church services were conducted in a plain wooden meeting house devoid of any decoration or heat. In the household, after breakfast was eaten, the women and daughters started on many chores that would take up their whole day. After dinner the family would read from the bible, and then head to bed. (Kallen 18)
Women were ruled by their husbands or father. There were no games for the children, few toys or dolls. The only books in households were of religious theme. Most girls did not know how to read, because of few schools, and had nothing at all to fill their imaginations. The lives of children were filled with anxiety and fear. (Kallen 19) Adults, as well as children, had to repress their feelings of joy, anger, rebellion, etc. In short, everything wrong and bad, in their eyes, was thought of as the devil’s work, and thus, widely believed that God allowed Satan to temp and torment those who strayed.
There are several interpretations of what might have transpired. Twentieth Century Freudian interpretation says that the girl’s fits were caused by hysteria (defined as wild, uncontrollable emotion by the American Century Dictionary) which was the result of “repressed adolescent and preadolescent sexuality.” (Aaron 53) It’s easy enough to believe the girls were repressed; it was after all a Puritan society. A culture of ignorance and hypocrisy, where women were ruled by men and suppressed, more so when young and single. They were a society that looked at birth defects as a mark of the devil.
In the 1970s, social historians started looking at the social and economic background. It was a time of extreme stress and instability in the community. Epidemic illness and Indian wars had been devastating. The king had revoked their charter, and left them without government, leaving everything unsettled. And a traditional farming community was under threat from the more influential merchant class. (Aaron 53) With all this bad luck befalling them, it was no wonder they blamed Satan.
Still another view by two social historians, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, states their idea of a family feud between the Putnam’s and Porters. Joseph Putnam, a son by a second marriage, was left the wealth of his father over his older brothers. And to make tensions worse, he married the daughter of the only family who rivaled the wealth of the Putnam’s, an Elizabeth Porter. This only made his older half brothers jealousies grow. To the Putnam’s, the Porters (and Joseph Putnam via marriage to Miss Porter) were the evil of Salem. They were divided on every subject. The Putnam’s belonged to the church of Parris and the Porter’s wanted his removal. The Putnam’s named appeared over and over as accusers and the Porter’s as the accused. Anne Putnam, 12-year-old daughter of Thomas Putnam, oldest brother of Joseph Putnam, was by far the most active of the afflicted girls. (Aaron 55)
The final idea, and probably most widely accepted, is that the girls were lying. There are some noted instances that could be construed as fear at first, causing a type of “hysteria,” but it seems to be turned into something else.
Betty Parris seems to be slowly afflicted with strange behavior. She is found in trance like states, hands poised at needlework, but unmoving. She begins to visibly sicken, forget chores and errands, and has a very real inability to concentrate. During dinner prayers her father casts a sidelong glance, and finds his daughter in a deathlike stare. (Devil 39) This can all be explained away by fear of Tituba’s stories of witchcraft and/or by the fear of being caught by her father of having listened to these stories. She is conflicted with wanting to hear the stories, but knowing it is against everything Puritan. And being a generally good Puritan child, she is so stressed to the point of making her sick.
Abigail on the other hand was a bored child looking for some excitement. She reviled in her uncles sermons that mentioned the devil. Grasping onto the agitation Betty was causing her parents by her strange behavior, Abigail began acting out. She started being even more absent minded the she already was. She would get down on all fours and romp around the house barking like a dog. (Devil 40) She would even scream sometimes as if suffering the torment of something unknown. To her, this was the time of her life. I can only guess that she threatened Betty by telling her she would tell her father that they had been listening to Tituba’s stories, which would have them in immense trouble. Having seen what Samuel Parris could do to renounce the evils, I’m sure this is not something Betty wanted to experience. So after a fashion, Betty must have given into her cousin, and found what a fun time they were having.
But then things turned serious, they wanted to know who was afflicting them. When Abigail yelled out “Tituba!” it is very likely she was getting back at the slave who would punish her by pinching or slapping her, while cuddling Betty. (Visonary 6) Thus began the chain of events.
To further refute the claims of hysteria we can look at some of the symptoms of the afflicted girls. Convulsive fits: how easily children through fits today when they don’t get what they want, writhing on the ground, throwing themselves at it and whaling. This is nothing new. The children got results when doing this, so why not continue with it. Next we have temporary loss of hearing, speech, site, memory and appetite and hallucinations. (Hansen 1) While appetite might be explained away by fear of being caught, the rest are all things that children are very good with playing at. As Puritan children having no outlet for their energies, playing pretend is, most likely, more dramatic to the watcher. Parents of this time and area are not use to seeing their children misbehave so badly on purpose, so it must be the devils doing to them. And who wouldn’t want to have a way to get out of doing chores? Act afflicted, be told that the devil has taken hold, and there you go, you can get out of doing your chores without getting into trouble. Compile on to all of this the fact that the afflicted were mostly 18 or under and you see the repression of adolescent behavior making itself know. To repress something so natural, is to have it come out ten-fold.
The children found a way to have a little fun in their dull life, and once they knew it went too far, couldn’t stop. Those who joined in did so out of fear of being suspected of witchcraft themselves, not of true affliction. And perhaps once things had gone too far, and some of the girls realized it, they too became sick from the stress of what they were doing, sending innocent people to their death, all for a bit of fun.
Word count total: 1,760
Works Cited is excluded from my word count total.
Works Cited
Aaron, Paul. Unsolved Mysteries of American History: An Eye-Opening Journey Through 500 Years of Discoveries, Disappearances, and Baffling Events. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997.
Hansen, Chadwick. Witchcraft at Salem. New York: George Braziller, 1969.
Urdang, Laurence, ed. The American Century Dictionary. New York: Warner Books, 1996.
Starkey, Marion. The Devil in Massachusetts: A Modern Enquiry into the Salem Witch Trials. New York: Anchor Books, 1949.
Wilson, Lori Lee. How History is Invented: The Salem Witch Trials. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 1997.
Starkey, Marion. The Visionary Girls: Witchcraft in Salem Village. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973.
Kallen, Stuart A. The Salem Witch Trials. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1999.
Rice Jr., Earl. The Salem Witch Trials. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1997.
