Salem Witch Hysteria -- My Final Thoughts

 Salem Witch Hysteria -- My Final Thoughts

To be frank, the Salem Witch Hysteria (SWH) is disturbing, but not surprising. My thoughts on this are many, but quite scattered, so I've divided them into lengthy bullet points for the sake of organization. 

LAW

• I had the opportunity to work in a criminal defense legal firm this summer. I learned much from this experience, chief among them being that having your fate in the hands of a "jury of your peers" is not as enticing as you'd think. Often, the people you would like to have on the jury are struck from it, leaving you with people who are more likely than not going to be much harder to convince. However, with that said, at least there is a jury, unlike in Salem. The accused there were at a severe disadvantage, the conception of "justice" in that time period being so far from the grain than it is now. For one, it seemed courtroom antics were rather unregulated. On multiple occasions, we looked at trials of the accused in which their supposed victims became overly afflicted or had sudden clarity. In today's time, jurisprudence is highly procedural, the concept of "order" pervasive. For another, the mere existence of spectral evidence is something I found extremely hard to square away. It is quite literally the sole testimony of an individual recounting experiences (dreams, visions, apparitions, etc.) with the accused's spirit or animus. This testimony was then taken as fact by the court. It is so amazing to me that this kind of evidence was seen as legitimate---there is absolutely no fairness or equality involved and it essentially allows anyone at anytime to be "legitimately" accused of a crime. It is the bedrock of anarchy. If everyone in Salem was play-acting as the Gestapo, no wonder there was a hysteria. 

RELIGION

• It is my personal belief that religion, specifically the Puritan Calvinism practiced by the Salem citizenry, is the root cause of the SWH. Not that it directly caused the hysteria, but that it set the stage beautifully, a "perfect storm" as someone called it in class. There are some opinions I hold which I believe support this. First, puritanism strictly defined predestination as there being a set of God's chosen people and the rest being forsaken by Him, with no way to climb the ladder. This caused extreme spiritual anxiety and potentially resulted in sudden accusations of witchcraft. There was no way to be sure of your own salvation, which made it much easier to claim your neighbor was conspiring with the devil. Your odds of being "chosen" were now improved (it's just a simple numbers game) and you established yourself as someone who could "see" the devil in others. Second, I agree with Dr. Williams's view that the first to accuse, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, did so out of fear. Puritanism is a religion with a binary worldview---everything that happens either glorifies God or it must be demonic. Think about the factors: an isolated village, strict piety and even stricter punishment, sermons detailing a vicious war between God and Satan. Everyone holding their breath for misfortune. It would be an incredibly hard place to live, especially children introduced to such an unforgiving society at a young age. If I believed as a young child that I may already be damned and nothing I did could change it, I would terrified too. Third, puritanism allowed those in power like William Stoughton to assume holy judgment. They themselves became the judge of what was "demonic" and constituted witchcraft. Essentially, they themselves decided who did or did not violate the law of God. Obviously, this was problematic, more so with the inclusion of spectral evidence. The concept of justice in this time became so twisted that admitting you were a witch, a sinner, and a sympathizer with the devil spared you, while refusing to debase yourself, your honor, and your integrity became grounds for death. Apparently, only a true witch would lie about their innocence rather than acquiesce to false accusations. 

OTHER THOUGHTS

• The majority of those executed during the SWH were women, and I don't think that's any accident. Unfortunately, humanity has a history of violence against women. Puritanism preaches obedience and subservience to women, so the idea of a woman taking more control of her life, speaking out against injustices, holding land, or generally making decisions often reserved for men in those societies meant that those women became targets for accusers. 
• This was a time period in judicial history where instead of being innocent until proven guilty, you were guilty until proven innocent. This also stems from the idea of predestination. Since no one could truly know if they were "chosen," everyone was assumed to be forsaken. 
• Hysteria is defined as behavior including overwhelming and unmanageable fear or other emotional excess. Salem is an example of what happens when a religiously-motivated fear of the unknown leads to an emotional excess of distrust. The power games played by some accusers hinged on the idea that their conception of truth was more acceptable than others. When truth becomes a battleground, I think that is when you know hysteria has had an effect.