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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
5 pages in length. The writer provides a personal interpretation of Marion L. Starkey's "Devil In Massachusetts." No bibliography.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: LM1_TLCDvilM.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
the eight months that followed, hundreds more were accused of the same crime; those who were convicted faced death by hanging, torture or languishing in prison. In all, nineteen
people lost their lives. Indeed, the basis behind such accusations had no bearing on what was actually the truth; rather, the townspeople were easily lead astray by the crippling
fear that accompanied thoughts of independent women. Perhaps it was because the accusations originally began on account of the female gender that a fear of control gripped the townspeople, for
it was a group of teenage girls who were having what appeared to be seizure-like attacks that initially started the witch hunt. After they thrashed about with uncontrollable verbal
and physical exclamation, the youths were seemingly coerced to place the blame for their behavior upon someone or something; in a panic, they pointed a finger at a group of
local residents whom they claimed were witches and wizards. With that, the law was out in force rounding up the so-called devil disciples. Those who figured most prominently
in the picture were displaced, middle-aged women, which, as one can readily surmise from Starkeys account, gives significant support to the theory that the Puritans did, in fact, fear female
independence. Even now -- over three hundred years later -- historians still search for the truth behind the witchcraft accusations in colonial New England.
There were a number of reasons why Salem became the historical foundation of witch hunts - social strife, widespread ecnomic upheaval, Puritanism and inadequate food supply - but
none were so powerful as the threat of female independence had at that time. History does not merely suggest how witch hunts existed as a strong inclination toward the
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