Explain the ways that text reflects the Puritans culture and beliefs?
Explain the ways that text reflects the Puritans culture and beliefs? Use evidence from the text.
Introduction-Salem in 1692 was a community on edge. Conflict with Native Americans, smallpox, and increasingly harsh winters had taken their toll. A growing political and social divide strained relations between the farmers of Salem Village, and the more wealthy residents of Salem Town.
It all started in the home of Reverend Samuel Parris. His daughter Betty, age 9, and her cousin Abigail Williams, age 11, started showing strange behaviors. They would crawl under furniture, speak gibberish, and have strange fits. After several weeks, Revered Parris thought he found the cause..Reverend Parris discovered that his slave, Tituba, had been entertaining the girls and her friends with fortune tellings and stories of magic. From this, he and the village doctor concluded that witchcraft was the cause of their behavior. Soon, other girls began showing symptoms-Ann Putnam Jr., Elizabeth Hubbard, Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Mary Warren. The belief in witches and witchcraft was strong in Puritan New England. Cotton Mather, a highly influential minister in Boston, strongly believed Satan had come to Salem, and urged that the strongest punishments be used against the witches. Given the misfortunes of teh colony prior to 1692, it was easy for many to see witchcraft as a logical explanation.
The first girls accused three women-Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborn-of using witchcraft against them. Under interrogation, Tituba confessed, and claimed tha there were many other witches at work in Salem.
Tituba a female slave from Barbados, an island in the Carribean, owned by Revered Samuel Parris.
Sarah Good-A poor, homeless, woman. A beggar with a bad reputation for being socially unpleasant. Was said to often mutter 'curses' under her breath.
Sarah Osborn-A woman who went around current legal practices and took control of the family farm when her (second!) husband died. Her two sons had been named in their fathers will and the lawyer for them was Mr. Putnam, who was losing money because of her grab for the farm.
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