Looking at the transcripts of the witch trial examinations, it might be fair to say they have somewhat predictable narrative arcs, a ritual pattern of unfolding. How would you describe that pattern? What are the variations of it? How would one break with it? Since Cotton Mather was neither stupid or ignorant, do these examinations, taken together with Wonders of the Invisible World, help to explain why he believed in witches?
5 thoughts on “Witches, Criminals and Deviance”
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The Salem Witch Trials are an unfortunate testament to the religious fervor that was present in this period of American History. Through an examination of the arguments made at the trials it becomes apparent that the so-called ‘witches’ never stood a chance to be deemed innocent. The narrative arc is repetitive in nearly every single one. Though the accused is given the chance to proclaim their innocence, the accusers word is always taken as the truth. Such is the case in the trial of Rebecca Nurse. Though she proclaims that she is, “Innocent & clear & have not been able to get out of doors these 8. or 9. dayes” (Nurse Trial) her word is taken as false. The irrationality of the evidence against her makes the situation all the more confusing as she was apparently seen with a ‘Black Man’ who is the source of her inclination towards witchcraft. This pattern of a seemingly valid defense being defeated through a testimony filled with irrational evidence is the status quo of the witch trials.
The one break from this general pattern is present in the trial of Tituba. Unlike the other women, Tituba does not proclaim her innocence from the matters at hand. She admits that she hurt the children who are accusing her and then helps mount evidence against the other convicted ‘witches’. Tituba claims knowledge of supernatural happenings and is willing to freely make testimony of her observations: “I will serve you no longer then he said he would hurt me and then he lookes like a man and threatens to hurt me shee said that this man had a yellow bird that keept with him and he told me he had more pretty things that he would give me if I would serve him” (Tituba Trial). Her testimony allows the other trials to seem valid in the eyes of a community that was already more than willing to admonish the actions of those who they believed to be servants of the devil.
These trials do not, in my opinion, explain Cotton Mather’s belief in witches. For one, I do not believe that Cotton Mather truly believed in witches – at least not in the sense that the rest of the people involved in the Salem Witch Trials did. Mather himself makes sure in “The Wonders of the Invisible World” that the reader knows that he was not a participant in the Witch Trials. He claims that he is reporting the matters at hand in the Witch Trials not as, “An advocate, but as an historian” (Norton 121). Why would a highly influential man in this inculcated community not take part in one of the most important matters in early colonial history? The only explanation that I can deduce is that he felt the idea of ‘witches’ was a credible answer to a secular challenge that the community faced. Though his own writings make it apparent that he believed in the supernatural, he does not seem to buy into the superstitious pattern that is present at the Witch Trials themselves. He never references the ‘black man’ who keeps appearing at the trials themselves and the fact that he did not include himself in the uproar that swept this New England community is telling towards what is perhaps his true beliefs. It seems to me that Mather, who had become concerned of the, “Rooting out of the Christian religion from this country,” was attempting to parlay his writings on witchcraft into a resurrection of the intense Christian ideology that was once the hallmark of places such as Salem, Massachusetts.
All of these transcripts display a common pattern of events. First the accused person will deny any sort of relation with the devil and will deny claims that they are hurting the afflicted. Then the afflicted people who are present at the examination will cry out and act as though they being tormented at the present moment. The accused person will then change their minds and not deny that witchcraft is involved, rather they are not the person tormenting the afflicted and they will blame other people for what is going on. a few of the people would deny they were involved in any way, while others would say that their apparition was causing harm to the afflicted. The accused persons might actually think that the afflicted people are being tormented by the devil, or they may just be playing along in order to try to save themselves.
Mather was an educated man which should have helped him see through the weak performances of the afflicted. there was no real proof that the accused people had actually tormented the afflicted. most of the evidence against the accused had to do with apparitions and ghosts which could not be seen. the devil came to these people and ghosts came to these people telling them that the accused were witches and were committing devilish acts. however there was no hard evidence present in the court besides a few bite marks and scratches which could easily be faked. however since religion and education were closely related in the puritan times, the stories made sense to Mather and as an enlightened man he must believe in god and support claims that provide proof of the existence of god and also the devil.
It is quite amazing that Cotton Mather, touted as a brilliant Harvard graduate, Pastor of the Second Church of Boston, and philanthropic citizen could be so blinded by his concerns of the secular world threatening his ideal Puritan theology. He fully embraced as truth that there was a “horrible plot against the country by witchcraft” with “an army of devils” tormenting the good people with “invisible hands” (Norton 329). Over and over again, reports of being “afflicted,” “seized,” “vexed,” and “hurt” were given as evidence against the supposed witches such as Martha Carrier who was reportedly working with Satan (Norton 329). In Mather’s “invisible world,” natural disasters, illnesses, and misfortune were attributed to witchcraft. Find a dead cow and of course then witches were to blame. In the case of Carrier, she could somehow inflict pain, cause swelling and sores, and torment people by just looking at them. The accuser could feign these “afflictions;” there was no solid evidence. Carrier’s supernatural powers were so strong that her apparition could strike down an individual such as Allin Toothaker (Norton 331). In the witch trial examinations, it appeared that hysteria occurred in the community through word of mouth and then at the trial, through constant badgering and twisting of the accused words, confessions were elicited. These confessions gave some kind of credibility to the hysteria. This narrative arc unfolded and repeated itself as others jumped on the bandwagon, whether due to peer pressure or for a sense of inclusion, citing similar fanciful evidence from more dead cows, to “afflictions,” and all common sense was swept away. Unfortunately for the accused witches that lost there lives the Age of “Enlightment” and scientific reason did not come soon enough.
In examining Mather’s response (or lack thereof), to the trials, multiple people have pointed out his high level of education as a factor that should have steered him away from complacency and acceptance, and this warrants examination. Harvard was a respected institution in Mather’s time, as well as now, but it must be remembered that religion was an integral part of higher education in a way that is almost unimaginable to us now, save for except in schools of divinity. In the case of Harvard, the type religion that was inseparable from the rest of the curriculum was puritanism, and Mather was one of many to attend the school as a stepping-stone towards a position in the clergy. Thus it does not seem that his education alone should have prompted an objection to the premise of the trials.
However, Mather makes some introductory remarks to his account of the trial of Martha Carrier that perhaps speak to his doubt, not of the religious basis of the trials, but of the validity of their specific accusations. He states, “For my own part, I was not present at any of them; nor ever had I any personal prejudice at the persons thus brought upon the stage…But having received a command so to do, I can do no other than shortly relate the chief matters of fact” (Norton 330). One would think that someone filled with religious zeal and conviction that the proceedings of the trials were valid would not need to qualify his account in such a blatant and self excusatory manner. Yet at the time Mather apparently did not object to the trials in any significant way. Perhaps during class we will learn if his lack of objection was just part of the mob mentality surrounding the events, due to personal religious beliefs, a combination of the two, or something altogether different.
The pattern is one that is expected from the witch trials and ones that we have heard about growing up in the past. As we talked about in previous classes, these people have no problems believing that Satan is present in everyone and that witchcraft not only exists but can be present in anyone in the community. As Mather says in his “Wonders of the Invisible World”, “We know not, at least I know not, how far the delusions of Satan may be interwoven into some circumstances of the confession.”
As discussed in previous classes, where children were to be born with Satan and openly and vehemently deny and torture their parents at any possible point, Satan continues to dominate their lives and but put suppressed.
I found Abbot’s description in the trial of Martha Currier to fit the narrative arc perfectly of the witch trials I have heard about in the past. Carrier was angry with him for whatever reason and was told by Carrier that he would make him suffer. As a result, he was then struck with swelling and pain and sores all of which led to him thinking and believing in the existence of witches and that he himself had been afflicted.
Even as an extremely well educated man, I do not see it difficult to see why the belief in witches was prevalent around this time. With disease and sickness so widespread in the colonies, any sickness was looked to have a reason for hatching and as these people were contracting new illnesses never seen before, the supernatural was looked to as an explanation for the obscurities of these injuries.