Tag: Witchcraft
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Dorcus Hoar: The Stereotypical New England Witch
John Demos’s portrait of a witch offers scholars a series of characteristics which witches were understood to have. Marnie Camping-Harris demonstrates how Dorcas Hoar, accused in the Salem Witch Trials, fits these stereotypes.
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A Review of Carol Karlsen’s The Devil in the Shape of a Woman
In this review, Marnie Camping-Harris discusses how men of Puritan New England targeted women by using witchcraft trials. Threats to gender expectations and societal norms would see accusations of witchcraft surface and lead to trial.
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Innocence Betrayed, Condemnation’s Blade
This man, once healed by Sarah’s hand, now accused her, taking a stand. “Her potions cured what prayers could not.” His voice shook, a fearful plot. In this fiction piece, Ambrose Brown explores themes of injustice and superstition in Salem’s history.
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Misogyny: The Driving Force of the Great European Witch-Hunts from the Fifteenth to Seventeenth Centuries
Written by Sophia Aiello. The Witch Trials of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries have been well studied, but what role did misogyny have in this crisis, and how did the stereotype of the ‘witch’ develop?
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Witches by Weather: The Impact of Climate in Early Modern Witch Trials
Written by Melissa Kane. Dramatic changes in climate have for a long time demanded an explanation. Melissa Kane explores how the European Witch Trials became tied to the storms and cold of the ‘Little Ice Age’, as yet more proof of malicious deviancy.
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Precursors to Salem Part Two: The Goodwin Possessions
Written by Melissa Kane. This three part series explores some of the precursors to the infamous Salem Witch Trials. Part Two recounts the Goodwin Possessions of 1688.
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Dark magic and Witchcraft – a reasonable fear? The Rationale behind Witchcraft Belief in Early Modern Europe
Written by Nikita Nandanwad. Witchcraft trials have traditionally been viewed as campaigns of irrational religious belief. Yet, recent scholarship has demonstrated the complexity behind witchcraft trials and the ways they were informed by conceptions of gender.