Witchcraft and Piritan Salem Essay - 723 Words

In New England Puritan ideas of gender dictated acts of gender for women in terms of behavior, demeanor, and speech at home and church, in public and private. Gender roles were clearly defined and categorized women as the weaker, vulnerable sex; physically, emotionally, spiritually and morally, subordinate to men in every instance and venue. Men were the heads of the household and of the church. They ruled what were deemed the important aspects of life. Womens role in society was that of domestic; they owned no property, made no significant wage and were entirely dependent on men for their subsistence. While the primary tenants underlying the American Puritan doctrine of the 17th century stated that women were no more susceptible to†¦show more content†¦Looking at individual cases where women inherited property without having any male heirs to pass it on to, Karlesen makes a case of the convenience of witchcraft accusations to stop the uncharacteristic transfer. What s he calls the orderly transmission of property from one generation of males to another was something that the Puritan society valued and worked hard to preserve. According to Karlsen, naming, trying and convicting witches was one way to ensure that the time honored tradition continued. In the article by Kamensky, once again the role of the woman in Puritan society is put under scrutiny, this time not for disrupting the order of land transfer, but for the patterns of speech, which by virtue of being spoken by a female could indicate a demonic presence. The tone, content, order and style of speech was important in determining a witch from a devout follower of God. Certain verbal traits were ascribed to Satans followers. Kamensky gives examples of women who spoke as if they knew too much about the Bible. The gender biases of the time led people to assume that they had to be witches since only men could have attained that level of verbal prowess. This meant that women could never defy the all male authority of the church. Another common indicator of witchcraft was speaking out against authority. To defend ones self against the charges of consorting with the devil was seen as a challenge; men were allowed to speak aggressively, women