Witchcraft in Early Ages: Historical Review Essay

Introduction

The sources that have been provided here prove that people in earlier times believed in witches and black magic and were so blinded by their beliefs that they did not hesitate to take the lives of thousands of innocent women. They believed that women practiced witchcraft in order to hurt men and women and even the children by using their magical and supernatural powers. For this reason witch hunts and witch trials were carried out which were completely unfair since the women were never given the chance to prove themselves and the court almost always found them guilty due to which they were either burnt alive or hanged, as the pictures suggest. Sometimes even children who were females were not spared and were killed since their own family members suspected them, along with their mothers, to be witches and somehow in the courtrooms proved them guilty as charged. But the writings given here surely prove that there may have been certain unexplainable activities although they do not completely prove that witches were for real.

History

People during the early ages believed in witches and witchcraft more then they do now. And thus, based on this the events portrayed in these sources could be dated back from the 15^th to 17^th century, which has been unofficially called the classical era of witch hunts. The first source depicts a traditional witch trial which was official in those times and even legally sanctioned by the authorities. The officials blinded by the fear of the supernatural world seldom heard what the women had to say and were often found guilty of witchcraft. Women were more targeted than the men and even their family members did not listen to what they had to say. The second source is the excerpt written by a man examining a person suspected of witchcraft. He was also told that his family had died due to the actins of some external powers. He gives us a detailed description of the afflicted people before him. From the excerpt, it seems like they had been subjected to witchcraft or black magic since the suspected people had pins through their arms and lips. Also, sometimes the suspects threw fits of anger and became ill wresting their legs and arms and turning their heads to a great extent.

The third source is the examination of a woman named Sarah Good who has been accused of hurting children. She denies to having done so, but her examiner was not convinced. She even said that it could have been another person with the same name but this too did not convince her examiner. Even her husband thought that she was a witch as she used to mutter the commandments all the time. Sarah Good kept on repeating that she had not tormented any of the children but since she was unable to prove herself, the examiner did not believe her. The forth source shows the picture of two officials tying the noose around the neck of a poor woman who may have been found guilty of witchcraft or black magic. Although some of the other women are desperately trying to save her, the officials are pushing them away. Some of the men are actually cheering for the officials since they want the woman to be hanged. This whole story could be that of a single woman found guilty of being a witch during the 15^th or 16^th century when women had very little power and say of their own.

Women

As stated earlier these sources could be telling us the story of a poor woman found guilty of being a witch or practicing witchcraft. The first source portrays a witch trial where we can see a woman lying on the ground being beaten by some men, although they are in the court room in front of public officials. The apparent outcome of these sources is that people blinded by their belief that witchcraft existed would go to any lengths to punish the women they thought were guilty of being a witch. If required the women were even beaten up and made to accept that they were witches and that they inflicted pain upon others. Since they did not have the support of their family members, they were taken away from their children and either burned to death or hanged in front of the public who instead of opposing to such a gruesome crime actually wanted the sentence to be carried out. The women were almost always found guilty and as they had very little say in those days they were easily proved guilty and sometimes even framed in place of another person, as is evident from the third source. It is also apparent from these sources that the authorities in those times were completely ignorant and blinded by their fear of the unknown to such an extent that they did not hesitate to hang and burn innocent women simple because the authorities believed them to be witches.

The only meaning that can be drawn from all of these sources is that the people between the 15^th century and 17^th century completely believed in the existence of witches, the supernatural and black magic so much so that if required they would even force people to falsely testify against women accused of practicing witchcraft. These sources continue to tell us the story of a woman who was accused of being a witch and even sent to trial. She was examined and when found guilty was brutally murdered in front of an ignorant crowd who cheered instead of revolting against such a crime. The women, completely helpless could do nothing to save herself since no one believed her, not even her husband and the examiners were able to find numerous evidences proving her to be a witch. Finally, she was hanged while people laughed and cheered at her.

Conclusion

At those times when people believed in witched people blindly followed their religion and cultural aspects to the point that some of them were even dimmed by it. The two visual sources tell us about the position of women in those times which was very low. Since they were weaker, they were subjected to all kinds of brutality, in this case being wrongly accused and proved of practicing witchcraft and black magic. The visual sources prove the point that the woman pictured here may not have been a witch at all. In the first visual source she is being beaten by an official and in the second one the officials are getting ready to hang her. Although she desperately tries to prove herself to the examiners, she fails to do so and thus, finally the authorities prove her wrong and decide to hang her. Had the women been a witch then some kind of supernatural activities would have also been depicted in these visual sources, but that is not the case. This strongly proves that these women were wrongly accused of being witches and actually killed in front of the masses.

From these visual sources we can also deduce women almost had no power of their own in those times. They could not even stop the authorities from falsely accusing them of being witches and were thus, often dragged to their own death. The visual sources also tell us about the ignorance of the common people and the officials who were responsible for the law and order of society. Instead of falsely accusing the women out of their blind fear of the unknown, the officials should have tried to find the truth. But as they lacked the knowledge of science they were unable to do so. The women were brutally hanged as people and children watched the gruesome scene and celebrated. These visual sources also prove that law and order were not the same for both the sexes in those times, since the pictures do not depict any men being accused of practicing witchcraft and thus, being tried in the court. This shows that the men were spared of this brutality may by because they were considered to be more powerful than the women in the society of the 15^th or 17^th century. But the women being the weaker gender were unable to defend themselves and often found a noose around their neck.