Author
Afflicted New England:
Transitioning toward Legal
Prescriptions in the 1692 Salem
Witch Trials
Jacqueline A. Schlegel
English
Jacqueline Schlegel had an
upper-division class with
Professor Lewis and discovered that they had many interests in common. Together,
they created a project that
catered to Jacqueline’s love
for the literature and culture
of New England, where she
lived until the age of 18. She
feels that the resulting research
allowed her to bring a little bit
of New England to California.
Ultimately, Jacqueline hopes to
pursue a career in teaching,
either at the high school or
college level.
Abstract
I
n 1692 Puritan New England experienced one of the most notorious events in early
American history—the Salem witch trials. The trials that began in Salem Village
hanged nineteen victims, pressed one man to death and imprisoned many more. The
problem is that historians tend to evaluate the trials in terms of the literature that
came after, which constructs the Puritans as hysterical and the trials as propelled by
social grudges. In contrast to what we may call the post-extraordinary perspective,
my research looks at the pre-extraordinary, specifically the Puritan movement toward
a secular society and its shift toward a court system. In a Puritan worldview God
was the ultimate judge, which is seen in Michael Wigglesworth’s 1662 poem The Day
of Doom. This is in contrast to post-extraordinary literature, such as Arthur Miller’s
The Crucible, which emphasizes the role of human judges. When the accusations
of witchcraft persisted, and religion proved insufficient to settle these accusations,
Salem turned to trials and eventually execution as a kind of counter attack to prevent
the spreading of sin. However, the intention to stop the spreading of sin led to its
perpetuation. By executing the accused, Salem committed a sin—murder.
Faculty Mentor
K e y Te r m s

Pre- and PostExtraordinary

Puritans

Salem Village and Salem
Town

Salem Witch Trials

Secular Court System

Sin
The Salem witch trials of 1692 are one of the most mythologized,
and least understood, events in American history. Bringing the
tools of historical research and literary analysis to bear on the trials,
Jacqueline Schlegel peels away the myths and misconceptions. Her
legal and theological perspective eschews scandal and sensation
while also offering an important corrective to primarily sociological
interpretations of the trials. Attuned to historical irony and written with clarity and assurance, the paper develops a complex and
original argument steeped in careful, independent research. Throughout the course
of her project the author was able to complicate her argument and hone her topic.
The responses of peers and faculty made the paper the best that it could be, demonstrating its author’s ability to contribute meaningfully to a larger scholarly dialogue.
Jayne Elizabeth Lewis
School of Humanities
T H E U C I U N D E RG R A D UAT E R E S E A RC H J O U R N A L
33
AFFLICTED NEW ENGLAND
I n t ro d u c t i o n
In 1692 Puritan New England experienced one of the most
notorious events in early American history—the Salem
witch trials. The trials hanged nineteen victims, pressed one
man to death and imprisoned many more. Today, we tend
to evaluate the trials in terms of the literature that came
after. Post-trial literature constructs the trials as propelled
by social grudges. However, social and psychological factors
are not solely responsible for the believed “mass-hysteria”
that erupted. To counter post-trial misreadings of the trials
as emotional mass-hysteria, this paper reads the trials in the
context of the contemporaneous transition from God’s
law to secular law in Puritan society. The timeline used to
address this transition is divided into three major periods:
the time leading up to the trials, which I coin as the pre-extraordinary, the extraordinary moments of the trials, and the
time after the trials, which I call the post-extraordinary. This
transition from the pre-extraordinary world, which is linked
to God’s law, to the post-extraordinary, which is linked to
the law of man, was controlled and developed with the
goal of creating a community free of sin and depravities.
The extraordinary moment of the trials is actually what
ushers in the shift from God’s law to secular law. However,
the ultimate intention of wanting to cleanse communities
of sin actually led to its perpetuation. When Puritan New
England communities executed the accused, they committed a sin—murder.
T h e P ro b l e m s w i t h Po s t - E x t r a o rd i n a r y
L i te r a t u r e
Scandal, Hysteria and “The Crucible”
The Crucible (1953) by Arthur Miller opens with “A Note
on the Historical Accuracy of this Play.” Miller states, “I
believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature
of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human
history. The fate of each character is exactly that of his historical model, and there is no one in the drama who did not
play a similar—and in some cases exactly the same—role
in history” (Miller 2). Miller claims not to be attempting to
rewrite history; however, in a way, he is. Before the play even
begins, Miller’s historical fiction, divided between history
and fiction, ultimately falls on the side of the latter. The
Crucible is set in seventeenth-century Salem Massachusetts,
and is centered on the Salem witch trials. Miller presents
the trials in isolation, which leaves out important transitions
that the communities of Salem were undergoing during the
time. Like other post-extraordinary literature, The Crucible
tends to omit the secular transition toward the court system
that handled the accusations of witchcraft in 1692. Miller is
34
instead focused on “the fate of each character” (Miller 2).
By omitting the secular transition toward the court system,
Puritan New England is presented as a society that is hysterical in their actions. Miller fails to recognize the practical
measures Puritan New England took to achieve a more
stable and sinless community.
Rather than presenting characters that accurately portray
their historical counterparts, The Crucible offers a version of
history that is typical of the post-extraordinary perspective.
Miller emphasizes this perspective by introducing two characters—Abigail Williams and John Proctor. John is a local
farmer and Abigail is the niece of Reverend Paris. Abigail
was once a servant in John’s household; however, Proctor’s
wife, Elizabeth, fired her when she discovered that Abigail
was having an affair with her husband. Abigail’s hopes
of rekindling her romance with Proctor are dashed when
Proctor tells her “no, no, Abby. That’s done with” (Miller
2). Proctor’s own quest for a kind of salvation infuriates
Abigail. Scandal escalates into hysteria when Abigail, along
with several other young girls, acts suspiciously—fainting,
excessively screaming, etc. Thus the girls’ behavior initiates the rumors that witchcraft has begun to affect Salem.
Proctor’s affair with Abigail is a primary reason that he does
not immediately expose the girls as frauds. Proctor knows
that if he exposes Abigail, then his sin will be exposed, too.
With frightening ease, the girls are able to accuse many individuals of witchcraft, including Proctor’s own wife.
Historically, as Benjamin C. Ray acknowledges, Abigail
Williams was actually only eleven years old when she and a
child named Betty, who was ten at the time, suddenly began
having uncontrolled bodily convulsions (Ray 70). However,
in The Crucible, Abigail is depicted as a teenage girl. William
J. McGill Jr. has made it clear that John “was actually sixty
years old” (McGill 260). Historically, there was clearly no
affair between Abigail and Proctor. However, Miller is not
ambiguous in The Crucible, where an affair had taken place
between Abigail and Proctor. Setting aside the ages of the
characters’ historical counterparts, this inaccuracy has a
purpose. It is introduced to portray the consequences of
one’s actions and the actions of a community. Thus the
inaccuracy is intended to promote reflection. However, The
Crucible, though it prompts important discussion, is a historical fiction; it should not be taken as history.
Ambiguity, Hysteria and “Young Goodman Brown”
Unlike Arthur Miller, Nathaniel Hawthorne had an ancestor
directly involved in the Salem witch trials—John Hathorne.
Nathaniel distanced himself from his ancestor by placing a
w within his last name. However, his ancestry can often be
The UCI Undergraduate Research Journal
Jacqueline A. Schlegel
detected within his works. First published in 1835, Nathaniel
Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown” is set
in Salem Village, and is centered on the hysteria that erupts
within one man—Young Goodman Brown.
The story begins with Brown leaving his home and his wife,
named Faith, one night to meet a man who turns out to be
Satan. Brown reaches his destination late and says to Satan,
“Faith kept me back awhile” (Hawthorne 53). “Faith” refers
to both his wife and his religious beliefs (Hawthorne 53).
Brown’s plan is to see Satan one last time and then return
home to Faith. Brown’s Faith is not ambiguous; it spurs
most of his actions throughout the night. Brown travels
with Satan through the dark forest and the pair come across
Goody Cloyse. This encounter spurs Brown to realize that
Goody Cloyse is associated with Satan. Brown makes up
his mind to leave Satan shortly after that moment, and he
announces “what if a wretched old woman do choose to
go to the devil when I thought she was going to heaven: is
that any reason why I should quit my dear Faith and go after
her?” (Hawthorne 56). Brown decides that he has the ability
to permanently distance himself from Satan. He realizes
that he may not know for sure who is and is not pious, but
feels as though he is not among the damned. This idea of
not knowing for sure who are the followers of Satan and
who are not begins to initiate hysteria within Brown. Rather
than judging himself and his own actions, Brown begins to
judge and be suspicious of others.
Brown’s sight is ambiguous. Before he departs from Satan,
Brown believes he sees Satan’s staff wriggle like a snake.
However, Brown exclaims that it may actually be “an ocular
deception, assisted by the uncertain light” (Hawthorne 54).
Though Brown announces to his traveling companion that
he has made up his mind and wishes to return to Faith,
Satan leaves Brown with this snake-like staff in anticipation that Brown will change his mind. Thus Brown never
permanently distances himself from Satan. When Satan
leaves, Brown goes deeper into the woods with the staff and
believes that he sees the ministers of the church, respected
members of the community and his wife Faith at a ceremony converting once pious individuals into followers of
Satan. Hawthorne has distorted the ordinary and made it
extraordinary. Like much of what Brown believes he sees,
this particular sight is ambiguous; Brown could very well
be hallucinating. In response to whether or not Brown’s
own wife Faith is among the alleged converters, the narrator exclaims that “[Brown] knew not” (Hawthorne 63).
It is never explicit that the converters go through with the
ceremony or if there was an actual ceremony to begin with.
However, Brown is quick to judge what he sees as truth. He
T H E U C I U N D E RG R A D UAT E R E S E A RC H J O U R N A L
shouts to Faith, “look up to heaven, and resist the wicked
one” (Hawthorne 63). To Brown, there is no question that
what he sees is real.
By incorporating Faith into the ceremony, Hawthorne suggests that Brown is beginning to realize that all individuals
are capable of evil, including his own loved ones. David
Levin states “the story is not about the evil of other people
but about Brown’s doubt, his discovery of the possibility of
universal evil” (Levin 351). This realization throws Brown
into a fit of hysteria. The idea of susceptibility—that
even the most holy of individuals could become followers
or even victims of Satan—is something that frightened
Puritan New England. Additionally, the incorporation of
both men and women at this ceremony mimics the sudden
accumulation of witches in the Salem witch trials; it is a
displaced allegory.
Over the course of one night, Brown comes to suspect an
entire village of evil. The ambiguity of each person’s religious status has clearly sent Brown into a fit of hysteria. He
is quick to judge what he saw the previous night as reality:
“the next morning, young Goodman Brown came slowly
into the street of Salem village, staring around him like
a bewildered man” (Hawthorne 63). Brown believes that
every person he sees—man, woman, child and kin—is wicked. And believing in everyone’s damnation rests with Brown
for the remainder of his life: “Often, awaking suddenly
at midnight, he shrank from the bosom of Faith; and at
morning or eventide, when the family knelt down at prayer,
he scowled and muttered to himself and gazed sternly at
his wife, and turned away” (Hawthorne 63–4). In reality,
Brown’s quick judgment has actually caused him to turn
away from Faith—both his wife and religious beliefs. Like
The Crucible, “Young Goodman Brown” is a prime example
of post-extraordinary literature, because it hones in on the
proceeding moment without paying much attention to the
information that precedes the main event; post-extraordinary literature lacks background information. In relation to
Brown, there is no information provided about his previous
meetings with Satan. Thus hysteria is the defaulted opinion
of Brown’s reaction to what he saw in one night.
T h e P r e - E x t r a o rd i n a r y
Salem Town and Salem Village
Like The Crucible and “Young Goodman Brown,” post-extraordinary works typically depict historically inaccurate
monolithic villages of Salem. The monolithic version
of Puritan New England generates the belief that the
Salem witch trials were conducted by a single group of
35
AFFLICTED NEW ENGLAND
Salem villagers. However, there were actually two Salems
in 17th-century Puritan New England—Salem Town and
Salem Village. Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum state,
“with the tide of Puritan immigrants to Massachusetts after
1630, Salem prospered, soon outgrowing the narrow neck
of land that was its original site; furthermore, the soil there
proved insufficiently fertile to supply the food needs of a
growing population” (Boyer and Nissenbaum 37). There
was a need to expand; thus the town made land grants.
At first, Salem Village had no name or any real kind of
existence. In our post-extraordinary world, we still refer
to these two places as simply Salem. Salem Village, today,
is actually known as the town of Danvers, Massachusetts.
The expansion of Salem Town is typically forgotten in our
post-extraordinary world.
Salem Town and Salem Village were two very different
places. The people at Salem Village were called farmers and
the place was originally called Salem Farms. In contrast to
the agricultural character of Salem Village, the commercial
community of Salem Town was undergoing an economic
boom. Town is commonly defined as a kind of political unit
and center. Villages are considered smaller and more rural.
According to Stephen Innes, Salem Town was becoming a
major port town and a flourishing fishery (Innes 290, 300).
Salem Town and Salem Village were two distinct geographical areas. And though we tend to unify these two places,
as the Village grew in population, the Village’s identity and
interests, too, began to grow.
Though Miller depicts a single stable community of Salem
that is interrupted by hysteria, the two communities of
Salem were undergoing both political and social change
with the addition of the agricultural Village to the commercialized Town. There was a growing change present in
Puritan New England—economic, political and even social
shifts:
The problems which confronted Salem Village in
fact encompassed some of the central issues of
New England society in the late seventeenth century: the resistance of back-country farmers to the
pressures of commercial capitalism and the socialstyle that accompanied it; the breaking away of outlying areas from parent towns; difficulties between
ministers and their congregations; the crowding of
third-generation sons from family lands; the shifting locus of authority within individual communities and society as a whole; the very quality of life
in an unsettled age. (Boyer and Nissenbaum 180)
36
It was the split in community that ended up changing the
pre-extraordinary reality of a unified community. Many
surrounding agricultural communities did, indeed, have
separatist tendencies, and it was in Salem Village—one of
these separatist communities—that the accusations began.
The trials began, however, in the political center of Salem
Town. There were signs that some event was bound to
occur. It is noted that, “one chronic source of discontent
and controversy, for example, was the fact that the Town
persisted well after 1672 in including the Villagers when
it levied taxes for repair and improvement of the Town
meeting house” (Boyer and Nissenbaum 43). These were
two places that were already at odds with one another due
to Salem Village not originally being taken seriously: “for
years after 1672, then, Salem Village was a distinct community without its own town government, and a distinct
parish without its own church” (Boyer and Nissenbaum
43). Consequently, there were many disputes between the
neighboring communities. Though post-extraordinary texts
often depict a single stable community, the bordering communities were actually in the midst of ongoing change and
disputes—political, economic and social. In contrast to hysteria, the ongoing changes and disputes had greater effects
on Puritan New England’s wellbeing.
Puritan Education
Though Salem Village and Salem Town were two separate
places, Puritan New England as a whole was unified by
common beliefs, including beliefs in both God and Satan.
Sin was originally a religious concern, and Miller omits the
Puritans’ beliefs, what I call the pre-extraordinary perspective, which can be seen by looking at the literary materials
that were generated at the time. Literature held a creative
relationship to the Puritans’ belief system. The Puritans
used it to establish a non-worldly framework for sin, one
that projected judgment beyond this world. Together, literature and religion established and reinforced particular
models of time, specifically the belief of making use of
one’s time on Earth. Additionally, the reading material of
Puritan New England could control interpretations and
certain judgments.
Pre-extraordinary literature was read because Puritan society was literate, thanks, in part, to the Old Deluder Satan
Act of 1647. The Act made reading school mandatory for
children and was partly established due to the Puritans’
belief that Satan attempted daily to keep the people from
reading scripture, which would force the Puritans to lose
their sense of community. This Act established that free
instruction should be provided to families in towns of one
The UCI Undergraduate Research Journal
Jacqueline A. Schlegel
hundred people or more. Grammar school was where children were given, first, the hornbook, which was an alphabet
list that consisted of single syllable words. Later, children
received the New England Primer—a kind of textbook used
for instruction. “In Adam’s fall / We sinned all” is one of its
most famous selections (Miller and Johnson 696). One can
note how early sin was brought into children’s instruction;
schooling like this was established in response to Satan.
Whereas post-extraordinary literature tends to represent
Puritan society as inherently witch crazed and obsessed with
sin; in actuality, the Puritans responded quite efficiently to
their growing fears of sin.
Anne Bradstreet and Time
Anne Bradstreet, a Puritan mother and wife, was one notable member of this literate community of Puritan New
England. She was born in England, and she migrated to
America in 1630. Her book of poetry, The Tenth Muse Lately
Sprung Up in America, was published in 1650. Ivy Schweitzer
notes that Bradstreet’s book of poetry “was the first volume
of poetry by a single author to come out of the New World.
Almost from that moment, Bradstreet ceased to be a merely
cultivated, astute, and intelligent private woman in a ranking
New England family, and became a cultural phenomenon”
(Schweitzer 127). Her poems give 21st-century readers the
chance to peek into the piety of Puritan New Englanders.
Bradstreet paints the conventional portrait of the time;
she was a pious woman devoted to her family. Though she
took on an occupation that could be dubbed as unfeminine,
Bradstreet’s literary activity depicts her personal relationship
with God and her limitless love for her family.
Bradstreet’s poem “As Weary Pilgrim” uses time to articulate a sense of urgency that many Puritans, including her,
experienced when traveling to America. Religion was at
the root of why the Puritans migrated to America: “the
Puritans’ very reason for being in New England— their
‘errand into the wilderness’—was in the service of God”
(Innes 43). This journey is seen through the following lines:
“As weary pilgrim, not at rest / Hugs with delight his silent
nest” and, again, with the lines, “A Pilgrim I, on earth perplexed / With sin, with cares and sorrows vext” (Bradstreet,
1650). One can take note of the switch from third person
to first. Bradstreet is perhaps not the pilgrim in the poem,
but she was, nevertheless, a pilgrim who journeyed to
America; the idea of pilgrim entails perpetual mobility.
She and other pilgrims share the same mortal time frame.
And the Puritans made use of their time on Earth, as we
see in their journey to America, in response to their desire
to be granted access to Heaven. The desire to be granted
access to Heaven is seen through the following lines: “Oh,
T H E U C I U N D E RG R A D UAT E R E S E A RC H J O U R N A L
how I long to be at rest / And soare on high among the
blest” (Bradstreet, 1650). Each pilgrim rooted his or her
life religiously and used his or her time on earth efficiently
in order to be granted an eternal life in Heaven. Not only
does post-extraordinary literature omit the secular transition
toward the court system, but it also omits the Puritans’ efficiency, seen through both their journey to America and their
establishment of religious schooling.
Michael Wigglesworth and Judgment
The concepts of both Satan and sin, in Puritan theology,
were problematic due to the ability both had to prevent
individuals from gaining access to Heaven. This issue was
addressed in Bradstreet’s poem “As Weary Pilgrim,” and
was a continuing theme in Puritan Literature. The pre-extraordinary view that was transmitted through the ability
to read in Puritan communities was that sin was a purely
religious crime that was judged by God. The Puritan minister Michael Wigglesworth is one man who wrote of God’s
divine judgment after death. Published in 1662, The Day of
Doom is a poetic representation of the biblical judgment day.
The immense popularity of this poem can be attributed to
its content, which establishes that all will be judged when
life comes to an end.
Those who do not follow the law—the Bible—are subjected to eternal punishment, which is depicted in the poem.
Transgression from God’s law results in punishment, however, only after judgment. Stanza 2 foreshadows the judgment that follows the transgression from God’s law:
Wallowing in all kind of sin, vile wretches lay
secure: The best of men had scarcely then their
Lamps kept in good ure.
Virgins unwise, who through disguise amongst the
best were number’d,
Had clos’d their eyes; yea, and the wise through
sloth and frailty slumber’d. (Wigglesworth, 1662)
The key word is “sin,” which evokes the idea of imminent
punishment; the particular sins that evoke punishment
include “sloth” and “vile” (Wigglesworth, 1662). These
immoral behaviors are what grants access into Hell and not
Heaven. The placement of this stanza, in the very beginning of the poem, establishes the sins that are about to be
judged in the imminent trial. Jeffrey A. Hammond finds
that “Wigglesworth demonstrates the error of depraved ways
of classifying and experiencing the world. Significantly, sin
in the poem is associated not so much with vicious actions
37
AFFLICTED NEW ENGLAND
as with fallen modes of thinking” (Hammond 45). The
fictional people of the poem are not thinking about the
consequences of their sins. Instead, they “clos’d their eyes”
and “slumber’d” (Wigglesworth, 1662).
The Day of Doom shows a theocratic and pre-extraordinary
way of conceptualizing sin. Unlike the eventual secular
movement and judgment carried out by a court system, this
poem identifies sin as something that can only be judged by
a higher power—God. The Day of Doom actually mimics a
trial scene, especially stanza 21, which establishes that all of
humanity is subjected to judgment day and that everyone is
at risk of being exposed as a sinner. Ultimately, sin is communally experienced and borne by the community in the
struggle to make sense of it:
Thus every one before the Throne of Christ the
Judge is brought,
Both righteous and impious that good or ill had
wrought.
A separation, and diff ’ring station by Christ
appointed is
(To sinners sad) ‘Twixt good and bad,‘twixt Heirs
of woe and bliss. (Wigglesworth, 1662)
There is an importance in the ritual of trying to efficiently eradicate sin. God is the judge of sin, because sin is
invisible—only an omniscient being can see it. Note that
“every one” is implicated and not just specific individuals
(Wigglesworth, 1662). In the idea of good or ill having
wrought the person, there is a sense in which the accused is
worked upon and not necessarily guilty. This poem evokes
the image of how a trial should proceed—innocent until
proven guilty. This would have been the perspective going
into the trials if Puritan New England was not transitioning
into the post-extraordinary.
T h e E x t r a o rd i n a r y M o m e n t o f t h e
S a l e m W i t c h Tr i a l s
Signs of Witchcraft
Moving into the signs and accusations of witchcraft, Puritan
New England would struggle to hold onto this pre-extraordinary world, which dictates that God is the ultimate judge
and that sin is communally experienced and ritualistically
dealt with. When the accusations began in Salem Village,
Puritan New England attempted to apply pre-extraordinary
methods to solve the crisis of sin within the community.
38
Each inhabitant of Salem had the same mortal time frame.
Thus Puritan New England attempted to deal with the
alleged bewitchings communally. At first, prescriptions of
prayer were used as attempts to cure the alleged bewitched.
It was assumed that something could be done organically
and spiritually. Post-extraordinary literature tends to omit
these practical measures taken to cure those afflicted. Legal
prescriptions were not at first chosen to cure those afflicted,
because it was not yet an option.
Moments when pre-extraordinary methods proved insufficient to cure the alleged bewitched included an occasion
where, “Reverend Deodate Lawson, a former minister in
the Village, came out from Boston to observe things for
himself and to give what help he could to his erstwhile
parishioners” (Boyer and Nissenbaum 4). While observing those afflicted, Revernd Lawson witnessed Abigail
Williams, one of the afflicted girls, racing to the fireplace,
removing multiple burning logs and tossing them about
the room. In addition to this incident, “on Sunday, March
20, the visiting clergyman delivered an earnest anti-witchcraft sermon in the Village meetinghouse. But even as he
prepared to speak, Abigail Williams shouted out, ‘Now
stand up and name your text.’ When Lawson did so, she
added mockingly, ‘It is a long text.’ Another Village girl,
twelve-year-old Ann Putnam, chimed in too, despite efforts
of those nearby to hush her, crying out that she could see
a yellow bird perched on Lawson’s hat as it hung from a
hook by the pulpit” (Boyer and Nissenbaum 4). Puritan
communities were frightened due to the inability of the
church to cure the afflicted. It became clear that religious
prescriptions were not the answer; a new remedy needed
to be prescribed. Thus, legal prescriptions were an act of
desperation. Unconsciously, Puritan New England began to
transition away from the pre-extraordinary belief that God
judges all sins.
The Trials and Proceeding Executions
The failure to stop the apparent bewitchings led to the
rise of new legal methods as a way to efficiently eradicate sin. Frank W. Grinnell believes that political motives
were the same as religious ones. Grinnell states, “when
we consider the early dominant conception of ‘Hell’ in
Christian theology regardless of creed, for it was common
to Catholic and Protestant alike, long before and long after
the Reformation, I think we can see its direct or indirect
influence” (Grinnell 259). It was the belief in Hell and Satan
that allowed for the belief in witchcraft; witchcraft became
a plausible diagnosis for those fallen ill. The Puritans chose
to prescribe legal treatment—a kind of intense pursuit of
The UCI Undergraduate Research Journal
Jacqueline A. Schlegel
a sin free community—when spirituality proved insufficient
to cure the bewitched.
In order to establish a sinless community, Puritan New
England needed to establish a legal court system. In
response to the growing need to establish a legal court and
proceed with legal prescriptions, Sir William Phips arrived
in Boston Harbor in 1692. Consequently, authority shifted
from being internal and communal to an external individual. Within a few days he “constituted six members of his
advisory council as a special Court of Oyer and Terminer
to ‘hear and determine’ the enormous backlog of witchcraft
cases” (Boyer and Nissenbaum 7). He planned for the first
trial of the infamous Salem witch trials, which produced the
first execution. The first execution was Bridget Bishop who
had been in prison since April, yet was hanged in June. The
second trial was for five women, and, again, all five women
were executed. Though this seemed to be an effective way
of eradicating sin, man was—according to the pre-extraordinary perspective—hastily judging something that he could
not judge. Sin within a Puritan worldview is invisible and
only God can judge it. Thus human trials are impossible.
Out of desperation, the Puritans forced themselves to
replace a divine justice with a manmade justice.
T h o m a s B r a t t l e — P u r i t a n N ew
E n g l a n d ’ s Re f l e c t i o n o n t h e Tr i a l s
The Witchcraft Delusion (1692) by Thomas Brattle, stresses an
emerging fear for how the trials would be judged by future
generations: “What will be the issue of these troubles,
God only knows; I am afraid that ages will not wear off
the reproach and those stains which these things will leave
behind them upon our land. I pray God pity us, humble
us, and appear mercifully for us in this mount of distress”
(Brattle 762). Clearly there is a changed sense of time seen
in this excerpt. This text suggests that Puritan New England
has completed its transition into the post-extraordinary,
because they are in the midst of reflection. Brattle’s fear
in The Witchcraft Delusion becomes a reality in post-extraordinary works such as The Crucible and “Young Goodman
Brown.” One can imagine the kind of guilt, anger and
frustration many Puritans experienced at the conclusion of
the trials. Brattle describes post-trial New England as being
in “distress” (Brattle 762). The Salem witch trials, in the
post-extraordinary world, have come to define the Puritans.
One must remember that the trials were commenced out of
desperation. Legal treatments were used to restore the communities of Puritan New England to better spiritual health.
Desperation and inaccuracy in judgment transitioned the
T H E U C I U N D E RG R A D UAT E R E S E A RC H J O U R N A L
Puritans toward the secular court system. It is, again, inaccuracy in judgment that Brattle worries about—specifically the judgment of the Puritans by future generations.
Future judgment, however, also extends to judgment after
death—judgment by God. The Puritans wanted to eradicate
sin within their communities due to their strong beliefs in
Heaven and Hell. However, the Puritans attempted to eradicate sin with sin. Brattle uses the word “stains” to describe
the trials and the executions (Brattle 762). Stains are not
easily removed, and, consequently, this event, too, cannot be
removed from our history’s literature, which pens violence,
hysteria and a sense of guilt that the trials took place.
Conclusion
Sin was an ancient religious crime and the Puritans attempted to rationally, rather than hysterically, fit the crime of sin
into an earthly court system. However, the Puritans did so
forcefully. Magistrates attempted to judge sin by making use
of the tools that were rapidly being made available during
the time. However, God, in a Puritan worldview, judges sin.
Thus human trials are impossible. Legal proceedings did
attempt to find worldly evidence of sin capable of being
seen by humans. However, the attempt of human beings
to judge sin fails even before its execution. The issue is that
post-extraordinary texts tend to separate the trials from
their full historical and theological contexts. Thus post-extraordinary literature leaves out the Puritans’ previous
attempts at curing the afflicted and the secular transition
toward the court system; Puritan New England is consequently depicted as irrational and hysterical.
After the trials, the examinations and executions of the
accused are seen as absurd. However, the Puritans did not
know that they were undergoing this transition—from
judgment by God to judgment by man. They unknowingly
usurped God’s position as judge. I say unknowingly because
the idea of attempting to usurp one’s creator, in the Puritan
perspective, is, in itself, a sin. Puritan New England believed
that eradicating sin, through an established court of law,
was actually religiously benefiting their communities. The
Puritans believed that legal prescriptions, as opposed to the
failed prescriptions of prayer, were a way to cleanse communities of sin and transition communities away from the
accusations of witchcraft. Instead, however, it transitioned
the Puritans into the post-extraordinary.
A c k n ow l e d g m e n t s :
I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Jayne Lewis,
my faculty mentor, for her unlimited support. It has been a
39
AFFLICTED NEW ENGLAND
pleasure to work with Dr. Lewis. I am grateful that I have
been able to work with her during this past year and that
I am able to continue working with her again this year. I
also wish to thank Dr. Virginia Jackson. Her enthusiasm
for American poetry and her support has encouraged me to
continue researching early American literature. I also wish
to show my gratitude to Ms. Erin Sweeney for the support
and guidance she provided me while I was preparing to
present this paper last spring; her support was invaluable.
Wo r k s C i te d
Bradstreet, Anne. The Works of Anne Bradstreet. Ed. Jeannine
Hensley. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, 2010.
Miller, Perry and Johnson, Thomas. H. eds. The Puritans: A
Sourcebook of Their Writings. 2nd ed. New York: Dover
Publications, Inc., 2001.
Ray, Benjamin C. “Satan’s War against the Covenant in Salem
Village, 1692.” The New England Quarterly 80.1 (Mar.,
2007): 69–95.
Schweitzer, Ivy. The Work of Self–Representation: Lyric Poetry
in Colonial New England. Chapel Hill: The University of
North Carolina Press, 1991.
Wigglesworth, Michael. “The Day of Doom.” The Puritans:
A Sourcebook of Their Writings. Ed. Miller, Perry and
Johnson, Thomas. H. 2nd ed. New York: Dover Publications,
Inc., 2001. 587–606.
Brattle, Thomas. “The Witchcraft Delusion.” The Puritans:
A Sourcebook of Their Writings. Ed. Miller, Perry and
Johnson, Thomas. H. 2nd ed. New York: Dover Publications,
Inc., 2001. 758–762.
Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed: The
Social Origins of Witchcraft. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1974.
Grinnell, Frank W. “’Hell’ and the Law.” Journal of Criminal Law
and Criminology 31.3 (Sep.–Oct., 1940): 1931–1951.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” American
Gothic Tales. Ed. Joyce Carol Oates. New York: Penguin
Group, 1996. 52–64.
Hammond, Jeffrey A. “‘Ladders of Your Own’: ‘The Day of
Doom’ and the Repudiation of ‘Carnal Reason.’” Early
America Literature 19.1 (Spring 1984): 42–67.
Innes, Stephen. Creating the Commonwealth: The Economic
Culture of Puritan New England. New York: W.W. Norton
& Company, 1995.
Levin, David. “Shadows of Doubt: Specter Evidence in
Hawthorne’s ‘Young Goodman Brown.’” American Literature
34.3 (Nov., 1962): 344–352.
McGill, William J. Jr. “The Crucible of History: Arthur Miller’s
John Proctor.” The New England Quarterly 54.2 (Jun., 1981):
258–264.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: Penguin, 1976.
40
The UCI Undergraduate Research Journal