Gender Roles In Salem Witch Trials

IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF SOURCES

This investigation will focus on the question “To what extent did gender roles have an effect on the Salem witch trials?” and will analyze to what extent gender roles affected the Salem witch trials. The first key source is “Salem Witchcraft Trials: The Perception of Women in History, Literature and Culture” by Ana Kocić, which is useful to this investigation because Kocić’s main focus is on female roles and she does great research to back up her statements. The second key source is “The Diary of Samuel Sewall, 1674-1729” which is particularly useful to this investigation as it was written by somebody who was not only present during the trials, but took part in them.

Source: “Salem Witchcraft Trials:
Men on the other hand, were considered to be stronger and their souls were more able to work against Satan’s commands.5 Gender roles were vastly different during the Salem witch trials. Through analysis, it will be determined to what extent gender roles had an effect on the Salem witch
Women were usually meant to be a servant or stay at home and care for the home, children and the husband while men had jobs, made money and not only made the household decisions, but also made political decisions for the village. Mental illnesses, greed and jealousy were factors to how women’s roles affected the Salem witch trials as women were considered to be weaker to men and more likely to welcome in Satan. Men’s roles affected the Salem witch trials as they were the more dominant gender and made all the decisions for the trials. Men made every decision while women sat and