Often times when one is
committing an act, a person will fully weigh out the pros and cons of their
actions in order to properly determine whether or not that is something they
should do. During the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, Cotton Mather, a late 17th
century Puritan minister, decides that it is in his best interest to not only
document the Witch Trials, and subsequent executions, that are taking place but
he also deems it fit to promote and alter the procedures of some of these
trials as well. Yet, he adamantly denies having any involvement whatsoever with
the Witch trials and attempts to give the illusion that he is simply a
bystander and "historian." Is Mather simply doing his duty as an
upstanding Minister in this society or is there an ulterior motive unbeknownst
to everyone involved? This blog post will answer the aforementioned questions
while analyzing the methods in which Mather utilized the Salem Witch Trials in
order to secretly increase his political and religious influence.
The Salem Witch Trials began in
1692 however, it was a literary work written three years prior, entitled Memorable
Providences, that was the foundation for these trials, and this work
was published by none other than Cotton Mather. (Calef) In this book, Mather
details the conviction and later execution of a woman named Goody Glover who
had been accused of using witchcraft on local children. Mather did not only
document these events, he is also deeply involved with the entire case through
his activeness in the investigation and even his willingness to take one
of the children to his home in order to do more "research."
Essentially, this work is the basis for what would late occur in Salem. Despite
his high level of involvement in the previous case, Mather's involvement in the
Salem Witch Trials is much more discrete and less direct than before. On top of
his documentation of the events of the Witch Trials, Mather also popularized
the Trials in his writings, he essentially handpicked William Stoughton, the
head of the special witchcraft tribunal, and lastly he was responsible for the
utilization of spectral evidence in cases. The latter influences of the three
mentioned is the worst because it essentially allows for the prosecutor to say
that an "invisible being" is attacking the defendant and the only
logical way to get rid of this being is for execution to occur. Thus, the Salem
Witch Trials leave the accused powerless while the accusers, and Mather himself
in particular, are given all the power and full control of the outcome of each
trial.
This point is the exact
reasoning for the skepticism behind Mather and his true intentions. In his book
written in 1693, The Wonders of the Invisible World, Mather
recounts various trials and the details of these events. In the preface for
these writings, Mather states, "...and I report matters not as an
advocate, but as an historian." (Mather) It is quite possible that Mather
was utilizing his power as a Minister in order to concoct the "Witch"
scares that were taking place in Salem during this time period. Mather desired
to gain more political and religious power, so in order to do that he created
these "demons" and the problems that arise with the fear of witches.
(Anonymous) With this fear, Mather was able to "make his mark on
history" by becoming the focal historian for these trials while also
secretly being the judge and the jury for them as well. In order to cover his
tracks, Mather attempts to create the idea that he is disinterested in the
trials and simply reports them to the public. His lack of attendance to these
trials was utilized as a guise in order to attempt to remove any suspicion about
his involvement in them. He even writes in The Wonders of the Invisible
World, "But I shall no longer detain my reader from his expected
entertainment...," as if to remove himself from the excitement that the
trials have, which is the same exact excitement and entertainment that he is
creating with his literary accounts. (Mather) Essentially, Mather is the only
true "Witch" in Salem. By creating this hoax, tricking the community
into believing its validity, and causing innocent individuals to be executed
with little to no probable cause, Mather is the only person displaying any type
of witchcraft and for these heinous acts, it is actually Cotton Mather who
should be on trial.
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