The women of Salem are Vitcims

Since witches are usually associated with women, the women of Salem are a larger target for the witch hunts. In addition to this, women are also considered the weaker of the sexes. In the 1600′s it was generally accepted that just because God created men first, that made them more “Godly”. Therefore women were considered to be less godly and also more susceptible to temptation. It was common knowledge that because Eve told Adam to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, women in general would be the tempters of men.

Abby sets out in the beginning by victimizing the women of Salem. Betty knows what Abby did with Tituba to victimize Goody Proctor. She says, “You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor” (Act 1, 19). Abby’s plan to get rid of just one woman turned into a vendetta against every woman in Salem. By the end of Act 1, instead of just getting a beating they turned it and attacked the entire town causing a witch-hunt. In the same way Ann Putnam is susceptible to the superstitions of the time, she wants more than anything to believe there is a witch in their town than to believe she is not one of the elite because she had seven children die right after their birth. Ann Putnam is also scared of finding the real reason she lost all of her children, but this is seconded by the fact that she sent her only living child to see Tituba and talk to her dead siblings. She is terrified that by doing this she has lost her place as one of the elite for good. The girls of Salem are also victims of the witch-hunt, they know that if they give up names they will not be in trouble for dancing with the devil, but if they tell the truth and give themselves up they will be in more trouble than all the supposed witches in Salem. In addition to this threat, the girls are threatened by Abby. She says, “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (20). All these fears the women share run together and truly exhibit their victimization.

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