“The gaze” and the story of the Salem Witch Trials

This week we had many interesting questions to choose from. There were some particularly interesting discussions in my group about the Salem witch trials and the relevance of “the gaze”. The Salem witch trials occurred in late 1600’s where multiple people were brought to their horrific end when the village doctor who lacked scientific knowledge and was biased due to his religious beliefs who was quick to jump into extreme conclusions and suggested that the people, who were actually suffering from a disease ergotism which a researcher found several hundred years later, had been bewitched and were executed rather brutally on account of development of seemingly unnatural symptoms. Our main focus of discussion was – was there, to some extent the influence of society to accept that the accused were really practicing witchcraft.

To begin with, we were able to identify that there were symptoms that those accused exhibited that were similar to what a “bewitched person” would exhibit thus creating a general feeling of “us” vs “them” in Salem. There were some who observed the irrational behaviour of these men and women and in a time with lesser scientific knowledge as there is today,  people simply assumed it could be nothing other than the wrath of the demon attempting to take over and terrorise Salem. This is where the concept of “the gaze” comes in. Similar to the other question this week discussion division between “the east and the west”, “the gaze” simply refers to someone who is always being observed by the society and which “side” they choose to be on. The gaze can create societal pressure to accept what the majority accepts as true or you shall be under suspicion as well. This is clearly been explained in the video “what really happened in the Salem witch trials” which illustrates clearly how there was a herding instinct with the people who promoted the belief that witchcraft did exist even though they may not really believe it but simply did not want to be the outliers and be subject to suspicion of practicing or supporting the practice of witchcraft. It also narrates the story of how a woman’s husband and daughter were practically bullied into confessing a her involvement with witchcraft. A judge who decided to speak against this was then even accused of practicing witchcraft himself which pushed him to support the unjust execution of innocent people. Many accused were also promised that they would be let go unharmed if they accepted their involvement with the devil and asked for forgiveness- which obviously did not work well for them. The Salem witch trials remain as a cautionary tale of the dangers of groupthink and scapegoating as well as the power of fear to manipulate human perception.

– The accused would beg for their lives while the accusers (clearly in majority) watched and supported the execution

References:

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=NVd8kuufBhM,

https://d2l.ucalgary.ca/d2l/le/content/309867/viewContent/4059310/View

https://pocketmags.com/history-revealed-magazine/february-2016/articles/15369/the-salem-witch-trials

/https://brewminate.com/what-caused-the-salem-witch-trials/