Gender Roles and the Salem Witch Trials: Women’s Newfound Power in Salem, 1692

Abstract

This capstone is meant to analyze the changing levels of power that women encountered during the events of the Salem witch trials. The background and necessary information will be presented related to the trials, and women’s expected roles during this time period will be explored, with the overall intention of discussing how women overstepped their intended spheres, and what repercussions that had. Women were meant to have a specific place in their life, with a minuscule amount of power. However, the Salem witch trials was a shifting time when women were stepping out of those bounds and given more power than before. This event left a mark on history and women’s roles in a Puritan lifestyle.