Assignment 1

Reading Assignment:

Read the bio. of Bradstreet, "The Prologue [To Her Book]," and "The Author to Her Book" on pp. 187-190 and "To My Dear and Loving Husband" on pp. 194-195

1. What phrases from "The Prologue" show evidence of Anne's educational background?

2. Explain in your own words lines 3-5 in "The Author to Her Book."

3. Anne Bradstreet was the mother of eight children. Comment on her attitude in "The Author to Her Book," considering it (the book) her ninth child. What sort of child is it?

4. Although Anne Bradstreet chooses to write poetry, she seems to see herself as unworthy to do so. Quote several phrases which imply this.

5. What is different in the tone of "To My Dear and Loving Husband"? How can you account for this?

  Assignment 2

View the film "In Search History: Salem Witch Trials" and answer the following questions.

1. What was the impetus behind the European witch hunts?

2. What was the malleus maleficarum?

3. What were some of the things used as "evidence" against suspected witches?

4. What sort of community did the Pilgrims/Puritans wish to establish in New England?

5. When was the first witch trial in New England?

6. What part did Cotton Mather play in a later witch trial in Boston?

7. What hardships and stresses faced by the Salem colonists set the stage for the Salem witch hysteria?

8.What role did an "inherent misogyny" play in the hysteria?

9. Why is it difficult to say exactly what happened in Salem?

10. How is it supposed that the witchcraft hysteria started?

11. What sorts of women were accused of witchcraft at first?

12. What was "spectral evidence"? Had it been allowed in most other New England courts before?

13. What did the "afflicted" girls do if someone they accused denied being a witch?

14. Why did Tituba confess to witchcraft?

What else did she say in her confession, and what effect did this have on the hearings?

15. Eventually, which people were "immediately suspect"?

16. What was the court of oyer and terminer?

17. What were the accused now being pressured more and more to do?

18. What motivation might the accusers have for making accusations? How did it change their status in the community?

19. Eventually, how many people were accused and how many were executed or died in prison?

20. What else was done to convicted witches?

21. Why did the trials eventually stop in the fall of 1692?

22. What happened in 1697?

In 1706?

In 1711?

In 1957?

23. What theories do historians have about the girls' reasons for their accusations?

  Assignment 3

Reading Assignment:

Read the bio. of Mather on pp. 253-255

Read the excerpt from Wonders of the Invisible World on pp. 255-260

1. What does Mather say he thinks is happening in New England at this time?

2. For what was Martha Carrier indicted?

3. To what had Carrier's children confessed prior to the trial?

What might be some reasons they would say these things?

4. According to Benjamin Abbot's testimony, what happened to Abbot after Martha Carrier became angry with him?

What detail in Abbot's description of his physical ailments is clearly exaggerated?

5. According to Phoebe Chandler's testimony, what did Martha Carrier do to Chandler "on a Lordsday"?

What happened "quickly after" this incident?

What does Chandler's testimony that she heard a voice "over her head" that she "took to be Martha Carrier's" imply about Carrier?

6. What information does Mather present in his "memorandum" at the end of the excerpt? [NOTE: Most versions of this excerpt have the words "Queen of Hell," not "Queen of Hebrews."]

7. Do you think witnesses might have been likely to fabricate their testimony during the Salem witchcraft trials? Explain your answer.

8. Style refers to the way in which a writer expresses his or her thoughts. For example, in The Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather writes in a plain, direct, journalistic style. How does Mather's style make his report of the trial seem like an objective, factual account?

9. Bias means "partiality" or an inclination toward a certain position. Although Mather certainly tried through his style to make his account of the trial seem objective, his choice of words makes it clear that in reality his report is written from a biased point of view.

How does Mather's statement that "a number of bewitched persons" were brought in to testify against Carrier reveal his bias? (Think of how a reporter today would put that statement is she were covering a trial for a newspaper.)

Find (and quote) two other examples of language that clearly indicates Mather's bias.