Wonders of the Invisible World
Wonders of the Invisible World was a book published in 1693 by Cotton Mather, Cotton Mather was born in 1663. He graduated from Harvard University and was the successor to his father's position as pastor of the Second Church of Boston. He remained there from the time he was ordained in 1685, until his death forty-three years later [1]. His book gives accounts of the Salem Witch Trials, which took place in the Puritan based town of Salem Massachusetts. His work also led Robert Calef to publish a response in 1700.
Its argument is largely derivative of Saducismus Triumphatus by Joseph Glanvill.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Summary
Cotton Mather, narrator and preacher of the Second Church of Boston, begins with an explanation of the people of God and how they are living in the devil's territories. He discusses the devil's plan to overturn the plantation and churches with the help of his recruits, which Mather believes are witches.
"...An army of devils is horribly broke in upon the place which is the center, and after a sort, the first-born of our English settlements...[3]
After explaining how the witch trials came about, Mather briefly prefaces the trials with a disclaimer. He adds that he will recount the truth as a historian and serve to retell the trials as they happened. The trials included names of the accused with testimonies of their strange behavior and actions from many people. One of the trials included is one of Martha Carrier, who was "the person of whom the confessions of the witches, and of her own children among the rest, agreed that the devil had promised her she should be Queen of the Hebrews." [4]. Mather gives testimonies against Martha Carrier, all of which presume her to be guilty. He cannot overcome his beliefs as a preacher to present an unbiased account of the trial of her.
[edit] Analysis
[edit] Religion
Religion is the main base for Wonders of the Invisible World. It is religion that possible fed into the hysteria that is known as the witch hunts. Mather was a Puritan, and it is puritan religion that expressed ideal views of Christianity. Although as Christians is the sole purpose of living life for God, Mather was convinced that in order to live life for God, Puritans would need to rid the evil surrounding them; leading to people being accused for not living the ideal way of life, and creating a wedge in religion among Christians. Judgement led to the accusation of witchcraft, and then the hunt for witches came to be. Without these views of religion, the hysteria most likely wouldn't have occurred on a much larger scale.
[edit] Persona
Mather intends for his persona to be that of an unbiased informer to the reader[5]. However, Mather does not successfully seek his intention. He receives his information from a collection of court papers from which he has the power to pick and choose which testimonies to include in his story. As a result, Mather only presents evidence against the indicted and not any of the defenses they used in the trial except for those that aided in his bias. Mather is trying to get rid of the evil doings and witchcraft in order to strengthen the Puritan religion. He consciously chooses testimonies that clearly lead the reader to believe that Martha Carrier is guilty, thus supporting his Puritan beliefs. Suspicions as to the validity of these testimonies arise, as the testimonies could very possibly be an attempt to make those testifying seem like victims, but Mather does not acknowledge this possibility. Mather's persona ends up being a minister rather than an unbiased informer. He is quick to establish the black and white conflict of good and evil, and by establishing this conflict Mather attempts to take away any sympathy for the plight of the condemned.
[edit] Language
Mather’s background as a minister[6] is apparent in his use of religious language. Mather goes into great detail on the struggle between the church and the devil, and this section is similar in style and language to letters of the Apostle Paul found in the Christian Bible. Mather presents the case descriptions by providing separate pieces of evidence in each case distinguished by roman numerals. Even these case descriptions tend to have a religious epistle like tone that shows Mather's condemnation for the accused. The religious tone and content is also quick to establish the conflict of the church and the devil who, according to Mather, was working through his servants to destroy the established church. From the very beginning we see some what of a feeling of ordained ownership of everything around and how God directly wants them to have anything or so they think. Although this does go with how the story is called The Wonders of The Invisible World due to the towns people's unknowing of the unknown. [7]
[edit] Perspective
Mather's perspective is blurred by cognitive bias. He is at times irrational and makes his personal belief a base for judgement and criticism. Mather claims he has never had personal prejudice[8] when it comes to the accused, yet bases himself on the riddance these "vultures from hell". He uses this as a guideline for how one should live and it then turns into a one sided debate. His perspective is that Christians living in the devil's territories are to cast out evil and persons "possessed" (witches) so that the Puritans may fulfill their lives as people of God. Only then are they able to live peacefully. Throughout the accounts of the trials, which he states he took no part in, his tone and language make his perspective clear and his cognitive bias leaves him with the inability to/for reason.
[edit] Treatment of the Witches
This story does not go on to explain the consequences and execution of Martha Carrier but the unjustness of her trial is evident even in the hearing.With many of the accusations that are directed towards Martha Carrier are unfounded on anything that is creditable. The stories are given more creditably than anything rational[9] The readers of this story are deceived by only seeing one side of the trial. In this excerpt the reader was only given confessions of numerous people acquainted with Martha Carrier, all undoubtably portraying her to be guilty. This was unfair for her to not get to give her testimony but relevant as most trials during this time were this same way. This also made it misleading for the reader, whom only had knowledge of what was written in this excerpt. This was so for many accused witches during this time in Salem, Massachusetts, which was Puritan ran. Many trials went on without the convicted having their side heard. Many Puritans such as Cotton Mather, believed that the sin, which in this case was the witchcraft, had to be destroyed before they could fulfill their destiny as people of God. He along with the other Puritans also believed that once they were rid of the witches that God would bless the them with eternal happiness. [10] Therefore the Puritan people did not care to know all of the details, they were only worried about the facts and testimonies needed for these witches to be proven guilty and executed. Thus, the people of Salem would do anything in their power to get rid of these witches resulting in actions of bitter and unjust treatment.
[edit] A Contradicting Belief
One particular issue seen in this story is the occurrence of hypocrisy. During the time of the witch trials, Religion was a prevalent factor of everyday life. The Puritan belief is what was intact during this time, which is a religion based on strict principles and may be seen as a radical way of living. In order to protect their faith and the things that they knew to be the most important aspects of their lives, they began to prosecute those that were even the slightest bit involved with dark magic. The puritan’s acts of murder can be seen as contradictory to their strong beliefs of treating everyone with respect. It went against everything that the puritans taught and preached. The puritans truly believed that witchcraft was a form of the devil and therefore of sin. They lived on the grounds of conquering sin and that is exactly what their intentions were in killing off the witches. The witches and their witchcraft were a threat to the well-being and holiness of the puritans and therefore they attempted to destroy them all. The puritans wanted a society full of people with the exact same views, beliefs and feeling concerning religion.
[edit] Theme of Fear
When witchcraft was beginning, people were so fearful of its affects. "And the houses of the good people are filled with the doleful shrieks of their children and servants, tormented by invisible hands." [11] All they had been exposed to were people living such in a way similar to them and when this form of apparent darkness and sin came into their lives they became overly fearful and were constantly worried about the so called devil worshipers. They also feared the destruction of their Puritan ideals and the churches as well. "And a Foundation of witchcraft then laid, which if it were not seasonably discovered, would probably blow up, and pull down all the churches in the country." [12] We can therefore see this them of fear presented in this story.
[edit] See Also
More Wonders of the Invisible World
[edit] External links
- Wonders of the Invisible World in etext.
- The Wonders of the Invisible World(1693 edition) in PDF format.
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume A. Seventh Addition. p.307
- ^ Ankarloo, Bengt and Henningsen, Gustav (editors) Early Modern European Witchcraft: Centres and Peripheries (1990). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 431-3.
- ^ The Norton Anthology: American Literature Volume A. Seventh Addition. p.309
- ^ The Norton Anthology: American Literature Volume A. Seventh Addition. p.313
- ^ The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume A. Seventh Edition. p.310
- ^ The Norton Anthology: American Literature Volume A. Seventh Addition. p.307
- ^ The Norton Anthology: American Literature Volume A. Seventh Addition. p.308
- ^ The Norton Anthology: American Literature Volume A. Seventh Addition. p.310
- ^ The Norton Anthology: American Literature Volume A. Seventh Addition. p.311
- ^ The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume A. Seventh Edition. p.309
- ^ The Norton Anthology: American Literature Volume A. Seventh Addition. p.309
- ^ The Norton Anthology: American Literature Volume A. Seventh Addition. p.309
