Black is student's original writing
Blue is teacher's correction Red is teacher's explanation
An
Essay About Witchcraft, Witches and Superstitions
Were
people in the past really stupid for believing in witchcraft?
Nowadays many people tend to make fun of, or doubt, the way men and
woman in the past believed in witches. People now dress up for
Halloween. When the play Macbeth was performed in Shakespeare's
time, the audience knew instantly that the three people at the
beginning were witches because of what they were wearing and how
they spoke. Nowadays directors must find another way of showing that
certain characters are witches. If they dressed the same as the
people in Shakespeare's time people might laugh because their
opinion of witchcraft is different today.
However, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries many people took
witchcraft seriously. Books and handbills from the time tell us that
many people were very scared of witches and what witches could do to
them and their families.
Between the years 1560 and 1709. hundreds of witch trials took place
which resulted in many innocent people being hung or drowned.
Accusations of witchcraft began with an animal dying in a strange
manner, gossip or children becoming ill or dying. An example of
animals dying starting accusations of witchcraft is. when a
man who lived near Mr and Mrs Castle had 3 cows die in the space of
3 weeks, this began accusations that Elizabeth Castle was a witch.
Today we would simply say that this was due to a disease.
An example of gossip starting accusations of witchcraft is when,
Elizabeth Castle said that two men, George Clarke and Clement Courte
were worthless. This angered many people and again started rumors
that Elizabeth Castle was a witch.
One young boy was taken ill and eventually he died. Soon after this
two other boys were taken ill with similar symptoms but after lots
of treatment the boys recovered. Later on people began to accuse
Elizabeth Castle of making the children ill. This is an example of
children becoming ill or dying starting accusations of witchcraft.
Nowadays we would say that this was an illness. also there is no
proof that they had the same illness.
An
Essay About Witchcraft, Witches and Superstitions
