Roper, Witch Craze Post-Class
Questions brought up in class:Ā
What are the emotion rules of the time? For example, anger is a forbidden emotion in 21st century America. What emotions are forbidden to the accused witches?Ā
Roper discusses emotion of the accused witches and reactions (pgs: 50s-60). She points out that some women would think that their suffering was an imitation of the Passion of Christ. Ā As pointed out in class, this might be the expected reaction of a truly repenting sinner, because the society of the time thought that pain was good. Ā
Other women would feel despair and alienation from God, and this was the forbidden reaction for the accused witches because through this despair, they would "reveal themselves" as witches, because witches would have had these moments of doubt or despair that had left them open to the seduction of Satan. Ā
