A Witch Trial At Mount Holly Rhetorical Analysis

A witch trial at mount Holly: Franklin’s mockery toward puritan beliefs.
In “A Witch Trial at Mount Holly”, Benjamin Franklin illustrates what for an uneducated interpreter could seem as a legit historical event engaging a series of witch trials that transpired in a specific period of time. It is certain that an actual report never took place and that it is nothing but an elaborate hoax. However, Franklin’s true intentions of persuasion are exposed as he, through the usage of a distinct and profound rhetorical device, endeavors to convince his audience of the absurdity and foolishness of puritan beliefs. Through this satirical masterpiece Franklin intends to ridicule the masses that seek truth through superstition and irrationality, rather than through a scientific approach.
“The charges included "making their neighbours sheep dance in an uncommon manner, and with causing hogs to speak, and sing Psalms”. Franklin parodies some accusations that could be preceded by the hanging of people that apparently used witchcraft to carry out these heinous acts. Benjamin subsequently proceeds to mock the mechanisms implemented by the puritans to corroborate the presence of witchcraft. “In the first test they would be weighed in a scale against a Bible. If they were heavier than the Bible, then this would be evidence that they were not witches.” Any reader with a reasonable mind would recognize this test as comical and erroneous, for it is inconceivable that a bible could possibly outweigh a fully grown human being. “a Committee of Men were appointed to search the Men, and a Committee of Women to search the Women, to see if they had any Thing of Weight about them, particularly Pin”. Once again, the author satirizes the lunacy of witch trials through the prior remark. After all, something as miniscule as a pin cannot augment a person’s weight in a perceivable manner and thus would fail to alter the outcome