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Elizabethan Era Witches and Witchcraft Essay Example

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Elizabethan Era Witches and Witchcraft Essay Example
When children are little they sometimes like to dress up as witches or wizards and think how cool it would actually be one. However, back in the 15th century, people wouldn’t agree. People in the Elizabethan era were killed because they were witches. The citizens who killed the “witches” and accused others of being witches were just scared of the changing world. People of the era thought all the new inventions were made and discovered because witches created them. It got to the point that even owning some common herbs meant death. During the Elizabethan era the ignorance of the people resulted in the killing of the witches.
The image of a witch developed over time and it was based on the idea of an old single women. The witches’ broom stick was added to witches because it was a common household item of women and it was the explanation of how witches could travel long distances in such a short time. These days, witches are seen as old hags. That image was given to them because the women accused were single and did not have a man to defend them. Because these single women would often own a cat or other animals, the animals was seen as a familiar; an evil spirit in animal form that does evil deeds for its companion. One of the more famous superstitions is that witches brewed potions. Wise woman would often be able to create medicines from common herbs. (Elizabethan-superstitions) The reason so many people knew about herbs and how to craft poisons is that witchcraft was seen as religion and so was passed on from generation to generation. (Witchcrafthistory)
Bibles are one of the main ways the idea of witches and their witchcraft being evil was spread. Bibles were the first of the printed books, and since the bible was so popular many people read it. In the bible, the witches were talked of in slanderous terms. Also there was limited knowledge at the time, so when something bad happened and no one knew the answer, there had to be someone to blame, so they blamed

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