Cunningham 4
Macrina Cunningham
Ms. Cunningham
Pre-AP English 10
15 October 2009
Mercy Lewis’s Insecurity Leads to Lies and Death
Mercy Lewis was one of the girls who accused people of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Mercy, along with to her well-known witch accusers Abigail Williams, Sarah Osborne, and Betty Parris, successfully created the Salem witch hunts ending with nineteen dead and over 100 accused. Though Mercy Lewis was not one of the girls who started the hysterical cries of witchcraft, she certainly played her role towards the end of the trials. She had direct involvement in the accusation of Elizabeth Proctor and the accusation and execution of Martha Corey. Mercy Lewis was an orphaned servant from Maine who moved to Massachusetts as an undesirable woman with no connections and no dowry. This made her extremely self-conscious so she desired a more respectable social identity. Mercy Lewis’ quest for an identity leads her to join the circle of girls who falsely accused people of witchcraft in Salem Massachusetts in 1692.
Though Mercy is guilty of false testimony of a court, she herself is not a stranger to the violent life that a lot of colonist faced. Even though Mercy did an incredibly unforgivable act in Salem with her fellow screaming girls, she did undertake her fair share of hardship in her life. Mercy was born in Falmouth, Maine in 1675. Unfortunately, her town was attacked by Native Americans and “killed all of Mercy's extended family” (Carroll). After her extended family was attacked, her parents were suspected to be killed in a later attack “witnessed by Mercy herself” (Carroll). Though witnessing the murder of her parents does not excuse Mercy from the false accusations she made, it does clarify her possible reasoning for wanting to rid Salem of the devil. This tragic eyewitness event of her life leads Mercy to connect the Native Americans with the devil. Thus Mercy could have been taking her pain out on innocent victims of Salem. She even testifies that “they were singing biblical passages regarding God's judgment of the heathen” (Carroll). This testimony indicates she believes the Native American’s killed her parents in direct opposition to the word of God.
Since Mercy lost her parents and her extended family to dreadful Native American attacks, she was sent to Massachusetts to work as a servant in the Putnam family home. Because of her past trauma she “experienced a traumatized childhood and lived in relatively insecure social and economic circumstances” (Carroll). Because of her social status, she didn’t have the opportunity to marry. Instead, she had to become a servant. Her self-consciousness of being a single unwanted woman made her easily influenced by others as a way of being accepted into a new village. Unfortunately, the cost of her security were the lives of at least two people whose trials she was directly involved. Mercy personally accused Martha Corey of witchcraft when Mercy was “drawn helplessly by an unseen force across a room directly towards a burning hearth while in the presence of an accused Martha Corey” (Carroll). As a result, Corey was hanged on the charge of witchcraft on September 22, 1692 (Smith). Mercy even went as far as faking seizures to ensure her role of ridding the devil of society. Mercy’s actions successfully landed her a spot in Abigail Williams’ clan of hysterical girls giving Mercy an identity and a social circle.
Once these ludicrous accusations came to an end, Mercy Lewis was accused of lying to the court. Mercy Lewis accused Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft. Elizabeth Proctor was convicted and sentenced to death but was saved by her pregnancy. One witness came forth and explained Mercy “said that she did it for sport they must have some sport” (“Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692”). Mercy’s confession leads to the unenviable understanding that she did lie about the witchcraft and that the accusations were made to entertain the girls. In addition to the confession of the witchcraft entertainment value, Mercy also confessed that she herself never “saw the wife of John Procter in her fit” (“Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692”). Though Mercy’s later confession may seem admirable, the selfishness of her convictions were not nearly as redeeming.
Mercy did have a troubled childhood. Her extended family was killed by the Native Americans. Soon after, her parents were murdered right in front of her. However, these unfortunate acts cannot excuse her for falsely accusing two woman of witchcraft. Mercy’s objective was to get back at the devil and to ensure a spot in a social circle. Instead of becoming friendly with morally sound girls, she finds liars and commits herself to their lies and blasphemy. In order to fit in, Mercy had a direct hand in the fates of two innocent women.
Works Cited
Carroll, Meghan. “Mercy Lewis.” Salem Witch Trials: Documentary Archive and Transcription
Project. 2001. University of Virginia. October 15, 2009 <http://www2.iath.virginia. edu/salem/people/mlewis.html
Smith, Jillian. Martha Corey. 2002. University of Albany. October 15, 2009 <http://www.
albany.edu/~as491996/marthacorey.html>
“Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692.” The
Salem Witchcraft Papers. Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nissenbaum. October 25, 2009 < http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-salemname? specfile =/texts/ english/ salem/public/ salem.o2w&act =text&offset= 1247571&query =lewmer&textreg=div3