‘Bitch Witch’: Childhood and Affliction

Accusations of witchcraft in Salem were made primarily by those frequently termed as ‘the afflicted girls’, and much of the focus on children in Salem narratives has attempted to determine their role. This chapter therefore aims to consider the implications of the terminology of guilt and innocence in the trials and their aftermath. I also consider the language of ‘performance’ so often applied to the girls and examine how narratives have shifted since the time of the trials. Finally, I consider how such a constant replaying of the trials is based on our need to assign children certain roles in society and how the ‘afflicted girls’ have come to represent both an adult idealisation of childhood and a fear that we might be wrong.