One of the central themes of the magical world is that of law and order by the Wizengamot, as taught in the previous lesson.

     For our final lesson, we are going to focus on a very serious and pointless occurrence in our world's history. This event has always held a lot of meaning for me personally, and for our final lesson, we are going tie everything we have spoken about, and theorized, together to reach the climax of this class:

 

The Salem Witch Trials

    

     Obviously, for those members of the Wizarding world, we learn that the witch burnings did not hurt the witches and wizards in question. All a wizard or witch had to do was cast some sort of charm to mute or lessen the effect of the fire; such as the Flame-freezing charm. Wendelin the Weird, if we remember, enjoyed being burned so much that she allowed herself to be caught no less than forty-seven times in various disguises during Medieval times (History of Magic).

    

     However, these trials contributed to the culture of secrecy that seems central to many of the known wizarding laws. Why do so many of our laws focus on keeping wizards hidden from the muggle world, and is this a reasonable principle on which to base laws? Something to keep in mind.

     Now, for a little background information on one of the better known witch trials. These were a series of hearings before local magistrates and county courts to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in various towns such as, Essex, Suffolk and Middlesex, Massachusetts in 1692 and 1963.                                                 

                                                        

     The hearings of 1692 were conducted in the communities of Salem Village, Ipswich, Andover and Salem Town, Massachusetts. They occurred between February 1692 and May 1693 with over 150 people arrested, imprisoned, and prosecuted with even more accused who were not formally pursued by the authorities. The two courts (magistrate and county) convicted 29 people of the capital felony witchcraft; Fourteen women and five men were hanged for these false charges.

    

 Death by torture, being hanged, and rotting in prison were not the only methods used to rid the counties of so called 'witches.' Many innocent people were also burned at the stake; the people of the areas felt this was the only way to truly purge their communities of evil.

    

     One other man, having refused to enter a plea, died under judicial torture to obtain his confession and at least five more of the accused died in prison. The Salem Witch Trials were by no means the first or only witch hunts that have ever occurred, but they left a larger than normal imprint in the history of the muggle and magical world.

     Now, before we proceed, I want to draw your attention to a very important part of this lesson. Did you notice a sentence above that didn’t seem quite right? Well, none of it seemed right, mostly because it isn’t.

     “One other man, having refused to enter a plea, died under judicial torture to obtain a confession.”

     Sound familiar? The ministry of magic, during Lord Voldemort’s first reign of terror, conducted themselves in the very same manner and still do. If you remember, I asked you to keep in mind the description of Courtroom 10 from the previous lesson and now we shall find out why. An eye witness of criminal hearings at the Ministry of Magic has willingly given a description of the bleak chambers.

     “The room, as he had suspected when observing it from above, was almost certainly underground - more of a dungeon than a room, he thought. There was a bleak and forbidding air about the place; there were no pictures on the walls, no decorations at all; just these serried rows benches, rising in levels all around the room, all positioned so that they had a clear view of that chair with the chains on its arms,” (Rowling).

     This room is intimidating, hopeless, bleak, and no one in their right mind would want to be in there, especially with the possibility of criminal charges against them and a ticket to Azkaban.

Scare and Torture Tactics

     “The dementors - tall, hooded creatures whose faces were concealed - were gliding slowly toward the chair in the center of the room, each grasping one of the man’s arms with their dead and rotten-looking hands. The man between them looked as though he was about to faint,” (Rowling).

     The psychological turmoil one would have to go through during a court proceeding (excluding the dementors for the time being) would be inexorable. Now, add the dementors back in. Surely, the Ministry of Magic had to have a good few false confessions and accusations from people who were terrified for their lives and their families. I’ll let you consider this for a while.

     One of the most disturbing aspects of wizarding law seems to be the inequitable and inconsistent way that it is applied. Many times we have witnessed the false persecution of an individual. Whether the person is a suspected Death Eater or an underage wizard in the wrong place at the wrong time. To give a specific example of this twisted sense of justice, young Harry Potter had quite a few interesting issues with the Ministry of Magic. 

                     

     As a reference, the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery is a bylaw of the Ministry of Magic, written in 1875, which bans the use of underage magic outside of school. The Decree is enforced by the Ministry's Improper Use of Magic Office. At the time, when Harry was younger, he had some issues with performing this underage wizardry, but it wasn't always his fault. As sources say, Dobby the house-elf was the cause of one of the instances of wizardry, but Harry was blamed for it. However, a mere year later, Harry blows up his aunt like a Macy's Day Parade float, and Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic himself, writes it off as an “accident. ”Reasonable restriction? Interesting.

    

     I can only hope you have picked up on what I have been attempting to teach you over this semester. We've discussed superiority and inferiority in the magical world, specifically directed at magical creatures and muggles. We have gone over the myths of ancient magical symbols and the false meaning they have acquired over the centuries, adding to a misunderstanding and fear of magic and the unknown. You have seen how the Ministry of Magic conducts itself on a judicial level and you have seen that even the most powerful of governments can have massive flaws and moral dilemmas.

   

     Finally, the true persecution of what is feared and unknown through one simple example of the Salem Witch Trials. The purpose of their mention in this lesson was to demonstrate that wizards and witches are not the only people who have been persecuted wrongly. While it was mainly muggles persecuting other muggles, countless unnecessary lives were taken because of a hint of magic. However, non-magic folk are not alone in their wrongful accusations. The Ministry of Magic has been conducting witch hunts, persecuting innocent people, and flippantly looking out for their own well-being for decades. One should never be ignorant enough to say the entire Ministry of Magic is corrupt and misled, but keep in mind, a very well-known Irish philosopher once said, “All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing,” (Edmund Burke).                              

    

     Thus, I leave you at this lesson with a better understanding of what happens when magic mixes with muggles and when power blinds the eyes of those who, once upon a time, could truly see the outline of a better world.

 

     Your assignment is waiting for you.