Your discussion question this week is broken into TWO parts and you will find all the information you need in your Week 9 module: 1. Your first assignment is to experience a simulated witch trial. After watching and reading the material I have given you, please follow the link provided to participate in an online simulation of a witch trial that would have taken place in 15th century Europe. This simulation will give you a deeper understanding of how these accusations occurred and how the element of fear is used to oppress and control people. I included two videos. If you don't have time to watch both, then I highly recommend watching the one on the Pendle Witch Trial of 1612. Pendle Witch Trial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MATKIhrDZSc 2. Your second assignment is to critique and analyze Hieronymus Bosch's famous painting, "The Garden of Earthly Delights." Bosch has been described as a painter of nightmares and has a way of tapping into our greatest fears and so this week we will discover just how much our fears today are still reflected in those painted by him hundreds of years ago. Not only will you become more familiar with his artwork but you will also gain a better understanding of interpreting symbols in art. All the information you will need for this is also in your Week 9 module. I have provided you with a lot of information, but please make sure you watch EITHER the video on Bosch OR the link for the slide tutorial on the middle panel of the Garden of Earthly Delights. This will help you complete the discussion this week. Week 9: Discussion Part ONE: The Witch Trials The witch trials during the Reformation would become known as "the female holocaust," and as you learned in the documentaries, many villages were wiped clean of women. Between last week with the trial of Joan of Arc, and now the witch trials, we see how frightening it is to be misjudged and put on trial for something that you did not do. These medieval witch hunts were about fear, politics, religion, science and magic. But it's also about words and stories and just how powerful they can be. I think this is incredibly relevant today; not just with modern witch trials that are still happening to people all over the world; but also in the media; when fake news meant to instill panic and fear spreads like wildfire because we feed those flames, just like the flames that were used to execute women. PART 1: Before you answer the following discussion question, please make sure you've done the previous witch trial simulation. Also found here: http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/witch/hunt/ (Links to an external site.) Take notes as you go along, because you will need to answer the following questions: 1. Did you confess quickly or deny your guilt? 2. What was the final outcome of your decision? 3. What type of evidence did the authorities use against you to accuse you of witchcraft? 4. What kind of crimes did the authorities believe witches committed? 5. ...