Final answer:
George Jacobs was named a witch as part of the Salem witch trials due to the mass hysteria that accused individuals deviating from societal norms of practicing witchcraft.
Step-by-step explanation:
Giles Corey mentions that George Jacobs is named a witch due in large part to the witchcraft hysteria that took over Salem, Massachusetts, during the 1692 witch trials. In this period of mass anxiety and the widespread belief in supernatural evil, accusations were often driven by social nonconformity, misfortune, or personal vendettas. Accusers, spurred on by attention and power, often claimed to have witnessed impossible magical acts, leading to the indictment of over a hundred individuals and the execution of nineteen.
The case of George Jacobs fits within this context, where any form of deviation from strict societal norms could cast suspicion upon an individual and label them as a practitioner of witchcraft. Jacobs, like many others, became a victim of the accusers’ claims, in a time when rational explanations were overruled by fear and the desire to find a scapegoat for societal ills. The Salem witch trials were marked by extreme measures and the deaths of many accused witches, reflecting the dangerous power of hysteria and persecution.