'She Died Like Good Old Jacob': Deathbed Scenes and Inversions of Power in New England, 1675-1775.

A resignation to God's will, a hope for salvation, and a few final ministerial words of comfort characterized deathbed scenes in New England. Cultural tensions often altered that format, however, as the dying looked for some assurance of salvation. Lay attitudes often differed from clerical ones, and thus there was no single Puritan way of death. The author surveys model deathbed scenes in which people died hopeful deaths and then contrasts them with non-model deathbed scenes in which people died fearing Satan, hell, or even death itself. Non-model deathbed scenes often reflected an inversion of power, from clergy to laity, and they frequently involved women.