Dbq Jealousy: The Salem Witch Trials

Most all people who accused others for being witches were young girls. Many people were put to death because of these people accusing them. After the trials were done they were very deeply regretting their decisions when they found the women that were accusing were lying and found guilty. On February 29, the girls blamed three women for cursing them: Tituba, a slave; Sarah Good, a homeless woman; and Sarah Osborne, an elderly woman. Not until 1957, 250 years later, did Massachusetts apologize for what they the Witch Trials did.

Samuel questioned the girls until they eventually told him that his slave Tituba was a witch. The girls also named Sarah Osbourne as well as Sarah Good as the ones tormenting them. On March 1, 1692, Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osbourne were arrested for practicing witchcraft. Tituba confessed to having made a pact with Satan, causing a psychological dam to brake, releasing a torrent of emotion and hostility on the part of the girls and shortly thereafter on the part of the entire local community.9 The start of the accusations by the girls also initiated the executions. Over 150 men and women were accused and arrested for witchcraft and some were executed.10

An example of this is, “For example, Parris’s niece, Abigail Williams, fingered 41 different witches for attacking her; Ann Putnam Jr. accused 53; her servant, Mercy Lewis, blamed 54; and a girl named Mary Walcott, who was Ann’s step-cousin, named an astonishing 69 witches” (Schanzer 56). Most people would have never known if they were going to be accused or not. The Salem Witch Trials were indeed unfair because the accusers had absolutely no evidence. Also, the accusations themselves were just incredibly random, and the judges were so gullible that they would just believe almost anything.

Two of the most influential were two young girls who sparked the trials by accusing local witches of using witchcraft on them. The two girls were cousins and their names were Betty Parris and Abigail Williams. According to Jeffrey Russell in A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans, “Two small girls aged nine and eleven began experimenting with divination in a half-serious attempt to discover who their future husbands would be. As often happens with people who play with magic, the children became terrified and began to exhibit nervous symptoms, thrashing about and assuming odd postures” (114) Apparently, they were playing around and it quickly turned into something much more serious.

Rebecca Nurse was blamed for the death of all of Ann Putnam’s children, except for one. The events also caused numerous people to be convicted of witchcraft, some of them being executed. Two of the most notable people convicted in the play were John Procter, condemned for adultery and later hung, and Tituba, who confessed, saving her own life.

who was a beggar, and Sarah Osborne, a widower. Both Sarah claimed innocence while after days of interrogation, Tituba then confessed to practice witchcraft. Ann Putnam Jr. among the other girls claimed to have been acting similarly. Ann Putnam Jr. accused 19 people and 11 of them were hanged. Her name was said to be written more than 400 times in the court documents of the trials.

“Why, it is a lie, it is a lie; how may I damn myself? I cannot I cannot.” Rebecca Nurse, a character from The Crucible, is on the verge of being condemned to hand for witchcraft and is being pressured into admitting her identity. Rebecca is a married women to Francis Nurse. She is a kind, religious woman who has raised eleven wonderful children.

In Document B, Demos presents that most of the accusers of witches were single females in their younger years of age. In the late 1600s, women were extremely dependent upon men for their financial stability, overall safety, and mental/emotional well being. In an interpretation of this document, it can be assumed that these younger female women were seeking family ties and protection in a harsher time period. On the same hand, Document C, a most likely extremely biased account, recounts the “bewitched actions” of Bridget Bishop, a witch, upon the afflicted. Samuel Parris, the examiner of Bishop, seems to shed a negative light on Bishop.

For instance, many of the accused were important members of the community with moderate wealth. If they were convicted, the law stated the accuser would receive their property so identifying them as a witch would be beneficial to them. Another considered though unrealistic theory was the result of centuries of pent up sexual repression and tension caused them to snap and go after witches who were considered to be promiscuous. Some think the girls may have had epilepsy, were abused, had mental defects, made up the whole thing as a game, or were forced to do it by their parents to get revenge on individuals they didn’t like. Some Historians believe wealth, difference in religious preferences, family feuds, and property disagreements were the basis.

Salem Witch Trials According to Blumberg, the Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft- the Devil’s magic- and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. Since then, the story of the trials has become synonymous with paranoia and injustice, and it continues to beguile the popular imagination more than 300 years later.

Living in Salem in the summer and spring of 1692 would’ve been an extremely hectic experience, especially if you were a married woman with another woman who wanted your man. Many people were put to death in the months between June and September, and had it not been for a mass hanging, it might have continued for who knows how long. The accusers of the Witch Trials were mainly jealous women who were out for the man(or land) of an accused woman, but that was not always the case. Some men(boys, really) accused others of being witches for the reason that a.) they wanted their land, or b.)

In 1962 the Salem Witchcraft Trials started. In Salem, Massachusetts there were puritans the had a lot of paranoia. Why did 20 people die of the Salem Witchcraft Trials? The Salem Witchcraft Trial was caused by poor young girls who acted possessed. Most of the accusers were under 20 years old.

We think not. The people accused and were accused the most were the women. Which makes me think that it must have something to do with jealousy of other women and wanting what they have, so the easiest way to get them gone is to fake it till you make it. The people of salem were confused and worried.

In February 1692 to May 1693, there was a series of hearings and prosecutions. This was called the Salem Witch Trials. People were accused of doing witchcraft and was killed. The Salem Witch Trials was known to be one of the darkest moment of colonist America. The Salem Witch Trials started in 1692 when a group of young girls in Salem Village when they were claimed to be possessed by a devil.

Salem witch testing The year 1692 is when madness broke out in a small village called Salem. This disaster started when a group of young girls displayed unusual behavior. This group of girls claimed to be possessed and when asked who controlled their behavior the girls replied with the name of a slave. This led the village to accuse women of witchcraft.