When they were hunting down communists and people were accusing everyone of being communists to keep the blame away from them. The term “witch hunt” is used today without any religious context to describe a period where people are accusing others of whatever the biggest issue was at that time. Salem wanted to alleviate itself from dangerous and threatening individuals. Greedy people wanted the new economic and political capitalism to themselves, and if that meant you accuse your neighbor of witchcraft, that’s what you did. People lived in fear, if they were at the wrong place at the wrong time, they could be accused, or if they said something to the wrong person, they could’ve been accused.
In Scotland the majority belief was that witches can make prophecies and affect outcomes. Witchcraft was seen as an evil practice with the devil that was a threat to social stability. The Scottish took great measures to try to limit witchcraft. King Kenneth threatened to burn anyone planning on calling spirits. Witches could influence people's ideas and thoughts and Shakespeare portrayed this, “I’ll drain him dry as hay.
Not surprisingly, Shakespeare’s writing strongly reflected ideas about witchcraft in his time. In Macbeth, Shakespeare’s witch plans the harm she will cause another’s husband, who is a sailor on a ship (Levin 2), exemplifying the witch who is able able to cause adverse events, causing harm, or punishing others. Also, the witches attempted to use ‘image magic’, which is when a person creates a wax figure and then harms that figure, thus causing harm to the actual person (Levin 6). This idea of abstract magical power contrasted with witchcraft in the Dark Ages where power was derived more from knowledge and use of specific herbs and potions. The invention of the printing press similarly had the ironic effect of spreading belief in witches along
In George Wright’s , Rupert Goold’s , and Kurzel’s movies , all of the witches seemed to say the same lines , despite them being from different timelines . In addition , in all of the movies , the witches create a somewhat eery and chilling atmosphere , whether it was because of the background music or lighting . Not to mention their conversation sounded like a spell as they spoke in rhyme and unison chanting which gives a foreboding atmosphere. Although all of those movies have some few things in common when it comes to the witches’ roles , there are things that occur in the 2006 and 2004 movies that don 't happen in the 2015 movie . We can see that in both of those movies , the witches either destroy something or kill someone .
“The belief was that the devil branded the bodies of witches with symbolic yet concrete corporeal malformations such as marks and growths” (Darr, 361). To find these marks, Darr states that, “They were stripped naked, sometimes having their bodies completely shaved, and every part of their bodies was thoroughly examined.” Similar to public confessions, using natural born marks as evidence against the accused is invalid, as this does not accurately prove the suspect to be a witch. Furthermore, the violation of privacy to find these marks is inhumane and animalistic. Therefore, using illegitimate and compromising proof against those convicted of witchcraft is not only dehumanizing and corrupt, it further reinforces that these trials were a social injustice and a horrendous deed committed on United States
It symbolizes witchcraft because of the transformation from good to evil. Like stated previously it symbolizes innocence because it’s usually an object that would be given to a child. In witchcraft a doll can be used to do harm to others; a voodoo doll. When Abigail Williams saw the doll at John Proctor's home and saw the needle stuck into the doll, she decided to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft. Lastly, Miller put integrity to the test through the use of sin.
"The story of witchcraft is primarily the story of women . . . ." Karlsen argues for the relevance and importance of women’s roles in the panic of witchcraft fear in 17th Century American society.
Such similarities include the false imprisonment of innocent people based off of prejudice beliefs and heavily biased justice systems. The Salem Witch Trials began in the year 1692 when several young girls in Salem, Massachusetts were acting so strange that they were believed to be under a witch’s spell (Schiff). When confronted, the girls began accusing others of practicing witchcraft (Schiff). Many people were soon accusing others or being accused of witchcraft; they were being accused for various reasons such as unexplained illnesses, failed crops, or a woman could even be accused if she could open something a man could not (Brandt, p. 38). As stated in Anthony Brandt’s article, An Unholy Mess, “Legally, spectral evidence was not grounds for convicting a witch.
She even argues with Oberon on India’s behalf. She says (Act 1, Scene 1). Will of the wisp was another fairy punishment. The man who lost his way on the road thought to be astray by the will of the wisp. “Fairies often mislead wanderers and sometimes strike them or wound them with fairy weapons” (Green 67) Fairies were a source of supernatural power since they have an ability to foresee the future so many people, especially magicians of the Elizabethan times “contained instruction for conjuring them up in order to learn a variety of occult secrets” (Thomas 609).
Shakespeare’s makes the witches seem slightly ridiculous by describing their facial structure such as their beard and bizarre potions. The witches speak very differently from the other characters, the witches speak in rhyming couplet where as the other characters just speak in lines of 10 syllables. Despite how ridiculous shakespeare presents them they are clearly the most dangerous