Salem Witch Trials Essay

During The Crucible, the Witch Trials caused many court hearings. A good deal of the court hearings consisted of people over exaggerating outbursts of demons inside of them just to get somebody convicted. The Witch Trails also affected the church in many ways. Reverend Parris’ already had a wicked reputation as their minister, and the trials made it even worse. People wanted him out of the church.

Nineteen people were hung due to false judgement by human nature and society. Taking place in a small village called Salem, inside of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, during a depressing seventeenth century, was a movement that would challenge the nation’s religious and psychological beliefs. Innocent people were being accused of witchcraft, when rather they were just ill or not taken care of properly by family and friends. Thought to be caused by stress, fear, and panic, the Salem Witch Trials was an event that changed the nation’s view on mental illness because of false assumptions and mischievous behavior. The Salem Witch Trials was a series of false accusations of witchcraft taking place in Salem, which during the seventeenth century, was apart of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

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.

Justice was not served in either one of the two cases mentioned above. People made assumptions on false evidence, and justice was mutilated in both situations. In the Salem Witch Trials, people were convicted of witchcraft because of hearsay and lies. The colonies came out and apologized to the people convicted years later, but is that really justice? In my opinion, the colonies are making a mute attempt to admit that they have done wrong.

Bridget Bishop was the first witch hung. Eighteen other people followed Bishop and one hundred and fifty men, women, and children were accused through the following months. Though the Massachusetts General Court later cancelled guilty decisions against suspect witches and granted securities to their families, bitterness remained in the community, and the agonizing legacy of the Salem Witch Trials would suffer for centuries. Belief in the supernatural, more specifically in the devil, came into view in Europe around the early 14th century. As

The Salem witch trial hysteria of 1692 may have been instigated by religious, social, geographic and even biological factors. During these trials, 134 people were condemned as witches and 19 were hanged. These statistics also include 5 more deaths that occurred prior to their execution date. It is interesting to look into the causes of this stain on American History, when as shown in document B, eight citizens were hanged in only one day. Religion was a very strong influence in the lives of Puritans as they followed a very strict moral code and based their entire lives on their faith.

In Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, passions turned into problems. Witchcraft in Salem Massachusetts became a remembered event since 1692. Three girls were said to have interactions with the devil. When they were confronted about it they denied every interaction the people who were convicted they would say they weren’t a witch and would bring someone else’s name into the equation. Those who would admit to being a witch would go to jail, but for those who denied having interaction with the devil would have been trialed and hung, so really, anyway you put it it’s a lose-lose situation.

The same social, religion and political factors that created witch hunting impacted the decline and end of the witch hunts. In England there were only about one thousand that are believed to have been executed for being witches. Witchcraft belief continued in England but in 1736 the Witchcraft Act was changed to decriminalize witchcraft and charge a person who claimed any human had magical powers. People found it unreasonable to believe in the old view of a world haunted by evil

In Europe, many of the accused witches were executed by hanging. Many practicing Christians, at the time, believed that the Devil could persuade people to use the powers that he gave them to harm others. The Salem Witch Trials occurred because of resource struggles, many women were accused and tortured, and in the end the Governor realized that it was a big mistake. (“Salem Witch Trials”, 1). In 1689, English rulers William and Mary started a war with France in the American colonies which sent many refugees into the Essex County and Salem Village.

The Salem Witch Trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft between 1692 and 1693. It occured in colonial Massachusetts, relying on a theocracy. The government and religious authority inseparably rule together, and individuals who question authority are accused of questioning God and his authority. There are multiple characters who played major roles in The Crucible but each of them contributed to the play in different ways. Abigail Williams is a major character who was one of the main reasons the Salem Witch Trials took place.

As a result of this hatred, and also because the family of the accused was always suspicious, he was tried as a warlock a month later. During his entire trial, he refused to plead, because he felt his guilt was already decided. As a result of this deadly silence, he was pressed to death on September 19, 1692, being the only person to be pressed to death in the Trials. Tituba was the Parris’ Caribbean slave, whose origins came from West India. As a result of this heritage, she was feared by her Puritan masters.

The last possible cause would be gender-related. Approximately 78% of witches were women. Women were believed to have bonded with the devil and were more susceptible to sin. Puritans apparently didn’t agree with the common European viewpoint that women were more evil than men. Historians believed that these trials were aimed at women who did not stay in their role.