Salem Witch Trials Film Analysis

The Salem Witch Trials were a gruesome part of our history in America. More than two hundred people were accused of witchcraft during years of 1692 through 1693. Historians believe that Ann Putnam Jr. and other accusers were badgered to accuse certain people. The parents (of the afflicted girls), Thomas Putnam and Reverend Samuel Parris told the afflicted girls to accuse others, were thought to be seeking out revenge for the accused. Most of the accused victims were either very wealthy or were social outcasts.

During the Witch Trials, Parris’ teachings also revolved more around Satan and a person’s sinful ways. Lastly, the final effect of the Salem Witch Trials was that it affected many individuals personally. Reverend Parris’ reputation became so horrible, they voted him out of the church. Then, John Procter was convicted of witchcraft and hung. Meanwhile, Abigail was driven out of town and thought to have become a prostitute in Boston.

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

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.

Other locations that suffered from this witch hysteria are Bamberg, Eichstatt, Mainz, and Ellwangen. As became typical of the witch trials, the exact number of victims is not known. 157 executions were recorded through February, 1629. After that time the executions were not recorded. The total number of victims in the city itself is estimated to be around 219 total victims.

Do you know what affected America the most? The Salem witch trials had a great affect on America; so great that Christianity had to change their ways. This also was one of the great mistakes America had made at the time. The salem witch trials began as a misdiagnosis on a woman named Betty Parris in Salem, she was ‘strangely’ sick.

It was a series of hearings before local magistrates, which led to county court trials to persecute people accused of witchcraft. Trials took place against the theocratic, Puritan British colony where the church ruled in civil matters.

The Witch Craze is best described as a product of the political and social tension taking place between about 1480 to 1700. This tension was mostly due to the clashing Protestant and Catholic Reformations. What the people once thought of as true, was now being contested, and therefore, the Witch Craze ensued, causing the deaths of about 100,000 innocent people. Due to the uneasiness and confusion the current events at the time caused, people were not sure what to believe, and therefore, these events took place. However, those thousands weren 't slaughtered haphazardly.

Rough Draft Being known as a horror writer may be Mary Shelley’s claim to fame. In fact, at the mention of the author’s name, most people will automatically envision the bolt-necked monster with which we are all familiar. While Mary Shelley did not gain much recognition for her work during her lifetime, she used her experience and her writing to promote equality for women. She took aweful experiences throughout her lifetime and made magical horror stories about it and transformed herself into the horror story Mary Shelley we all know of now hundreds or years later. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin was born August 30th, 1797 in London, England.

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.

Lastly, the evidence that was shown in a map of Salem Village and Salem Town. I noticed that in Salem Village, there are a lot of accusers, not a lot of defenders and only two were accused of being a witch. While in Salem Town, there are a ton of defenders, little accusers but a lot of accused of being witches. It’s really weird because one side are accusers but the other side are defenders.

Throughout the course of America’s history there are many events of injustice: the mistreatment of Native Americans, using African Americans as personal property, and accusing men and women in Salem, Massachusetts of witchcraft. The Salem witch trials occurred many years ago in 1692. In the Puritan community, religion was a huge part of life. It controlled most of people’s everyday activities and was a way to find hope in their difficult, unglamourous lives. According to History.com, “Puritans were portrayed by their enemies as hair splitters who slavishly followed their bibles as guides to daily life” (Delbanco).

There are several incidences in history when someone was accused of witchcraft. Maybe they didn’t have anything to do with witchcraft but if someone said it, everyone believed them. Some many people’s lives were taken because of something they didn’t do not had a part in. From June – September 1692, 19 men and women have been convicted of witchcraft. They were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village for hanging.

The hallucinogenic and mind altering effects of ergot poisoning seems to be the most widely accepted theory. Prior to the events in Salem, ergot poisoning was responsible for the deaths of large numbers of people in Europe throughout the middle ages in what came to be known as Saint Anthony’s Fire (Goldberg, 275). Symptoms of ergot poisoning include hallucinations, disorientation, spasms, and a burning sensation in the hands and feet (Secrets of the Dead). These symptoms were similar to the behavior of both the accused witches and the supposed victims of witchcraft, who apparently suffered from torture by an unseen force and reported being bitten and scratched (The Salem Journal: The Aftermath). Or perhaps it is no coincidence that many of the accused witches were girls between the ages of 11 and 20, living in a society that had little concern for the hormonal changes of puberty.

The context behind this document was to show that many more women died than the number of men who had died. This shows how the persecutions of witchcraft and the Thirty years’ war were similar because both the number of executions and the Thirty years’ war took place in Germany. Document 5 was about Martin Luther’s views on witches. Martin Luther’s point of view is that Witches are evil, and work with the Devil, and do all the work he can’t do. This shows a similarity between the persecutions of witchcraft and the Thirty Years war because during the thirty years’ war Kings needed to make an excuse that they were fighting over religion instead they were fighting over land, just like how men found an excuse to execute women who acted differently or did not behave the way they wanted them to.