Salem Witch Trials: John Hawthorne, John Hale And Cotton Mather

“He have his goodness now. God forbid i take it from him!” (63), schrieks Elizabeth Proctor as she watches her husband get executed right in front of her. Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, tells a story about the Puritan civilization taking place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, becoming corrupted by the lies of witchcraft. Some in the town believe this witch hunt is made-up, not believing in the accusations handed to them.

The Salem witch trials took place because of people practicing witchcraft and they were not witches. This resulted in the imprisonment /execution of more than 200 people. Centuries ago many Christians and those who practiced other religions believed that the Devil gave certain people known as witches power to bring harm to other people in exchange for their loyalty to him. From 1300 to the end of 1600 raged in Europe.

The people in wich where accused were sentenced to hang if they did not confess, or they would be killed. “You have confessed yourself to witchcraft, and that speaks a wish to come to Heaven 's side. And we will bless you, Tituba.” (Miller ActI) During the play, there is not just one person or thing that could be pointed responsible for the end result.

The Crucible Reading Logs 1: Thomas Putnam, a landowner in Salem, contributed greatly to the trials. Putnam was one of the first characters to blame witchcraft for his own daughter's sickness, along with the minister's daughter, Betty Parris. Furthermore, Putnam was quick to believe that “hurtful, vengeful, spirits” (Miller, 15) were laying hand on the children. In addition he feels as though there is a “murdering witch” (16) among them. Consequently, in Salem if someone is “hung for a witch” (96) then they must “forfeit their property” (96) which is “the law” (96).

Instead of accusing all of the innocent people of witchcraft, Proctor simply gives the explanation that the girls are lying to save their lives. After this, Proctor goes to court to testify his beliefs. In court, Proctor continues to argue with Hale and provides evidence that Abigail is guilty. “Is the accuser always holy now?… This warrant’s vengeance!”

The aftermath of the Salem witch trials left many people feeling immense guilt for either accusing those they knew were innocent, or sending those innocent people to their deaths. Dominic Alexander put it best when he said, “Although the witch-hunts remain among the most horrific events of European history, one good emerged from all the misery: torture ceased to be a normal part of the judicial process” (2002, pg. 197).

She was a victim of the witch trials after the Putnams accuse her of witchery and she refuses to confess. She represents goodness and strength for the people who chose not to confess and give up their lives. Reverend Hale was summoned to Salem to investigate the “witchcraft” that is supposedly responsible for the younger children's mysterious illnesses. For the first part of the play, he supported there was witchcraft in the town but later he agrees the girls are all lying and he was being manipulated by them. He represents the truth of what is happening and tries to correct the wrongfulness by telling the prisoners to confess and save their lives, even though it would be a lie.

The Salem witch trials proved to be one of the most cruel and fear driven events to ever occur in history. Many innocent people were accused of witchcraft, and while some got out of the situation alive not everyone was as lucky. Arthur Miller the author of The Crucible conveys this horrific event in his book and demonstrates what fear can lead people to do. But the reason as to why Arthur Miller felt the need to write The Crucible in the first place was because the unfortunate reality that history seemed to have repeated itself again. In the article “Are You Now or Were You Ever”, Arthur Miller claims that the McCarthy era and the Salem witch trials were similar and he does this through his choice of diction, figurative language, and rhetorical questions.

In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows that truth does not concern the people of Salem; the townspeople are concerned with what they want the truth to be. The idea of witchcraft has plagued Salem, several girls including Tituba and Abigail have confessed to practicing witchcraft. Salem is relying on Abigail and her friends to tell the truth, they do not know that there is no thing as witchcraft. Proctor presents himself to the court to testify against Abigail, the court dose not listen because Danforth and the other court members are concerned with preserving the reputation of the court. While Abigail uses lies to protect her reputation, Proctor uses the truth.

Due to their knowledge of the true causes of the witchcraft trials, they had the opportunity to act differently from the rest of the characters. Reverend Hale changes from a revered witch hunter, determined to solve the supernatural occurrences in Salem into a remorseful man who does everything in his power to help the accused. Although condemned by the end of the play, John Proctor dies honorably after sacrificing his dignity in an attempt to save his wife. Mary Warren ultimately becomes a liar by disregarding the truth to save herself and be accepted in Abigail’s pack. Although not all the characters in The Crucible transformed for the best, change and the motivation to change was essential in order to determine the characters’ process of

Multiple accused individuals died while they were in prison, due to the terrible conditions. During the time of imprisonment the accused people were said to have been tortured and even denied water to try and get them to confess to being witches. One common story that is spoken with the Salem Witch Trials really shows how far they went with the situation. That story involves a man named Giles Corey, who was accused of being a witch, but unlike the others he refused to plead in any way. In an effort to get him to talk, Corey was forced to remove his clothes and lay flat on his back where they began to place large rocks on top of his body.

Because of a servant telling the children of the town of sorcery and the devil, they began to believe what they had heard. The town was scared of the “possessed” people, thinking that killing them would stop the problem. Sadly, over 24 men, women and children died because they were assumed to have possessed by the devil. Bridget Bishop was the first accused and was hung on June 10, 1692. Many followed, until the court overruled the judgement of the mayor.

Witchcraft. The Epidemic In the summer 1692 the town of Salem, Massachusetts spiraled into a witchcraft epidemic, 19 people were hanged and 1 person was pressed to death. People started to get marks and rashes on their body and when a doctor couldn 't even explain it they started accusing people of witchcraft. Bridget Bishop was the first victim of hanging during the epidemic. Then after that it went downhill.

One of the first accused was Samuel Parris’ own slave, Tituba. It was unheard of for a Reverend to have witchcraft practiced under his own roof, and Parris could not afford to lose his reputation. Samuel stood by his children in court as they testified against the accused, and he even helped them by testifying against Rebecca Nurse. People thought for certain that if the Reverend was standing with the girls against the so called “evil witches” that there must be a real problem. Parris even made a statement that the witches were plotting against Christianity, which made sense if the witches were indeed working for the Devil.

Soon after these three hanging days, the Court was disbanded by Governor William Phillips. After the original court was disbanded, another court formed. The original court allowed the use of spectral evidence. This was a big deal because many people in the village would claim that the accused would use their invisible “shapes or specters” to torture them which obviously could not be proven true. The new court didn’t allow this type of evidence though