Salem, Massachusetts in the year sixteen ninety-two is remembered as a time of mass hysteria. The citizens of Salem were being “attacked” by an unseen force, of whom they perceived to be none other than Satan himself. The common belief was that the devil recruited witches to do his dirty work for him. They believed these witches were hidden right under their noses, members of their own town. The citizens felt it was their duty to destroy the witches for the good of the community.
John deals with Abigail and a dozen or so other tormented girls, as does the whole town. They cry witchery at everyone who has wronged them or defies them in any way, causing hangings of supposed “witches” that were innocent to anyone with common sense. These girls are widely believed by all, henceforth why Proctor proposes that the children are terrorizing the town; “Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now?...Vengeance is walking Salem...The little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!” (Miller 1179). Proctor explains how these girls are frauds and have caused this whole mess and how now his wife, of the best people in Salem, is now being accused of witchcraft from a puppet (poppet) placed in their home by one of the girls.
Especially in such a puritan society, such as Salem, the Devil is recognized as a malicious creature who is behind the “Witchcraft” and “sickness” taking place. As Mr. and Mrs. Putnam attempt to jump to conclusion that “there are hurtful, vengeful spirits layin hands on these children”(15), Mrs. Putnam justifies the idea with how she “ha[s] laid seven babies unbaptized in the earth… and yet, each would wither in [her] arms the very night of their birth. I have spoke nothin… and now, this year, my Ruth... shrivels like a sucking mouth were pullin’ on her life too”(15). Mrs. Putnam displays this new notion of death and sickness now being symptoms of the Devil. For the Devil, his power is manufactured by the residents of Salem, more so, their fear and concern towards the Devil.
He threatened excommunication and hell fire in my last moments if I continued obdurate.” (Shelley 94) The Crucible featured a trial in the third act where several characters accuse Abigail Williams, the main antagonist, of deceiving the court by falsely accusing people of witchcraft. As their evidence they present a follower to one of the girls, Mary Warren, to provide witness testimony to this. Abigail interferes by accusing her of witchcraft. As the trial goes on Mary Warren collapses under pressure and continues to go along with the game since she feared death. (Miller, Act 3) Both of the locations of the trials mattered to the outcome of the verdicts.
Both trials were held with barely any proof against the person being accused and were solely based off of false accusations. The Hollywood Ten were ten directors and producers who were wrongly accused of being communists. They were forced to appear before the House of Un-American Activities Committee and they refused to answer any questions about their connections towards communism. Likewise, in The Crucible John Proctor, Elizabeth Tituba, Giles Corey, Martha Corey, Rebecca Nurse, Goody Osborne, and Goody Good were all falsely accused of being associated with witchcraft. Abigail Williams was the person behind most of these accusations and that led to even more people being accused.
Witchcraft was second among the hierarchy of crimes which was above blasphemy, murder and poisoning in the Puritan Code of 1641. Since England had their own witch hunts, it was said that the anxiety spread to New England mainly because of a pamphleteer Cotton Mather. It started early 1692 when the daughter and niece of Salem local minister, Samuel Parris had strange violent convulsions and loud outbursts. The only local doctor of the village which only could read but not write, then concluded that the girls were bewitched. There were three primary “suspected” witches, the minister’s slave Tituba, Sarah Good who was a beggar, and Sarah Osborne, a widower.
The Salem-town (nowadays Salem) situates in Massachusses state and during Witch Trails it was under the influence of Puritans church and traditions. In other words, The Crucible is the play about fears of social isolation and unknown, and how hysteria spreads fast among people. The most notable character of the play is Abigail Williams. This character is a prototype of real Abigail Williams which was one of the central figures during the Witch Hunt in Salem. According to historical notes because of Abigail and several other young girls’ strange behavior the Salem court and community accused about 57 people of witchcraft.
Class Discussion). The madness that witchcraft was a problem came together when society combined the story of Adam and Eve (women acting out in abnormal ways and easily being convinced to do things), with the desire of wanting all women to act as the Virgin Mary. This created an unrealistic ideology of standards of daily conduct and if those standards were not adhered to they would be accused of practicing witchcraft (Broedel, Hans Peter. The Malleus Maleficarum and the Construction of Witchcraft), (Parish, Helen. Class Discussion).
According to Half The Sky Foundation 603 million women live in countries where domestic violence is not outlawed. Most of these women live in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and face sometimes deadly forms of discrimination like honour killings or mutilation. Not only is gender inequality a violation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights it is also the root to many political, social and economic problems. According to the Population Reference Bureau, at least 75% of the women in Yemen are illiterate. The lack of educated women in the Arab States can lead to unemployment, workforce
In 1692 the people of America witnessed the worst show of human greed and violence disguised in the veil of religion, The Salem Witch Trials. With the fear of divine punishment, these trials in the early courts of Salem prosecuted at least 185 thought-to-be witches on the basis of religious beliefs, leading to twenty public executions and 4 others to die in prison (Conforti, 2008, p. 1). What these Puritan colonists learned at the end of these trials impacted the lives of those present, and the course of American History. These trials brought about the Age Of Reason in America, changing how we interact socially, our skepticism, and our ability to think and live life without threat of divine power. The Salem Witch Trials ultimately helped shape the future of America.