In conclusion, the Salem Witch Trials affected the little Puritan settlement of Salem, Massachusetts in several
All through history millions of individuals have been shunned, arrested, brutally tortured, prosecuted, and persecuted as witches. One would think that post colonization of the United States these unjust acts to human kind would have ended, but that was not so. In 1692 the Salem Witch Trials took place, an event that was a major catastrophe in United States history. It began when a group of young girls in Salem, Massachusetts declared that they were possessed by the devil and made accusations that several older women were practicing witchcraft and fraternizing with the Devil.
The emotions of people can be blinding and problematic. The emotions a person feels can cause people to do unimaginable things to themselves and other people. Throughout the book, people's emotions bring out the worst of the people of Salem. The people of Salem begin accusing people of witchcraft for their own personal vendettas and gain. In the book “ The Crucible” by Arthur Miller the people demonstrate, When reason fails, emotions control and results in the destruction of what is morally right or good.
(Miller 18). Mary was afraid of Abigail Williams and didn’t tell the truth fearing that Abigail would hurt her. While, she developed as a character and made better choices for herself. Acts 3 and 4 she attempted to help John try to accuse Abigail Williams of lying about witchcraft in the court. “I-I promise you, Mr.Danforth, I only thought I saw them but I did not’.
Seven months before the play began, Abigail Williams worked for the Proctor household until John Proctor and Abigail Williams began to engage in an affair. John’s wife, Elizabeth Proctor, soon found out and fired Abigail on the spot, but the situation did not end without any consequences. Abigail had developed angry feelings against Elizabeth and fell hopelessly in love with John Proctor. Abigail holds a hope in her heart that John loves her and John will leave Elizabeth for her, despite John Proctors’ constant rejections to Abigail. So when an opportunity to get rid of Elizabeth comes up in the form of power to accuse people of witchcraft, Abigail jumps at the chance.
parsonage. Even though the oppressed girls were among the main accusers during the trials, many historiographers believe the deranged girls parents, particularly Thomas Putnam and Reverend Samuel Parris, were inciting the situation with the girls and purposely influencing them to accuse certain people in the community they were not particularly fond of, to gain revenge or just out of spite. Cotton Mather was the minister of the Salem church, and truly believed in witchcraft. He had decided to investigate the unusual behavior of the children who belonged to John Goodwin, a Mason.
The Crucible While Abigail Williams is not completely responsible for the hysteria and death in the Salem Witch Trials, she is one of the main contributing factors for the historical event in the 1690’s. In the novel “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller Abigail Williams is vengeful, selfish, manipulative, and a liar that uses these things for her self-interest. Her actions cause innocent people to be executed for her personal gain. Abigail never seems to care for any of the villagers in Salem except John Proctor, a married man she had an affair with several months before the events of the play. Abigail used to work for john Proctor and his wife Elizabeth, until Elizabeth found out about the affair between john and Abigail.
In the play Abby tries to do witchcraft to kill John Proctor's wife Elizabeth. She almost gets caught doing it so she accuses many people of bewitching her and got many people hanged. She accuses Elizabeth of bewitching her to kill her. The court will not kill her because she is pregnant but John Procter ends up being hanged because he was accused.
A question that’s been asked throughout the ages; are people good, evil or are they just misguided. The play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, is about the Salem Witch Trials in the late 1600’s, early 1700’s, where countless innocent people lost their lives due to false accusations of being a witch. During this time in the provincial town of Salem, Massachusetts, the mass hysteria over witchcraft had everyone in the small puritan town turning on one another. Their religious beliefs and intolerance during this time lead the puritans to extreme decisions about their neighbors. If one were to give into desires of any kind that did not follow the strict limitations of their religious faith, they were considered to be “evil”; they were doing the Devil’s work.
The number of people testifying made it seem as if Goody Nurse was more likely to be a witch, but this is not true because the witnesses are untrustworthy and biased against the Nurse family. The witnesses moved their bodies in court the same way Goody Nurse was moving her body to make it seem like Goody Nurse sent out her spirit to control (Lewis). This made it look like Goody Nurse is a witch, but we believe that the Putnams and their friends were doing this as a ruse so that Goody Nurse could be convicted when in reality she is not guilty. These actions by the
The Salem Witch Trials were such a terrible moment in history for the people of Salem, Massachusetts they eventually decided to rename the area to Danvers in hopes to forget what all occurred in that small village. In the end, the Salem Witch Trials could be considered a very lurid moment of history due to the fact that the villagers in that town went so far into their religious beliefs that they actually went along with the idea that the people they grew up with, the people they married, and even their families were involved in
Mary Johnson was a home servant, and she had run afoul of the law prior to her execution for witch craft in 1648, thus marking her as a social pariah. In 1646, Johnson was convicted of thievery, and she was sentenced to a public whipping for this offense. Hence, she was widely known within the community as a woman who had broken social convention and sinned against Christ by violating one of the Ten Commandments. Unquestionably, this offence cast her into the role of a social outsider and as a religious dissenter. The records for Johnson’s actual trial and conviction are shockingly lacking.
Tituba- Rev. Parris Slave Abigail- Parris Niece and also John secret side chick Betty- The Daughter of Parris 4. Mrs. Putnam’s Believes there are witches because she knows that Tituba does rituals
Mary Warren has to explain what the whole spiel with the coma and dancing in the woods was about. John Proctor was the connection between that for when he forced Mary to promise on her life that the dancing was the practice of witchery and to explain it in front of the court. Throughout the story John has hell thrown at him in all directions, but somehow he stays just the brink of insanity only going above that line when Abigail lost in court. John did have an affair with Abigail which he soon confessed about in court.
Once the idea of witchery took deep root into the hearts of the people, many were accused and arrested. Out of the selfishness of her heart, Abigail accused Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft in an attempt to be rid of her so she could have John. She kept telling herself that she was in love with him, and she would use any opportunity to her advantage to be rid of Elizabeth. This however, would not bode well with John.