Why Was Witchcraft A Crime?

And what groups are ostracized today like witches were in the 15th century? Let’ s dive in. Witch craft: “magical things that are done by witches: the use of magical powers obtained especially from evil spirits” As stated, witch craft’s often connected with the devil, or demons.

The main character, John Proctor, may seem to be a normal, middle aged man living in the Puritan town of Salem, but however, he holds a dark secret: he cheated on his wife with a girl named Abigail Williams. What he doesn 't know, is that by cheating with Abigail, he partly started the Salem witch madness; John makes Abigail very envious of his wife, and thus, she begins accusing others of dark sorcery and witchcraft. John, at first, is very reluctant to tell everyone the truth about why Abigail and other young girls are accusing his wife and other older women of being witches because he fears it will ruin his good name and reputation. However, after he realizes that the situation has truly gone out of control, he tries to confess his wrongdoing, but is only imprisoned and accused of witchcraft as well.

It explains how in Salem being a “witch” or being accused of one is terrible and that the only way towards liberation was lying or admitting to witchcraft, which saved them from being executed. Modern society now views witchcraft and wizardry as intriguing and mysterious, instead of satanic. We have entire franchises that revolve around the idea of

Rebecca Nurse was blamed for the death of all of Ann Putnam’s children, except for one. The events also caused numerous people to be convicted of witchcraft, some of them being executed. Two of the most notable people convicted in the play were John Procter, condemned for adultery and later hung, and Tituba, who confessed, saving her own life.

The first victims to be accused within the Salem Witch Trials were those who didn’t fit the social norms of society at the time. From the beginning, Abigail Williams has power over those who are below her. Not only does she possess this power, she lords it over those who are seen as valueless in a society built for the rich and for men. When placed in the hot seat after being discovered dancing in the woods, Abigail throws the weakest person she can find under the bus: Tituba.

In the novel “The crucible” representation of a disturbing and powerful play based on a true event has been shown clearly by the author Arthur Miller. The main objective that the author tries to show from that drama is how feeble the human beings can be and how gluttony of personal gain can become dangerous in the current society. During the early times of 1600’s, people believed that if you did not go to church each week to adore God, then it was obvious that you were worshipping the devil. But according to the play, accusations of witchcraft or devil worshipping began with a group of girls who were held dancing in the forests. This was an illegal act according to the rules of theocracy in the town of Salem.

“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” Witchcraft was nothing like a new phenomenon, it was seen as a practical practice in part of traditional villages and cultures for many centuries. Throughout time, witchcraft came to be viewed as both dangerous and sinister, and many churches began to connect the transformation of witchcraft as activities of the Devil. Many people were accused of witchcraft practices after the establishment of the Inquisition during the thirteenth century. Multiple witchcraft trials were held throughout England, Switzerland, Scotland and Germany, and those who were suspected of witchcraft were turned over to secular authorities in order to be burned at the stake or to be hanged.

The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller and published in 1953. The play is about the Salem witch trials that happened in 1692. In these trials, people were hanged because the townspeople didn’t want the devil in their town. The people that lived in Salem were very religious so they believed that hangings would get rid of the devil, who was possessing and controlling certain townspeople. The Crucible starts out with a scene where a young girl is sick with a mysterious sickness.

Fear leaves us afraid and frightened. Fear is unpleasant and it is only “human nature” to want to get rid of the feeling. Reverend Samuel Parris, before the Salem witch trials started, had the power to prevent the trials from happening, set things straight. But he feared as a Reverend the he was not setting a proper example, with Abigail his niece and his daughter dancing in the woods.

Cameron Oldfield Mrs. Brincks English III 15 November, 2015 The Crucible and Red Scare Imagine being thrown in jail, blamed for something that you didn't do .The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a story about how certain propaganda and false accusations can ruin lives, just like in the case of the Red Scare. Although 1692 the Salem witch trials and the Red Scare were over 200 years apart, The similarities are striking. both trials used intimidation, fear, hatred, and false accusations to ruin innocent lives. Both trials resulted in terrible outcomes, with both ending with innocent people being put to death and shunned from society.

The trials also had a major political aspect, as there was an attempt to incriminate Earl of Bothwell in the proceedings. In 1597, James published Daemonologie, his rebuttal of Reginald Scot’s skeptical work, The Discoveries of Witchcraft, which questioned the very existence of witches. Daemonologie was a pessimistic book, presenting the idea of a vast conspiracy of satanic witches threatening to undermine the

The idea of witches stemmed from religious folks believing that the Devil could give certain people, known as witches, the power to harm others in return for their loyalty (Smithsonian). Due to the popularity of religion and supernatural beliefs, many people believed that the source of evil was the Devil. This idea appeared in Europe as early as the 14th century and it was quite popular in New England colonies. Villagers often blamed unfortunate things upon the Devil and other spectral sources of evil due to their lack of knowledge.

There is a lot of connections for The Crucible to the 21st century. In the 1690’s it was when the salem witch trials started up. They was blaming people for being witches and people would get hanged for it. Some even took advantage of it, they would lie if they didn 't get what they wanted from the person so they would say that person is switch and they would be hung.

The witch trials in Salem began in 1692. It got brought up by a group of younger girls saying they were possessed by the devil. During this they accused many of being witches and use of witchcraft. Sarah Good was one of the more well known victims during this.

When you are blacklisted this meant for many that their promising careers would terminate. The Crucible is a story about a town accusing people of being witches if you were found to be a “witch” you were hang. After learning about McCarthyism, it is apparent that people had many ulterior motives for their actions, also conflicts and groups of people become apparent. McCarthyism shed light to my eyes that there was more to Salem. Many people had ulterior motives their motives profited themselves.