Witchcraft In The Elizabethan Era

" What he means is that he has done way too many bad things and cannot come back from it. The witches have full responsibility for Macbeth's downfall. Macbeth should have never listened to the witches because from then on, it changed him. The word ‘witchcraft’ has been derived from the word ‘Wicca’ which means ‘the wise one. " During the Middle Ages, witches were considered evil, making pacts and connections with the Devil.

Nathaniel Nguyen The Crucible Arthur Miller English 2 Honors Period 2 Witch Hunting During the years 1692 to 1693, The Salem Witch Trials were a time of great fear and hysteria, as even neighbors would accuse one another of witchcraft just to lower the suspicion that they themselves were witches. Although many people nowadays are very well aware of what happened during this frightful time, most still don’t know how the Salem Witch Trials actually began. The Crucible by Arthur Miller captures the horrific experience of the Salem Witch Trials from their very beginning, to their ending when people began realizing that the entire situation had been a lie from the very start.

She starts accusing people that she doesn’t like of practicing witchcraft, including Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth Proctor is John Proctor’s wife, and Abigail doesn 't like her because she wants to be with John, who she had an affair with. Abigail thinks that by accusing Elizabeth of witchcraft Elizabeth will be killed and then she can finally be with John. During these witch trials, many other people were accused and blamed for things that they did not do. It was mostly because of Abigail and her friends were lying about innocent people doing witchcraft.

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.

They are “the bad guys” in this play. The witches’ characteristics which adhere to the villain archetype: Powerful (magical powers) Intelligent Devious Scheming Odd looking

The witches had a very a significant role in the play. They created most of the things that happened based off of their prophecies. Shakespeare uses the theme of visions and hallucinations to create a vivid image of the play to give the play a creepy connotation and give a better understanding of the characters. In acts one and two there was a total of six examples of visions and hallucinations.

Macbeth is a tragedy that plays out a savage dichotomy between the head and the heart. Throughout the course of the play, Macbeth the dichotomy within Macbeth’s character by falling from the lofty hearts of a pure and loyal warrior to a murderous savage determined to fulfil the prophecy delivered to him by supernatural powers. The witches influence on how Macbeth made his decisions played a crucial part in contributing to his eventual destruction. They planted the seed of evil in Macbeth’s head that grew to dominate his mind. “Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor: The greatest is behind.”

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.

Act 1 Reading Log Scene 1 • Quote analysis : “Fair is foul and foul is fair, hover through the fog and filthy air” (1.1.12-13). This quote by the witches indicates the general atmosphere of the play, which is one of deceit and uncertainty. Acts that alone are terrible are justified many times throughout the play. By ‘hovering through the fog and filthy air”, the witches mean to say they are above the conflicts of men and although Macbeth may not know his fate, they certainly will. • Significance of scene

` over The Witch of Edmonton (1621), for instance. Moreover, it cannot be said that the witches in Macbeth provide the only explanatory element in the play. If their prophecies provide one motive for the killing of a king, the radical instability of the concept of 'manliness ' is sufficient to precipitate the deed. But it would be misleading to interpret this over determination as a conflict between supernatural and natural modes of explanation, since, within the cultural context, there was no necessity to choose between those modes. (For example, Mother Sawyer in The Witch of Edmonton is at first abused as a witch merely because, as she complains, 'I am poor, deform 'd and ignorant ' (II. i. 3).

In 16th century England, witchcraft had a major impact on many lives. Back then they dealt with their problems, such as witchcraft very differently than what we do today, such as “tests“ barely anyone could pass or they tortured them to death. In this dark, horrible time many lives were taken. Men and women, although mostly women, were falsely accused of witchcraft or “black magic”. Witchcraft is the use of sorcery or magic, to have communication with the devil.

In 1692, several young girls in Salem, Massachusetts took this search too far. Due to the lack of scientific knowledge at the time and the fact that historically Europe experienced many witch hunts, it is understandable how the townspeople of Salem would jump to conclusions about what was really going on. Although there is evidence that the Salem witchcraft hysteria was caused by the physical state of the girls, who were supposedly possessed but likely poisoned, the most likely cause of the hysteria in the late 17th century was a power struggle for young women who were bored and curious. The girls who were thought to be “possessed” in Salem were preadolescent children who were plagued

People was just finding a reason for their bad luck. Because the people did not find a good reason, their beliefs came out and people started thinking about the witchcraft in Salem.

It all started with Tituba claiming she signed the devil 's book. Them people got really worried because the bible stated witches “shall not suffer to live” that gave them reassured opinions because the people followed the bible. Then people noticed that they could get away with accusing other people that they wanted to get rid of. It was the perfect way to get rid of someone your jelous of. Then many people took advantage of the system and from there it went crazy, but I believe The main cause of witchcraft is people taking advantage of it for their own

Many have heard of the Salem witch trials but not a lot of people know of how truly insane the accusations during them were. Neighbors were accusing each other on no known facts. They would make up stories saying someone is a witch just because they did not like that particular person. Everyone that was accused was guilty until proven innocent; instead of what is said today, which is innocent until proven guilty. No one was safe from being accused.