Abigail And Betty Accused: The Salem Witch Trials

In January 1692, Abigail and Betty began to have fits, violent contortions, and screamed. The local doctor believed they were bewitched and soon afterwards, other young girls also began to have similar symptoms. Abigail and Betty accused Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborn for bewitching them. Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn refused to confess meanwhile Tituba confessed and claimed that there were other witches working with the devil. The hysteria began to spread and other young girls began to have fits and accused even the outstanding members of the community such as Rebecca Nurse of being witches. During the trials, the accusers would writhe and babble to provide evidence against the accused. A few of the accused began to confess and continued

A special court of Oyer and Terminer was formed for witchcraft cases and Bridget Bishop was the first to be convicted. On June 10, she was hanged. 18 others soon followed afterwards and about 150 people were accused over the following months with another person pressed to death by stones. By September 1692, the public began turning against the trials and it soon ended months later.

Part II - The Film: The film began in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 where a group of girls running into the woods with a young black girl named Tituba. They asked Tituba to cast spells to make men fall in love them and then they begin dancing. However, Abigail William’s uncle, Reverend Parris, discovered them which caused the girls to begin running away. Betty, Reverend Parris’s daughter, fell unconscious and is unable to wake up. Similarly, Ruth is also unable to wake up. The town believed that it may be the cause of witchcraft

The acting and setting was appropriate for the time period and overall the film was enjoyable although the history of the event was somewhat depressing. The history of the salem witch trials in this film is generally accurate with a few, mostly insignificant, inaccuracies and would not affect the event as a whole. In the beginning of the film, the girls were dancing and were already gathered as a group and later on, Ruth and Betty would fall unconscious. However, the dancing and the fact that the girls worked together as a group was likely to be false. In addition, only Abigail and Betty were initially affected by the fits and no one had fallen into an unconscious state. In the film, the relationship between Abigail and John Proctor is unlikely to have occurred and is probably made up to entertain the viewers because John Proctor is 60 years old and Abigail is only 11. The film was accurate over the events such as the hangings of the guilty, Elizabeth’s pregnancy, and Giles Corey being pressed to death with