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Abigail Williams Motivation In The Salem Witch Trials Of 1692

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Hardly any occasion has charmed the creative mind and mixed discussion quite like the Salem witch trials of 1692. As shadows moved upon the Salem scene, neurosis grasped the hearts of the Puritan people, prompting the oppression of the people blamed for rehearsing black magic. However, amid the mayhem and craziness, an inquiry continues: What truly fueled this dark chapter in American history? Delving beyond the surface, this essay contends that the sinister brew fueling the lies with the girls who testified at the heart of the storm, their motivations were far from pure, falsifying their truth. The afflicted girls, such as Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam Jr., acted out during the trials due to peer pressure, and a desire for attention and …show more content…

An explanation for the actions of the girls is that they wanted to impress someone in power like Abigail, they may have been afraid of her and what she could have done to them. Ann Putnam, Jr. later confessed in 1706 to her involvement in the trials, she remorsed that her actions were motivated by ignorance rather than evil, suggesting the influence of peer pressure and manipulation of the mind by those in positions of power (Caporael). The girls were motivated by jealousy, they accused older women like Lady Phips, the governor's wife, who had more stability and respect in the community (Caporael). Younger individuals may have felt overlooked, leading them to seek validation through dramatic scenes like “seeing things” and accusing others of witchcraft. The girls knew that they could trick the court and people, practically getting away with murder. “This did little to untangle the situation; within days, the bewitched girls named four more members of the community, including a fine upstanding woman, Rebecca Nurse.”(Maslon). “...Abigail Williams, exhibited bizarre and seemingly unprovoked behavior: seizures, trances, blasphemous screaming.” …show more content…

The sudden onset of symptoms in multiple individuals without a clear medical diagnosis causes high suspicion. Without concrete medical evidence to support their claims, we begin to speculate that the girls might be exaggerating their symptoms for attention or other motives. While some attribute the girls' behavior to ergot poisoning, Ergot poisoning typically results from consuming grains contaminated with the fungus Claviceps purpurea, which produces toxic alkaloids. Ergot poisoning can cause symptoms such as convulsions, hallucinations, and erratic behavior (Howlett). Moreover, ergot was located in rye, a grain that has been said to be the reason for the ergot poisoning, during this time this grain was one of the main sources of food (Weller). It can be said that the trials were the most active in the summer. Summer rye is more prone to the development of the sclerotia than winter rye..”(Howlett). While ergot poisoning may seem like a plausible explanation for the girls' symptoms, it's crucial to acknowledge other

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Abigail Williams is the source of the witchcraft hysteria in Salem. Abigail is first accused of bewitching Betty Parris in the woods one night. She quickly disputes the accusation by saying they: Ruth Putnam, Tituba, Betty Parris, Mary Warren, and Abigail herself, were only dancing despite it also being highly looked down upon. By starting out with this single lie, her story snowballs and eventually leads to the downfall of Salem. By associating herself with Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam, both of which are sick while Abigail is well, Abigail is submitting herself to a fight she can’t win unless she lies.

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Ergot is a fungus that commonly grows on many grains, but more often than not it is found on rye. Ergot was commonly found in America and European rye during the 19th century. The effects of ergot poisoning include; fits of convulsions, hallucinations, under the skin prickling sensations, and vomiting. An extract of ergot was used to make the hallucinogenic drug LSD. The town of Salem stored their grain to consume during the winter, and ergot being a fungus grows in dark and damp areas.

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In the late 1600s, the small town of Salem, Massachusetts was engulfed by a dark cloud of mass hysteria during the infamous Salem Witch Trials. Innocent women were unjustly accused, condemned, and subjected to torturous deaths for the alleged crime of witchcraft. Amongst the chaos and fear, lived a young woman named Sarah Osborne. This narrative essay delves into the life of Sarah, exploring her experiences before and after being accused, and sheds light on the devastating consequences that arise when mass hysteria drives people to make irrational choices. Sarah Osborne, a spirited and determined young woman, lived a modest life in the close-knit community of Salem.

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In 1692, A town in Massachusetts by the name of Salem Village became known for one most documented cases of mass hysteria in history. This saga started with three girls: Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Parris, and Ann Putnam a neighborhood friend. Abigail Williams, the niece of the town’s minister, began to display weird and questionable behavior. The town’s physician,William Greggs, was called to determine the cause of this sporadic behavior. The town’s physician determined that the three girls were under “the Devil’s influence” and they had been bewitched.

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While she acknowledges the fact that contaminated grain was the primary source of the disease, she also argues that other factors such as climate, geography, and cultural practices also played a role in its spread. For example, she suggests that ergotism was more prevalent in wetter and cooler regions of Europe, where rye was more susceptible to fungal infections. The rye grows best in wet areas and ergotism is said to occur after colder winters and damp springs, which are conditions that are claimed to have been present during the Salem Witch Trials. The farmland in Salem, the western section of Salem primarily consisted of wet swampy fields which is perfect for the ergot to grow, especially around that time, during 1692, the conditions were unusually wet in Salem. She also points out that certain cultural practices, such as the tradition of communal bread baking, may have contributed to the spread of the disease by allowing contaminated grain to be mixed with the uncontaminated

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When Abigail and some of her young female friends decided to go out into the woods with Tituba, the trouble had begun. Because witchcraft was such a sensitive subject in the little village of Salem, the girls knew that they needed to keep their little pow-wow a secret. Until, unfortunately, young Betty’s father, Mr. Parris, came to find them in the woods. From then on, it was all about the girls being sick, dead but at the same time alive, and there were a lot of questions asked. Of course, the girls didn’t want to get into any trouble, especially not Abigail.

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N) also brings up the possibility of a fungus called ergot triggering the hysteria of 1692. Ergot grows on cereal grains and can be poisonous which was a “common condition resulting from eating contaminated rye bread” back in the seventeen hundred´s. Ergot is believed to have affected the accusers by causing symptoms such as “crawling sensations, tingling in the fingers, vertigo and hallucinations”. To better understand how ergot played a role in the Salem witch hysteria, an additional document listing how much rye and other cereal grains were consumed during the year 1692 would help determine a

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There is a fungus called Ergot that could be to blame for this hysteria; both the symptoms that Ergot causes and the girl's experiences are similar. The fungus Ergot mainly grows on and is most likely to grow on opened-pollinated crops because “it allows easy access of the fungus into the flowering head” like rye (“Ergot of Cereals and Grasses | Disease”). If the infected grain is eaten, the most common symptoms are convulsive fits, hallucinations, vomiting, and a prickling sensation under the skin. This was also what the girls did: "They vomited, screamed incomprehensibly, claimed to see things that weren’t

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Ergot poisoning could have started in Rev.Parris’s home due to his dependence on the Putnam’s rye. The Proctor’s would not have been affected by ergot because they were dependent on their own farm. Some symptoms of ergot poisoning consist of convulsions, muscle spasms, vomiting, and hallucinations, and fingers, toes, and noses falling off. The girls experienced many of these symptoms. However, many of the ergot symptoms were never listed in any of the testimonies, such as fingers and toes falling off, and muscle spasms.

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“ I have seen them through their silly seasons, and when it come on them they will run the Devil bowlegged keeping up with their mischief ”. ( Miller 147) Rebecca Nurse has seen the silly season one too many times, but is this situation the children's silly season? Whether it was their silly season for the children or true witchcraft, the Salem Witchcraft Trials all revolved around 17- year old Abigail Williams. When Abigail feels threatened by Betty Parris, everything changes, for one slip up of the truth could end Abigail Williams.

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Now, one may notice that the men are blindly following the girls’ accusations as they seize power. The girls, or Abigail more specifically, now have decision-making power in the town, they possess the power to convince the townspeople that they are bewitched and that witches do exist. Due to the circumstances, it is likely that the girls will be influencing a hysterical breakdown so that these “witches” put will be on trial. Abigail is exploiting the power of Puritan Christian beliefs to gain credibility for her accusations, causing the community to gather in a panic in a form of mob mentality.

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Ergot is now filtered out of rye before using it to make bread. However, the colonists did not have this capability. As many farmers capitalized on rye crop, and rye was a common ingredient in the food of the 1600s, it is very possible that ergot of rye was being consumed. The Putnam family, having three affected girls in their household, were some of the largest land holders in Salem. This land was most likely used for farming, possibly rye, where ergot could have been found.

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For example, Abigail harshly threatens the girls with the fact that she is capable of killing them. The group of girls, deciding that keeping quiet is far better than being murdered,

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Symptoms such as “tingling hands/fingers, vertigo, hallucinations, vomiting, muscle contractions, mania, psychosis, delirium, and melancholia” appear in sufferers from the rye infesting fungus and correlate with those allegedly under the influence of “the devil or witchcraft” in 1692 (Chevers 5). Tituba, one of the many women accused, reported to her interrogator she saw creatures that possessed “wings and two legs and a head like a woman” which appears justifiable by supernatural forces, unless the witness suffered from ergot poisoning, in which case this account may be attributed to the hallucinations sustained by the disease (Chevers 4). Catherine Branch establishes another case supporting the mirroring symptoms of those enduring ergotism and those enduring bewitchment when she underwent “pinching and pricking sensations, hallucinations, and spells of laughing and crying” while claiming to be cursed before ultimately dying. Despite that some suggest the accused people of Salem invented their symptoms, but this does not offer an explanation for the animals’ behavior in the area; exemplified by a dog whose actions corresponded with the symptoms of bread poisoning after he ate “Tituba’s witch cake” (Mixon 181). The immense correlation between the disease and the accused continues throughout multiple cases of both people

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