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Influence of religion on the salem witch trials
Effect of the salem witch trials
Effect of the salem witch trials
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During the Salem Witch Trials a lot of people were accused of using witchcraft. As a result many people died for other people’s lies, rumors, and selfishness. There is one person that really caused and is most to blame for all the chaos, her name is Abigail. Abigail is to blame for all that has happened in the Witch Trials, the reason for that is because of all the accusing and lying she has done. In addition, it all leads up to her for instance, she used a doll to accuse people of witchcraft.
As the one who surely instigated your madness, I beg you, do not plunge Salem into this unholy paranoia. I was told of your peculiar gathering in the woods with the slave Tituba and the other young girls of Salem, and I ask you to end whatever black magic you’ve been seeking. Regardless of whether or not your claims of possession are genuine, I realize your true motives. My actions were abominable, and I am sorry. I understand your outrage, for I feel it against myself in every day.
Abigail then tells John Proctor (a man she had been having an affair with in the past) that the ill girls had nothing to with witchcraft. Elizabeth tells John to tell Reverend Hale what she had said, but he claimed that they would not believe him. The girls then started blaming innocent people of witchcraft from all ages claiming they saw the devil with them. There were many people who were hung pleading that they had nothing to do with witchcraft. John Proctor then grew tired of the accusations the girls so wrongfully laid upon innocent people.
Abigail encouraged a group of girls to pretend to be sick, Including Mary Warren, Elizabeth’s servant. Abigail stated that she saw a ghost of Elizabeth, basically that Elizabeth had done witchcraft on her. Elizabeth was given a poppet by Mary, and that poppet had a needle in the stomach under the dress. Abigail stabbed herself in order to make believe that Elizabeth was bewitching her. When they went to search the proctor’s house they found the poppet and they took Elizabeth.
Abigail Williams and her friends were caught dancing in the forest, and words of witchcraft began to go around. In order to save themselves, they went around and falsely accused nineteen men and women of making deals with the devil and practicing witchcraft. In some instances, accusations were made on behalf of fear. The girls feared what would become of them, or what could happen to them. Abigail, in a sense, was their "leader", and anything she began to say or do, the other girls would follow along.
I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil! (Miller.1.1050). With Abigail's careless act, the town is in despair, every time she would create a lie it would turn people against each other. Even when these group of people have been living with each other years, with one action from Abigail they are automatically believing each person is associated with the Devil.
The Salem Witch Trials accusing others of a feared crime showed definite evidence that mass hysteria was to blame. Salem was a religious settlement, following Puritan beliefs (Miller, 6). A large fear for everyone in Salem was the touch of the Devil (Miller, Arthur). According to Puritan beliefs, if a man or woman was touched by the Devil he would convince them to do witchcraft. Once word was mentioned the Devil had possibly touched Salem, the fear spread.
Gilliana Loyola Mr. Downey Academy B 13 October, 2016 Living a Lie Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is about the people of 17th century Salem, Massachusetts during a dangerous and dynamic period. The people of Salem were Puritans and very religious so they associated witchcraft and anything impure or evil with the Devil. When the witch hysteria, which was initially caused by girls falsely accusing others, got out-of-hand, the residents of Salem conformed to the hysteria out of fear because those who were accused were intimated certainty to death. However, the accused had a chance to save themselves by confessing to a crime they did not commit. Many took advantage of the opportunity for self-preservation because it is a human instinct,
Thought the play, Abigail Williams is a round character. She shows little sympathy toward all of the lives she destroyed. Now, John Proctors children will have to live without their father for the rest of their lives. He dies for a crime he did not commit. Hypocrisy is in today 's society as well.
Murrow: Hello and welcome to See it Now, today we have a special, focusing on Abigail Williams; a village girl that struck fear into the hearts of the people of Salem. Now lets see how a mere village girl completely changed a whole town. There is much controversy regarding Abigail Williams, and her true intentions behind her Salem Witch Trial accusations. She sentenced many people to death and others to prison.
In 1692, a group of girls in Salem, Massachusetts fell ill and caused a growing crisis for the townspeople. Because of all the crisis in the town, there was betrayal, fear, and reputations was ruined. Accusations got out of hand and soon enough people could not control the lies and all the power of the devil. All the lies piled up; the lies that were started brought many people of Salem to their deaths. Nineteen people die during the trials for supposedly committing witchcraft.
Since England had their own witch hunts, it was said that the anxiety spread to New England mainly because of a pamphleteer Cotton Mather. It started early 1692 when the daughter and niece of Salem local minister, Samuel Parris had strange violent convulsions and loud outbursts. The only local doctor of the village which only could read but not write, then concluded that the girls were bewitched. There were three primary “suspected” witches, the minister’s slave Tituba, Sarah Good
“Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you,” (Act I, 160). She was the first person in the play to accuse a person of seeing people summon spirits of the Devil. This caused a massive, wide-scale witch hunt to take place; families torn apart, mothers, fathers, and even children murdered for what was considered to be the greater good. Now, others began to accuse people of witchcraft and people who had been lifelong friends to each other now had no choice other than to point fingers at each other or be put to death. Widespread panic and unreasonable action was sweeping through everyone in Salem, all because of a little lie by
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play which contains a multitude of complex characters . In the play, the characters’ motivations and inner processes are explored. Because of the historical setting, the characters live in a society of judgement and extreme religious devotion. This is a factor that places any of the characters’ choices and morals in a public balance to be judged by others. Abigail Williams is the main character of the play and acts with an utter selfishness and obsession.
Abigail and a group of girls went to court and blame 200 people. Abigail went to court, and told them that Elizabeth Proctor was practicing witchcraft, and got her arrested. When John Proctor went to court, the girls pretended that he was the devil. Giles tries to explain to the court how Abigail is pure evil, and trying to get revenge: “Aye, how she is solemn and goes to hang people!” (3.1.875).
