Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Explanations for the salem witch trials
Salem witch trials puritan
Salem witch trials puritan
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
\The infamous Salem witch trials, you may have heard of them, but do you know about the famous event which many book, movies, and even its own T.V. show are revolved around. From June through September of 1692, nineteen men and women all been accused of witchcraft, were brought to Gallows Hill. Gallows Hills is also known as witch hill that is where they killed all the men and women accused. Now you may be thinking what they did that was so bad it’s just witchcraft, it was a common belief that people could pledge allegiance to Satan and become witches with supernatural power to harm others. The thing that made people start this witch hunt would be when nine-year-old Elizabeth Parris and eleven-year-old Abigail Williams the daughter and niece
In 1692, as the puritans of Salem Massachusetts over-turn on each other, they started scapegoating many of their villagers with witchcraft. During this time many were murdered unfairly. The Salem Witch Trials was a reformation of the government. People believed that this was an era where the devil gave certain humans powers to harm others in joining them into their beliefs. It was certain to happen, because many had personal envy which caused many of the accusations,trials, and the implementations.
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.
In Massachusetts during 1692, Salem Village underwent a time of grief, trial, death, and Witchcraft. The chaos in Salem Village began when young girls would have what they called “fits” and they would scream vey vulgarly and fall onto the ground and shake uncontrollably (Magoon 6). These fits frightened the surrounding people and the Doctors of Salem couldn't find a diagnosis. After studying and trying to understand the illness they had, the people of Salem came to the conclusion that these girls were possessed by the Devil (Magoon 7). The result would lead to one of the most recognized events in American History, the Salem Witch Trials.
Rosalyn Schanzer’s book Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem describes the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, during which twenty innocent people died and many more were stripped of everything they had. To this day it is unclear exactly why this tragic event happened, but there are many theories. My theory is that the salem witch trials began due to a combination of hysteria, post traumatic stress disorder, and religious views.
The “Salem witch trials”, this was a period in America where the puritans persecuted people, mostly females for condoning in demonic acts. Now what may have started these proceedings? There were many factors that triggered this, the closure of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, an outbreak of small pox and the possibility of an attack from the Indians caused so much discord among the puritans that they started to believe that they were being punished by God. With so much discord, anxiety and confusion the puritans believed that these misfortunes were the cause of witches. For these witch prosecutions to be justified the puritans gave them a trial, where they will be judged if they are guilty of witch craft or not.
The Salem Witch Trials, occurring between the years of 1692 and 1693, consisted of persecutions, arrests, and hysteria through the village of Salem, Massachusetts. In determining the source of the mass hysteria during these trials, it is necessary to look from a societal point of view. Religiously, tensions began to form and alter the village in ways that were for and against their beliefs. Changing morals of the village brought forth ideologies that were based with selfish intentions. Social structures altered to weaken and divide the town and its people.
In Witches: The Absolutely True Tale Of Disaster In Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer people in the town of Salem were Condemned for being witches. By the end of it all more than 200 people were accused and 20 were executed. Horridly they accused people from all ages, everyone from teenager to ancient was accused. But why? The Salem Witch Trials were caused by hysteria, popularity, and revenge.
What caused the people of Salem to go into a hysteria and accuse each other of witchcraft in 1692? It could have been a number of factors could have caused the Salem Witch Trials Hysteria of 1692. A hysteria is when a group of people experience something with a heightened emotional state, often leading to fogged decision-making skills or inability to see logic. These factors would not have caused such an extreme situation on their own, but when together they created the worse case scenario for the people of Salem. These factors were local feuds, jealousy, religion-based anxiety, a case of hysteria, and upset over a fast economy change.
The Salem Witch Trials happened during the Spring of 1692, when a group of girls in Salem Massachusetts claimed to be possessed by the devil and were accused of witchcraft. This was the beginning of the salem witch trials. Although there are multiple theories, I believe that the Salem Witch Trials were caused by the fear that there were witches and the people of Salem were trying to protect everyone by hanging them. First, the daughters of Samuel Parris became sick in January. When they did not get better the village doctor, William Griggs, was brought to look at them.
Although, surely other causes may help explain the hysteria, for example, a common misconception that those with fits from illness were bewitched, to show the power of the town’s government in the slightest of situations, and etc. However, the most powerful argument was that ergot caused the “signs” of a witch and the Putmans’ western part of the village used that as a way to falsely accuse those infected with ergot. The three main convincing reasons for the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria, like the ergot a parasitic fungus that was a big cause misclassification of “signs” of the bewitched, the Putman family’s motivation to reacquire their position in the village, and the Puritans’ duty to not let a witch suffer to live. The Salem Witch Trial Hysteria
What were the causes of the Salem Witchcraft Trials? One of the causes for the Salem Witchcraft trials is Abigail Williams not telling the truth to her uncle Rev. Parris, after he caught them dancing in the woods around a fire. Also the next morning when her cousin Betty Parris didn’t wake up, then Mrs. Putnam saying that their daughter Ruth is acting strange. Then when the grown ups walked out room Betty wakes up and saying “You drank blood to kill Goody Proctor”(p.837)
The Salem Witch Trials began due to a group of girls falling ill, and experiencing hallucinations, seizures, fainting, etc.
The Salem witch trial was a time about accusing your fellow neighbor or being accused yourself, this all began in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. During this time many people were being accused of being a witch, a majority of the time it was because either someone truly believed that you were a witch and were reeking havoc or they were trying to find someone to take the blame if they were to being accused. So this leads us to question, what began the Salem Witch Trials? There were at least three causes of the Salem witch trials hysteria. These were Betty Parris and Abigail Williams story, Ergotism, and the acknowledgment of hysteria.
Not many people know much about what actually happened in the Salem Witch Trials. Maybe someone would think that it was just about witchcraft and crazy people being hanged, but it is a lot more than that. The Salem Witch Trials only occurred between 1692 and 1693, but a lot of damage had been done. The idea of the Salem Witch Trials came from Europe during the “witchcraft craze” from the 1300s-1600s. In Europe, many of the accused witches were executed by hanging.