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Comparing The Salem Witch Trials And Sex Abuse Cases

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The 1692 Salem Witch Trials were major events in United States history that led to many other similar events around the world. While there are many examples, a very strong example of history repeating itself with the Trials is the Sex Abuse Cases that occurred in Bakersfield, California in the 1980s. The Salem Witch Trials and the Sex Abuse Cases is an example of history repeating itself because in both events young girls accused people of crimes they did not commit, all evidence of innocence were thrown out, and the primary motivation was attention and personal gain. First of all, history repeated itself with the Sex Abuse Cases because, like the Salem Witch Trials, it was centered around a group of young girls accusing adults of crimes they did not commit. In the Witch Trials, Abigail Williams and her group of friends falsely accused Puritan townspeople of witchcraft, a major crime at that time. In the Sex Abuse Cases, two sisters accused their parents of molesting them, which was also false accusations. In both cases, the girls started a chain of accusations. After the initial allegations, both groups continued to claim additional people also committed the crime. Additionally, in both events all of the evidence presented in court was thrown out and was deemed inaccurate. In both …show more content…

In the Crucible, Abigail Williams is the one who first accused someone of being a witch, simply so she would not get in trouble for witchcraft. As time passed, she continued this act purely for the attention and praise she received. In the Bakersfield cases, the girls’ step-grandmother was behind accusing her grandchildren’s parents of molestation so she would gain full custody of them. Even after she gained custody, she encouraged the girls to accuse more people so their story would remain in the

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In the crucible one of the themes was impacting false accusations. One of the accusations was how Abigail (one of our main characters), accused a poor woman named Sarah good that was a beggar. Abbey accused her of witchery by fainting and saying she saw her spirt. So when they told her that she was going to be hanged if she doesn’t confess she confessed. This shows how the court listened to anyone who “cries witchery”, Sarah was and easy target because she was the lowest class in society.

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Such similarities include the false imprisonment of innocent people based off of prejudice beliefs and heavily biased justice systems. The Salem Witch Trials began in the year 1692 when several young girls in Salem, Massachusetts were acting so strange that they were believed to be under a witch’s spell (Schiff). When confronted, the girls began accusing others of practicing witchcraft (Schiff). Many people were soon accusing others or being accused of witchcraft; they were being accused for various reasons such as unexplained illnesses, failed crops, or a woman could even be accused if she could open something a man could not (Brandt, p. 38). As stated in Anthony Brandt’s article, An Unholy Mess, “Legally, spectral evidence was not grounds for convicting a witch.

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Fear, it causes people to be blinded by the truth. People can’t tell right from wrong. Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible to show how no one could see what was right. During the 1950’s communism was spreading throughout Europe like a wildfire, then it slowly made its way over to the U.S. This was known as The Red Scare.

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AD POPULUM: It is because of this fallacy that the witch accusations end up growing as far as they did in The Crucible. Citizens avoided being singled out to avoid accusations against them and would follow in others’ footsteps and be the accusers themselves. In fact, Abigail was the first to start this bandwagon after taking the idea of ‘blame by name’ from Tituba, the first of the

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504 Words | 3 Pages

The Salem Witch Trials began in Salem Massachusetts in 1629. Many people were accused of being a witch and many lives were lost. In Author Miller’s The Crucible, Abigail Williams is the most to blame for the events of the Salem Witch Trials.

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In The Crucible, there could be many suspects to blame for the innocent deaths that happened in Salem. Proctor could be blamed for the innocent deaths because he lied about his affair with Abigail. Speaking of Abigail... in my opinion Abigail Williams is the one to blame for the innocent deaths because of the lies she told, the accusations she made, and the affair she had with John Proctor. Abigail Williams told many, many lies in The Crucible. The reason the witch trials began in the first place was because of the lie she told about being in the woods.

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Being discriminated by the public, the girls were thought to be witches at first and the accusation of witchcraft spread throughout the village of Salem. In the beginning of Act I, Reverend Parris accused the girls of witchcraft with only a mere vision and said to Abigail, "I saw Tituba waving her arms over the fire when I came to you" (Miller 11). This quote shows that Just like what the article had said, Abigail “can produce a convincing performance and induce the same kind of hysteria in children” (Porter, The Long Shadow of the Law: The Crucible). The quote in fact shows that even though Abigail caused the Salem Witch Trials, it was so severe that it caused the townspeople of Salem to be concerned about witchcraft including children. This shows that villagers in The Crucible uses discrimination by accusing innocent people of crimes or witchcraft that Abigail and the other girls and other villagers did not commit.

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This blaming caused a domino affect, all started by Abigail Williams. In act one in The Crucible, Abigail Williams was the person for creating disorderly witchcraft in Salem. Abigail lied about herself to stay away from punishment, Betty also revealed that Abigail was partaking in

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The Salem Witch Trials The belief of witchcraft can be traced back centuries to as early as the 1300’s. The Salem Witch Trials occurred during 1690’s in which many members of Puritan communities were accused and convicted of witchcraft. These “witch trials” were most famously noted in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Many believe this town to be the starting point for the mass hysteria which spread to many other areas of New England.

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Nearly anyone from the New England has heard of the famous Salem Witch Trials. A year of persecution, leading to the accusation of nearly 200 citizens of all ages. No one was safe; men, women, children, even pets stood trial and 20 were hung for the supposed crime of witchcraft (Blumberg). 1692 was a year of witch hunting. Most today blame the trials on hysteria, or perhaps a bad case of paranoia.

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In the play, the Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Salem, Massachusetts was a place of constant hysteria in the 1600s because of what would come to be commonly known as the Salem Witch Trials. This was a full-blown witch hunt for people found to display signs of witchcraft. Abigail Williams was the main person to blame for this pursuit of witches in Salem because, first off, she was the one who caused hysteria about witchcraft just to cover up the fact that

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The dishonesty, brainwashing and manipulation exhibited by Abigail Williams, Mary Warren and the court is ultimately what allowed the witch trials to occur and to continue. Although Abigail wasn 't the only girl to make that initial cry of witchcraft, she was the leader of the girls who did. When Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam had faked illness to avoid punishment for getting caught dancing in the woods, it was Abigail who manipulated all the girls involved into lying about it. She threatened them, saying “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

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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.

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The Salem witch trials was one of the most absurd and tragic events in history of pre-colonial America. A fine example of how believing in accusations and hearsay could affect a lot of people in a short span of time. the justice system is flawed and prejudice was allowed to reign over the people. I found this topic very interesting even though it is one of the most regretted in history. I’ve always been the type of person who likes reading all those weird and peculiar things on the internet.

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Abigail Williams is not your typical teenage girl. She is a girl that will drink blood to kill someone, accuse people of witchcraft, and have a affair. By looking at The Crucible, one can see that Abigail Williams develops the theme of reputation, which is important because people who fear losing their reputation spread hysteria. Protecting her reputation motivates Abigail Williams to accuse others of being a witch.

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