Examples Of Fear Of The Unknown In The Salem Witch Trials Of 1692

The Shadow of the Fear of the Unknown
In the midst of the Protestant Reformation, families seeking a religious haven emigrated to America with new ideas that would come to shape their communities into prosperous societies. However, they were often afraid of others who they believed would try to ruin their success, creating a fear of the unknown as they accused their neighbors of unprovable claims. The suspicion continued to affect the lives of Americans throughout the development of the American identity, from international events such as the Cold War to smaller-scale court cases. While the conditions at which tendencies to incriminate a member of society have evolved since colonial times, the impulse to incriminate based on a fear of the unknown

In the trials portrayed by Arthur Miller, a group of girls accuses their neighbors of witchcraft without concrete evidence in an attempt to lynch a member of their community. John Proctor, one of the accused, testifies that one of the girls claims she has not seen a witch, asserting that “Satan, in the form of women now in jail, tried to win her soul away… [but] she swears now that she never saw Satan… And she declares her friends are lying now” (Miller 99). The girls accuse the women of their community of witchcraft, yet one of the girls later confesses that they have no basis for their claims. As a result of their actions, however, the town falls into chaos, and “Now Hell and Heaven grapple on [their] backs, and all [their] old pretense is ripped away” (Miller 80). The people’s previous rationale is dissolved, and the town becomes unable to distinguish between fact and fiction. Thus, as a consequence of the girls’ unfounded accusations, a number of innocent individuals are imprisoned or executed, and the town falls into

In both cases, Abigail and McCarthy impede the people’s ability to think rationally, allowing them to act on a fear of the unknown. Their actions thus reflect the common trust in the accusers, as “the thought that the state has lost its mind is punishing so many people is intolerable” (“Why I Wrote the Crucible”). Both Abigail and McCarthy gain the trust of their peers, allowing them to spread falsified truths to their communities and gain power. However, by accusing the innocent and using the fear of the unknown to justify their actions, they are able to convince citizens that they are acting for the greater good of society. They consequently spread the belief that those in power cannot misdirect them, giving them even more control over the people. The actions of Abigail and McCarthy created chaos within their communities, as they dissolved moral thought by pretending to act