The Crucible: The Salem Witch Trials

Salem Witch Trials According to Blumberg, the Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft- the Devil’s magic- and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. Since then, the story of the trials has become synonymous with paranoia and injustice, and it continues to beguile the popular imagination more than 300 years later. Several centuries ago, many practicing Christians, and those of other religions, had a strong belief that the Devil could give certain people known as witches the power to harm others in return for their loyalty. A “witchcraft craze” rippled through

A conservative Puritan, he served for many years as one of the colony’s councilors and magistrates, generally leading opposition to attempts by the English kings to assert control over the colony. He accumulated land in the central part of the colony that eventually became a portion of Framingham, Massachusetts. His government roles included administration of territory in present-day Maine that was purchased by the colony. Danforth was a leading figure in the colony at the time of the Salem witch trials, but did not sit on the “Court of Oyer and Terminer.” Despite this, he is inaccurately depicted in Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” and its movie adaptions as doing so. He is presented as a harsh and domineering judge, apparently conflated with William Stoughton, who is not even named in Miller’s play. In reality, Danforth is recorded as being critical of the conducts of the trials, and played a role in bringing them to an

He was born in Charlestown in 1636 to local blacksmith Robert Hale, as a child, Hale witnessed Massachusetts’ first execution of a convicted witch, in 1648, with the hanging of Margaret Jones at Charlestown. Hale later educated at Harvard, where he earned a theology degree in 1657, and worked as a teacher and tutor after graduation. A few years later, Hale was invited to preach at the First Parish Church in Beverly and became the church’s first official pastor in 1667. For his service, the church awarded him with 200 acres of pastureland on what is now modern day Hale Street in Beverly. After his first wife, Rebecca Byles, passed away in 1683, Hale married Sarah Noyes a year later. A few years later, Hale became involved in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 when Salem Village minister Samuel Parris asked him to observe the strange behavior of a group of girls claiming to be tormented by evil spirits. Although Hale already had growing doubts about the witch hunts by the time of his wife’s accusation, it was still a major turning point for him. A few years after the witch trials ended, Hale’s wife, Sarah passed away and Hale began writing a book about the Salem Witch Trials, titled “A Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft”, which challenged the legal proceedings and religious principles of witch hunts in general. Although the book doesn’t deny the existence of