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Social causes of the salem witch trials
Social causes of the salem witch trials
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The Salem witch trials that took place in colonial Massachusetts led to a death toll of 20 people, 19 hanged and one pressed by stones. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft, or as some Puritans called it “the Devil’s magic.” In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, a play based on true events, talks about the Salem witch trials, and who was accused and was executed. Although 20 people from the trials were executed effectively, within reason, only two individuals from The Crucible deserve to be pardoned from the crime of witchcraft, John Proctor and Giles Corey. John Proctor, a farmer and husband of Elizabeth Proctor, became accustomed to extreme predicament.
In both The Crucible and in modern day witch hunts, witch hunts are caused out of fear or for personal gain. Jill Schonebelen wrote a research paper on Witchcraft allegations, refugee protection and human rights. Throughout this article, it mentions the persecution of witches today in communities around the globe, mentioning the flashbacks of similar strategies that were used in the past, doing different types of tortures. In Modern days, recent generations have abandoned wonderful traditions. Rather, recollecting others with distasteful memories such as witchcraft.
One of the main character the Crucible, John Proctor , knows that the Salem witchcraft trials were a sham hiding true problems of greed add power
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the setting is Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600s where the town’s pious Puritan beliefs directly influence their government. A 17-year-old girl named Abigail Williams had an affair with John Proctor, a wealthy, married man. Abigail is told by John to move on but instead, Abigail starts accusing the townspeople of witchcraft, including John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth. As this hysteria begins to rise, other people such as Thomas Putnam, a rich landowner, start to also allege Salem villagers. In this play, the author illustrates the central idea that people should not allow jealousy to control their actions.
The Witch trials themselves were a series of crucibles to the characters in the story. They brutally tested the characters and often the passing results were deadly. The crucibles the witch trials placed upon the characters, be them tests of truthfulness, as shown by Elizabeth’s crucible during the her husband's trial, or of character, as shown by Proctor’s crucible regarding he and Abigail’s relationship during his trial, showed the brutality and unfairness of the witch trials. They arguably condemned the good and rewarded the evil.
Witchcraft and revenge how do these affect the people of Salem? In The Crucible, Abigail goes on a rampage of false accusations of witchcraft with her friends after they are caught dancing in the woods. It is shown throughout the story how the accusations and hysteria spread throughout the town turning neighbors on each other for greed and gains. Abigail then accuses John Proctor of witchcraft after he tries to expose her for the liar she is, when she also accuses his wife. From this, you can see how Aurthor Miller uses John Proctor's traits of logic, hard workmanship, and selflessness to show how the hysteria changed people and affected those who had nothing to be accused of.
It was not long before Betty Parris, daughter of Reverend Samuel Parris and Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris’ niece, started screaming and writhing only to draw attention to the people of the town. It all started on one exceptionally cold winter night. Abigail, Betty, and a few other girls gathered around a fire in a dimly lit kitchen. The candles flickered and cast shadows on the pale walls. Tituba, Parris’s slave, tends a cauldron over the large, bright fire as she speaks.
Since the beginning of time people have gone through trials in court to either be proven innocent or guilty. In the Crucible by Arthur Miller a massive number of people were being convicted in Salem, Massachusetts because of the witch trials. The law of the land states that everyone is above suspicion until they are demonstrated to be guilty by legitimate evidence; in the play the Crucible if a person was accused of an unlawful act they were summons for being a witch and working for the devil without proper confirmation. Citizens in Salem were imposed to establish their innocent or be put to death, which caused conflicting issues in the village.
In 1692 hundreds of people were sitting in jail for being witches, but none of them were really witches. An author named Arthur Miller wrote the play The Crucible based of the true events of the Salem witch trials. In the play some girls get in trouble for dancing in the woods. They claim the witches were making them do these bad things. The girls accused a lot of people and got a lot of people of hang for being witches.
Based on the tragic events of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, The Crucible is a hard-hitting tale that reflects upon the subjectivity of goodness and virtue, sparking the reflection of the importance of moral behavior during times of hardship and crisis. In an unyielding and restricted Puritan community like Salem village, a bad reputation could result in social exclusion and scorning from the community. As a result, many members of the community would go to extremes to avoid tarnishing their reputations. The Crucible asserts that those who are concerned only with protecting their standings are dangerous to a society, as they are willing to blame and hurt other people in order to protect themselves.
The Salem witch trials proved to be one of the most cruel and fear driven events to ever occur in history. Many innocent people were accused of witchcraft, and while some got out of the situation alive not everyone was as lucky. Arthur Miller the author of The Crucible conveys this horrific event in his book and demonstrates what fear can lead people to do. But the reason as to why Arthur Miller felt the need to write The Crucible in the first place was because the unfortunate reality that history seemed to have repeated itself again. In the article “Are You Now or Were You Ever”, Arthur Miller claims that the McCarthy era and the Salem witch trials were similar and he does this through his choice of diction, figurative language, and rhetorical questions.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a historical play based on events of the Salem witchcraft trials, takes place in a small Puritan village in the colony of Massachusetts in 1692. The witchcraft trials, as Miller explains in a prose prologue to the play, grew out of the particular moral system of the Puritans, which promoted interference in others' affairs as well as a repressive code of conduct that frowned on any diversion from norms of behavior. Evil doings will create crazy unexpected outcomes in your society that you couldn’t even live with. First, Abigail and her friends were dancing in the forest for the devil.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play about what happened during the Salem Witch Trials. It gives insight about what people had to deal with in this situation and how they handled it. The trials were basically a big test which helped figuring out whether or not people were guilty of witchcraft. This is an example of what a crucible is. In our world today we still have crucibles and even though they are different than back then, they all relate to each other because of what influence they have on people.
The Salem witch trials were a time period when any individual could be accused of witchcraft for numerous reasons. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller focuses on the deviation of the trials and how the town’s most religious and honest members of the community are tried with witchcraft. John Proctor, the town’s most honest man, is accused of being a witch and must decide if he should confess or not. Proctor’s confession will stop the town from rebelling and uphold the reputations of Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris. Hale also wishes for Proctor’s confession so he does not have to feel responsible if Proctor were to be hanged for his witchcraft accusations.
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, fourteen of them women, and all but one by hanging. The play was written in 1952 after the Red Scare in America that caused much hysteria, like the Salem witch trials. In the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Each of the characters of Proctor, Hale, and Elizabeth changed from the beginning of the play to the end of the story. Proctor becomes more honest; Hale becomes more skeptical, and Elizabeth becomes more forgiving.
