The village was having trouble because of Rev. Samuel Parris who got there a few years back before the trials to become the first local ordained priest. Some disliked Parris as rigid and greedy, and that had made quarrels which Puritans were inclined to see as the work of the Devil. People in the village had to give up the three women. A woman of the name Tituba confessed to seeing the devil she was a slave that said it looked like a hog or a great dog. Tituba confessed to the crime and even gave up some of the witches in Salem Village.
Although it was very un-Christian of the people of Salem Village, what could be a better way to rid yourself of a terrible neighbor than to accuse him or her of witchcraft? Another theory is because of the New England witch stereotype. According to Stacy Schiff, New England witches were traditionally marginal: outliers and deviants, cantankerous scolds and
Witches were said to be a form of Satan, and God has his constant worship to undergo annoyance of the evil spirits. In Exodus 22:18 it states how the Puritans have strong point to prosecute witches from what it says in the Bible. Another cause of the prosecution of people for witchcraft is suspicious acts from the adolescent girls. Abigail and Betty wanted to know their fortunes for the future from Tituba.
Characters who confess and name other “witches” are viewed as glorious people who ultimately choose God over the Devil, giving them power over others in the village. In contrast, characters who deny witchcraft claims are disgraced. Accused witches who do not confess are convicted and executed
The young girls of the town, including Mary Warren went into the woods and did illegal activities. “Witchery’s a hangin’ error, a hangin’ like they done in Boston two year ago! We’ll only be whipped for dancing and other things!” (18). The townspeople had come to the idea that there were people conforming to witchery and the devil, however, they did not know who.
When she first started off the judges believed her and she was able to do whatever she wanted to do because they believed her. Who ever name she called they believed her they took the people to jail and even hung people that she said was guilty. The people in the town believed her to and started to share the word that witches is in the town. They feared her and wanted to stay out of her way so she wouldn't accused them. Her friends fear her that's how much power she had.
Okay why should that make her a witch? Did you ever think she might be and her husband died and taking care of her farm is how she supports her family, or maybe this farm is a family farm passed down through generations. Stupid reasons like this is what people thought might make you a witch or possibly associated with
She is mean. She shows that she is mean by threatening the lives of the girls if they say anything about witchcraft. “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 will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (act 1 line 460) She also shows that she is mean when she is coping Mary making the pastors in the court believe that Mary is a witch. “
They thought that because of her old age and conditions that she would die soon. This is one of the obvious effects of the stress on the town's leaders. The townspeople wanted an answer for all of the children getting sick and having fits, so they had to come up with names. Unfortunately these women were probably innocent, but they were the easy targets. Another more widely known accused witch was Bridget Bishop.
The townspeople believed that to become a witch you have to be put under a spell by someone who is already a witch so the girls couldn't of done it themselves. The girls may have been in shock and just started believing that they were under a spell. The witch trials were not only wrong but ineffective the tests do not prove that they are witches. The idea of witchcraft is false and anything that was considered witchcraft could be explained today by science.
In the beginning, Mary and her friends danced in the woods, but they are caught by Reverend Parris, and afraid they will get in trouble, two of the girls pretend to be afflicted by a witch. The two seemingly afflicted girls send widespread chaos through the town, and the remaining girls have to figure out what to do to get the attention away from their dance in the woods. Mary is understandably terrified as she is a rule follower and has never broken a rule in her life. Mary knows that “the whole country's talkin witchcraft!” (Miller 1107).
Salem is the perfect town for these witchcraft accusations to occur. Salem is a rural town that is isolated from the rest of Massachusetts. Since it is isolated the people won’t experience changes in culture like everyone else. The government was Puritanism so the Church had all of the power and Salem didn’t know about enlightenment ideas so they believed it.
At the time of the Salem witch trials she was married to Edward Bishop, however, before she was married to Edward she was married twice before. She proved herself to be someone who was weak in nature to the Puritan belief and was accused because of it. Church member Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse whose husband had high status in the community, and according to The Huffington Post (2013) those who were accused of being a witch in Salem were mainly an English Puritan, married with little to no children, had a bad reputation, had a history of crimes, female, middle aged, and were accused by another witch. The accusations of witchcraft came from those who were afraid of outsiders, and because they had resentment towards those they accused.
What were they going to do? Are there other witches out there that could hurt them? The hysteria quickly grew and accusations were flying left and right (Wilson) In the same month, four other women were accused and arrested. Most of these women that were accused were social outcasts.
A common reason for witch accusations is people feeling like they lost control so they use witches to conclude why something unexplainable happened. The Article “Why Do Witch Hunts Still Happen?” elaborates that “Witchcraft is blamed for any tragedy that can’t be explained, such as the unexpected death of a child (Fessenden). ” When one cannot make sense of a situation they tend to use others as scapegoats to cope with the fact that something that was not supposed to happen, did. This coping method allows people to feel like there was a reason for an event that occurred, and it makes it easier for them to blame someone then to have nobody to blame.
