It is such an important factor in this play because as mentioned earlier it is what introduces the main point. After Goody Proctor got arrested Proctor was determined to prove her innocence and Abigail’s false allegations. He presents himself at court to talk to the “Excellency” about Abigail and the girls’ false visions. He has Mary Warren testify which catches Abigail off guard and she has to pretend that she is once again being attacked. Proctor angered by this calls her a whore and says “I have known her, sir.
(Sowers, Campbell, and Key) He exaggerated and exploited the evidence and ruined many reputations. The phrase "witch-hunts" derived from the hearings due to the similarity to the Salem witch trials. The Salem witch trial is analogous to the McCarthy trials of 1950; in both situations wide spread hysteria occurs, deriving from existing fears of the people of that era. The Salem witch hunt trials parallel the McCarthy era in three crucial aspects: unwarranted accusations, hostile interrogations of many innocent people, and they demonstrated how hard times lead to society's need to find a scapegoat. The unwarranted accusations that Joseph McCarthy and the citizens of Salem made are what fueled the widespread hysteria in both situations.
The whole event of the Salem Witch Trials is viewed as unjust because after the accusations spread, many townspeople simply accused their neighbors of being a witch to gain revenge, money, land, or something similar. In this way, the Salem Witch Trials exposed the sense of greed in humans. The Witch Trials showed that our resourcefulness includes using an event, no matter how bad, for personal gain. Also, the Salem Witch Trials showed how the innate sense of fear that humans have and how we react to that fear. Because of the fear of witches, people tried to protect themselves by sending anyone slightly untrustworthy to jail or to Gallows Hill.
When he tries to confess to the court about his sin to prove that he would not lie about the witches, the court puts him in jail for lying ironically. Before his hanging, he has a conversation with Elizabeth, his wife, stating, “I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is a fraud… It is pretense for me, a vanity that will not blind God nor keep my children out of the wind. What say you?” (Arthur 136) John was considering saying that he had see witch craft to keep his life. When they asked him to sign his name to the confession he said, “ Because it is my name!
After this event panic spreads through the village as people believe that witchcraft is afoot. During this period in Puritan Salem the church and the government acted as one unified force meaning when the accused are put to trial they also stood before their church (whose beliefs were very exclusive and orthodox). Witchcraft was believed to be the work of the devil and the condemned were put to death for acting upon their personal beliefs. This is a perfect example of persecution. The girls who were seen dancing are condemned of witchcraft and then reprimanded for going against the communities’
Not only does she deny doing witchcraft, she also manages to accuse Tituba of having full responsibility while she is the one who starts the whole thing. At the end of the chapter, she also frames some other citizens, saying that she sees them with the Devil. Her affair with John Proctor is furthermore exposed to the audience. Betty, Reverend Parris’s daughter, reveals that Abigail attempts to drink blood as a charm in order to kill Elizabeth Proctor, who is John Proctor’s wife. Moreover, when Reverend Parris confronts Abigail about being fired by Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail denies any wrongdoings.
Massachusetts was the location of the Salem Witchcraft hysteria from 1692 to 1693, stemming from uncompromising moral codes and religious beliefs. However, despite problems experienced in farming due to the harsh climate and rugged terrain; Salem also faced political and economic upheavals within the community, during this time. The hysteria commenced when an Indian slave named Tituba was accused of witchcraft by 3 young girls (Roach, 2002). Eventually, under an intense flailing, Tituba was forced to confess of witchcraft to a court official. Tituba's confession ignited a series of witchcraft manhunts leading to women and men being hanged, one man crushed to death by heavy rocks, and 150 more men were held in prison awaiting trail .
The physical appearance of the woman concluded the examination and marked them as witches, due to physical signs left by the devil such as a "wart." Ann, and her parents accused many more townspeople, typically those who were enemies of the family. The accusation sent fear to the people as villagers believed that anyone could be a witch. By the time Ann's witch hunt was over, she had accused 62 people . Tituba denied to have practiced any witchcraft and was beated by Parris to confess as he would promise her freedom.
I am the judge and I notice something really strange going on with Lady Macbeth, she is repeating herself and that is what guilty people do when they are hiding something. Lady Macbeth should be the one executed because she was behind every murder and everything bad that happened. When they invited Duncan to come over Lady Macbeth planned the murder before anyone else could. Lady Macbeth did not advise Macbeth to kill Duncan but she pushed him to kill him. Lady Macbeth always seemed quality because Lady Macbeth would get into a trance and relive the accident trying to wash the blood from her garments and hands proving the guilty conscience.
Continuously throughout the text she performs acts of deception which tragically condemn others to death just to cover her lies. Miller exhibits that power lies with those who have people to impose it upon. This power is demonstrated most effectively in Mary Warren’s retraction in Act 3. When Mary confesses against the witchcraft is Salem Abigail and the other girls abuse the power of unity and accuse Mary of spiritually attacking them. Abigail says, ‘Oh please Mary!