(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.
Within The Crucible, those that were paranoid, and the consistency of lies led to the suspicion of those neighbors and friends related to witchcraft. These seem to play-off of each other and ultimately are alike in details, but different in time, as well as how they emerged. In The Crucible, the girls, in their teens, accuse women in Salem of witchcraft. When Tituba is first accused, many accusations fell thereafter. So, Tituba accused others to save herself, which ultimately caused the accused to place blame on others, which then, causes a, “chain reaction.” In 1692 nineteen men and women, all convicted of witchcraft, were sentenced to hang in Gallows Hill, a town near Salem.
The Salem Witch Trials were a result of mass hysteria fueled by the accusations of Abigail Williams and her friends. During the Salem Witch Trials those suspected of witchcraft were jailed and given a trial. During the trial the accused was dogged for a confession and even names of other wishes. The incentive was if they confessed, God would forgive them and they could live, but of course no one was really a witch so most plead innocent and were hung anyways, simply because of a suspicion. 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.
I saw Goody Osburn with the devil. I saw Bridget Bishop with the devil” (Miller 1235). This happens when Abigail Williams and Betty wrongfully accused people. This was just to save themselves from getting in trouble, actions that led to peoples lives getting took away. “Danforth: Hang them high over the town” (Miller 1272).
They dramatically enhance the play with their ugliness and foulness adding curiosity and darkness and thus drawing Elizabethan crowds in and also the king, James 1st who was deeply interested in demonology. In this essay I will explore in depth the effect the witches had on Macbeth and the storyline as well as evaluate there function in the play and In key events of the play. Shakespeare was writing during the Elizabethan era when their fear and belief in witchcraft and the supernatural was at its highest. During this period of time witches were burned at the stake and around 240 woman were killed. Shakespeare used the knowledge of the public’s fear and interest in the supernatural to his advantage with casting the 3 witches in the play.
Through the character Abigail Williams, he shows how people are willing to abandon their firmly-established values in order to conform with the majority and protect themselves. Those who refuse to part with their conscience, such as the character of John Proctor, are chastised for it. For this reason, the Salem witch trials raise a question of the administration of justice. During this time in the late 1600’s, people were peroccupied by a fear of the devil, due to their severe Puritan belief system. Nineteen innocent people are hanged on the signature of Deputy Governor Danforth, who has the authority to try, convict, and execute anyone he deems appropriate.
Salem Witch Trials People will stop at nothing to get what they want. The Salem Witch Trials were no exception. Jealously and greed of a neighbor’s land, and even intolerance of one’s different beliefs motivated these trials. In Juliet Blackwell’s essay, “A Witchcraft Mystery Series: Salem Witch Trials”, she goes as far to say, “It just may be that land, deeds and inheritance motivated the witch hunting more than a desire to expel the devil.” The trials began in 1692 when Betty Parris, the daughter of Samuel Parris- “a minister who was neither well-liked nor desired (Hill)” – and Abigail Williams began to have extremely strange behavior: fits, convulsions, and blasphemies. The town doctor pronounce the girls bewitched after examination, which sent the town into frenzy.
The Witch scare was simply fueled by allegations of unholy acts. John Proctor from the novel “ The Crucible” quotes,” I’ll tell you what’s walking Salem—vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law.” Accusations were fueled by vengeance by people of all kinds during the Witch scare. Here we see that even crazy little children could provide testimonies filled with vengeance, which were used to convict the accused victims. The testimonies of the Witch scare were from all ages, which were sometimes acted out.
Two passages highlight tremendous fault in judgment pertaining to witch hunting, both of which I will explain and reflect upon throughout this essay. During the first act, upon Mr. Hale’s entry, Miller exposes the connections between communism vs. capitalism and good vs. evil. As Mr. Hale holds that “the devil is a wily one” (Miller, 35) and must be stopped, there were many in both the United States and communist Russia who condemned the opposite party of espionage in an effort to undermine what they believed to be “good” in the battle of “good” vs. “evil”. Russia, for example, during the years of Stalin’s reign, held military tribunals for those accused of conspiring with the capitalists. The average duration of these trials was three minutes (class notes, POL 334) and, most always, the tribunal
English III AP 9/30/13 The Monster in Salem In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a town where people saw the devil lurking behind every corner and the reason behind all misfortunes being the result of some sin, when the cry of witchcraft rung through the town via the lips of Abigail Williams people were more than willing to believe that the devil was alive in Salem. Although there were so many individuals in the play who contributed to the Witchcraft hysteria, Abigail Williams is the main cause of this insanity. Her selfishness, her greediness, and the willingness to do anything to stay out of trouble, causes her to become top 10 female villains in literature in history. The following essay will discuss how the evil,