The last character that contributed to an entire town’s belief in witches would be Danforth. His stubborn and narrow minded attitude had people dangling from a rope. It is easy to say that Abigail Williams is the triumphant ringleader of the accusers in The Crucible. Constantly pointing fingers, she named name after name and everyone believed her whole heartedly. At the beginning of the play, Reverend Parris accused Abigail of witch craft but to avoid punishment she passed the blame to Tituba saying “I never called him!
Confessing to witchcraft was the only way a member of the accused wouldn’t be executed. At the end of the trials, one of the girls who accused people of being witches stated, “It was all false.” The damage done during the trials was over 150 people were arrested and imprisoned, twenty-nine were convicted of witchcraft, nineteen of the accused
Body Paragraph #1 A. Topic sentence : Arthur Miller’s development of Fear in The Crucible is parallel to the fear that was experienced in the 1950’s. B. CD #1: Abigail accuses Tituba of being a witch and to prevent herseld from being hanged, Tituba confesses that she was doing witchcraft (Miller 45-49). C. CM #1.A. : Being accused of being witch in Salem, Massachusetts was alarming because even if one was innocent, they are still held guilty D. CM #1.B: One could infer that the morals of society dictated that a person wasn’t “Innocent until proven guilty” but rather they were “guilty until proven innocent.” E. CD #2: “ [ In Hollywood] blacklists were quickly circulated of
Many try to explain or rationalize the bizarre happenings of the witch hunts and the causes that contributed to them. To understand the trials and how they came to be, we must first examine the ideals and views of the people surrounding the events. Although religious beliefs were the most influential factor, socioeconomic tensions, and ergot poisoning are also strongly supported theories The Ergot Poisoning Theory The Salem witch trials have fascinated historians for centuries, largely because of their bizarre nature and the great uncertainty that surrounds them. One of the most intensely debated topics is the question of why the girls began to accuse seemingly random townspeople of witchcraft. However, there is little evidence to support any theory, and consequently historians
In order for suggestion to cause hysteria, it needs to be viewed as valid. Often this is a fear or worry held in common by members of the society. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, this fear is witchcraft. The Salem witch trials occurred because the whole community feared witchcraft. Had the adults of Salem not believed the girls who were accusing social outcasts of witchcraft, no mass hysteria would have occurred.
Nine-year old Elizabeth Parris and eleven years old Abigail Williams started having fits, strange behaviors and would scream with anger. A doctor looked at the girls and decided that the only explanation was spells caused by witchcraft. Despite the fact today we know it wasn’t logically true, but the town had a strong belief of the devil. Hysteria and chaos took over the town, soon enough when girls all over town decided to take part in it, and began accusing the townspeople without a reason. This is one reason why this is the worst thing that happened to America.
The Salem Witch Trials brought fear of being a witch in Puritan community whereas McCarthyism brought fear of being communist in US politics and society. It is difficult to believe that so much pain and fear can be spread by one person. However, that is the case with both the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism. While Abigail Williams used the strict Puritan values as her reign of terror, Senator Joseph McCarthy chose the growing fear of communism. In both situations, it has been stated that the possible motive behind both “Witch Hunts” was the personal gain of their originators.
The accused had two options; either they “admit” to being a witch/communist and name others, or maintain their innocence and be hanged/blacklisted. It was all delusional. Miller was motivated to write ‘The Crucible’ while seeing McCarthyism take place. Miller used several different techniques to create tension in the first Act of ‘The Crucible’ as to capture the audience’s attention. For example in the first scene of ‘The Crucible’ where Parris is trying to get to the bottom of what Abigail, Betty and the other girls did in the forest.
The girls did this to keep the attention off of them and avoid punishment. These harsh accusations on innocent people caused twenty deaths in their village. Abigail then became one of the many “witnesses” in the court. As soon as someone starts to suspect her of being a witch or performing witchcraft, she always manages to turn the blame back on them, whether it’s through lying or exaggerating a mysterious action. For example, she outs the blame on Tituba, who confesses to performing witchcraft.
In the play many characters do not take responsibility for what they do see going on. As a result many lives are taken. For example, John Proctor realizes how dangerous the witchcraft accusations are when the court officials arrest his wife, Elizabeth, for witchcraft: "The little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law! I ll not give my wife to vengeance!” (Miller 34). Before his wife was arrested, John really did not see that the girls weren't just telling little “white lies”.