Hysteria leads the people of Salem to believe that those who were friends are executing witchery and associating themselves with the devil. The continuous accusations of witchery present the people of Salem with a chance to redeem long-term grudges. The abundant case of Abigail Williams uses the current situation to indict charges on Elizabeth Proctor, having her sent to jail. Not to be entirely blamed, Reverend Parries also pronounces his placement in society by accusing the people who question his authority. Hysteria can prosper from those who feed off of it.
While this may not seem to be controlling, the mental affect on Macbeth was more damaging then anything they could have imagined. Macbeth’s mental state from the beginning when they first said the prophecy went on a massive decline sanity wise, were Macbeth could only think about how the witches predicted Banquo’s descendents to take the throne. Later on in the play, an apparition that the witches had summoned up for Macbeth says, “Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff!
She instantly jumps to the conclusion that witchcraft is afoot, which is apparent when she states “Mark it for a sign, mark it!” when Betty thrashes in her “trance.” She is also paranoid by the fact that there must be some paranormal reason as to why her babies have perished. And it is these traits that differentiate her from Abigail. This use of contrast by Miller emphasizes the characterization of the two characters. But it is Rebecca Nurse who stands out among this crowd. Both Abigail and Mrs. Putnam are bitter and to a certain extent spiteful yet Rebecca Nurse carries none of these mannerisms.
(Witch Hunts) Witches were thought to be consults of the devil who gave up their bodies and led others away from the church for the devil in exchange for otherworldly power. In addition to this women were marked as being sexually voracious, the origin of this mindset being the Garden of Eden. (Witchcraft and Midwifery) It was also believed that because women were weaker than men and had fewer rights, they were more likely to succumb to the devil in order to obtain their wishes. (Witch Hunts) In this respect they were “...by nature instruments of Satan -- they [were] by nature carnal, a structural defect rooted in the original creation.” (Steven Katz, Gendercide Watch: European Witch-Hunts) Because of the influential role religion held in European communities, these associations women held were powerful instruments in their accusations. Still tying into religious influences, the very physical appearance of a woman could lead to the belief that she is a witch.
Ruthlessly accusing others of witchcraft she changes her story as a desperate act of self-preservation, “I danced with the devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss his hand. I saw Sarah Good with the devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the devil!” Abigail develops a chant of names, becoming ‘enraptured, as though in a pearly light’ demonstrating her lust for power and attention. As early as Scene one, we learn of the motives behind Abigail’s actions as she tries to get the girls to agree on a story to protect herself.
The contrasts of the two characters Macbeth and Banquo start in the meeting of the two weird sisters. At first we see the two characters shocked by the prophecies, this being shown through short sentences, “Your children shall be kings.” “You shall be king.” However later on in the scene, we see that Banquo is already sceptical of the witches and hesitant of the prophecy he has been given, he says “What, can the devil speak true?” This shows that he is a very perceptive character and further on he always looks out for Macbeth and warns him about the witches, he is realistic and says “And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of
But, she is afraid of his personality ‘too full o’th milk of human kindness’ and decides to take matters into her own hands. This is also the scene where we hear her first famous soliloquy which is ‘unsex me here’ when she calls on the evil spirits. Really, she wants to be the same as the three witches, but because of who she is, she has to repress all her inner feelings and her conscience in order to carry on with her plan to murder Duncan. She has to be two-faced. When Macbeth returns later in the scene, she immediately pounces onto him and tries to persuade him to murder the King and she says it in a very manipulative way.
The problem was a damned if she does and damned if she does not. This accusation of a woman being a witch meant that “their feminine souls made an explicit and aggressive choice to conjoin with the devil” (Reis, 94). Puritans believed they were not just manipulated by Satan, they willingly desired to be possessed by him. This was aggressive stance most Puritan men had towards Puritan women. Satan could get to their soul through their body because it was weak.
(Act 1 scene 3 and 4) Macbeth and Banquo meet with the witches and they give two prophecies, that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and later on king. When the first prophecy is fulfilled (he is thane of Cawdor), he realises that the king’s son (Malcolm) is in the way for the second prophecy to take place. From then on Macbeth does everything to make sure the witches’ prophecies take place. This puts the witches in a place of power, which is uncharacteristic for women of this time. The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is very complex.
Local parties controlled early lock up stations; these stations had little organization, but proved to be an improvement on harsh corporal punishment and exile. In the 1790’s, prisons developed the silent system which kept prisoners from socializing with others. Moving into the 1800’s, prisons slowly incorporated social activity and work environments for those behind bars. These work movements made for cheap labor,