“This predilection for minding other people’s business was time-honored among the people of Salem, and it undoubtedly created many of the suspicions which were to feed the coming madness (Miller 4).” * * Hughes 3 * In The Crucible, there are many factors that contribute to the fall of Salem, Massachusetts. The factors that had the greatest effects were shown. The Salem witch-hunt was a prime example of order leading to chaos and the religious fanaticism of those in Salem. This is certainly an event where we can look back in history and learn from our past mistakes!
Taking Sides The Salem witch trials were studied on different levels. It was studied from a religious stand point and a medical and an economic standing. The focus of my paper will be on the roles of women during this time and how it affected women and also, what the puritans thought about this hysteria. In my opinion the Salem witch trials were a way for men to demonize, humiliate and to strip women of any sense of power they could obtain. During this era women were considered subornments to men.
Yarely Covarrubias Pd. 3 What Caused the Salem Witch Trial Hysteria of 1692? The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 are a turning point in history, and is an event that continues to mystify our nation, as well as others. Between the months of june and September of 1692, 19 women and men were accused of witchcraft and hanged because of it. Local magistrates took the initiative when young girls claimed that women in the village were inflicting pain on them, which resulted in all the hangings and overall hype of the Salem Witch Trials.
A mixture of diverse events and factors assisted the commencement of the trials. There was a quantity of religious factors that contributed to the Salem witch trials. Among these factors is the guidance of the strict Puritan lifestyle along with the believed presence of the Devil in the community (Document 7). The Puritan way of life was subjective heavily by the church and Christian beliefs. Church was fundamentally the base of the Puritan society for the duration of this time period.
Rebecca is a woman of experience and knows how one must behave in such situations. What signs are there that resentments and jealousies will lead to scapegoating and accusations? When Putman is arguing over the land where the firewood was cut down is an obvious sign there is much resentment and petty arguments. Why is the devil so feared in Salem? What points does the playwright make about the Christian division of the world into good and evil?
From the late 1400’s to the 1700’s, a witch craze spread throughout Europe, resulting in the deaths of over 100,000 ‘witches’. Though witches were persecuted all throughout Europe, trials were most popular in Western Europe; torture was a common practice during these trials. These persecutions were mostly popular in Europe but, they spread to America and later to parts of Africa. Through the evidence provided by testimonies of witnesses and statistics, the three major reasons for the persecution of witches were social prejudices, economic greed and religious beliefs. Though the accused witches were not strictly female, the accused were predominantly women and more specifically older women, older women were seen as more fragile and impressionable so the devil could convince them to do his dirty work quiet easily.POV Two Dominican monks, Kramer and Sprenger, wrote a handbook used to identify witches by the Inquisition.
This guilt weakened Dimmesdale and eventually lead to his death. The society of the town escalated in corruption throughout the book. At first the town actually had morals and would follow them, but near the end of the book, the town people had dropped their morals and standards and had become Satan worshipers who praised pastors committing adultery. In conclusion, Through the Scarlet Letter Hawthorne shows how the puritans ironically viewed sin hypocritically and gave consequences for it unjustfully, how the end result of a victim of sin can end up good, and how dangerous sin can be when it affects people's lives and society's
Abigail realizes that by giving the names of people she saw with the devil she can control Salem because she has a good name and people will listen to her. June Schlueter and James K. Flanagan claim “.A shrewd opportunist, she turns her own violation of Salem law into an occasion for naming those for whom she has little liking and, in so doing, transforms herself into a local heroine.” (116) John Proctor knows that Abigail is controlling Salem with her accusations and recognizes that the only way to stop her is to sully her good name. When Abigail accuses John’s wife of witchcraft, he becomes enraged and claims “It is a whore!” (Miller 220). By accusing Abigail of being a whore, John is trying to ruin her name and stop her from making any more accusations, but by admitting to “have known her, sir.” is also ruining his own good
Witch Hunting 10.May.2014 Psychoanalysis and Art/Society Witchcraft in Central Europe Between the years of 1470-1750, a panic emerged form European societies regarding the alleged witches amongst their midst. Consequentially, large scale witch hunts, especially in Central Europe gained prominence and resulted in the trial, torture and execution of tens of thousands of victims. While there were, unarguably, male victims accused of witch craft, the vast majority of victims where female. Since then, scholars have linked these horrific events with the gender correlated persecution of women. Ties between femininity and witches have also been viewed from psychoanalytic perspectives to provide commentary on the attitudes toward women that
Christianity was the matrix of medieval life. Everyone was affected by these ideals, but not everyone lived up to these ideals. From the documentary, Inside the Medieval Mind, the church relied on fear and shame to control people. Sex is considered filthy in the Medieval Times, where virginity was the highest virtue. Women were thought of as Satan’s bait and poison for the souls of men.