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Societal effect of salem witch trials
Societal effect of salem witch trials
Puritan history brief salem witch trials
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Witches and a Hen’s Egg
Mass hysteria; a common term used to describe a situation in which various people suffer from an overwhelming madness (Mass Hysteria). To help further explain mass hysteria, The Crucible, Written by Arthur Miller is based off of the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials was an event that took place in a small village called Salem in Massachusetts. A group of girls was caught dancing in the woods around a fire and were accused of being witches. In order to save themselves, they began accusing innocent people throughout the town of being witches and a mass hysteria broke out (Miller). The Crucible is not the only example of mass hysteria, The Prophet Hen of Leeds also further expresses it. The Prophet Hen of Leeds
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Abigail Williams, was of the eldest and most manipulative girls, schemed the other girls involved in the dancing to accuse other people in the village of witchcraft so the girls were thought of as proper Christian girls.Complementary to the Prophet Hen of Leeds, the egg that was thought to represent doomsday was really counterfeit. A few gentlemen caught the hen in the course of laying on of its eggs and discovered that the egg was inscribed with ink and forced back inside the hen to be rehatched (Jesus Christ). Who was behind the madness? A women named Mary Batemen. Abigail Williams and Mary Batemen are very similar characters because they both created a mass hysteria based off an event that they staged. Mary Batemen has a history of criminal and witchcraft activity. Mary was often referred to as the Yorkshire Witch because she convinced people with chest pains that they were cursed. She would then give them pudding to heal them but it was mixed with poison (Lewis). Not only was she thought of as a witch, but she was the cause of the mass hysteria. She reinserted an egg into a Hen after she wrote “Christ is coming” on it. Very similar to Abigail Williams. Abigail was previously known for committing adultery with a farmer that she used to work for named John Procter (Salem’s Most). After committing adultery, Abigail accused villagers in Salem of being witches, thus starting the forest fire …show more content…
The court would not compromise with anyone who claimed they were not witches, they were then hanged. Comparable to The Prophet Hen of Leeds, a man named George Hey worked towards trying to get people to believe in the hysteria. the courts of Salem and George Hey tried to get more people to be afraid of the hysteria by trying to make people believe it was true rather than trying to stop it. George Hey from Kirkstall is a prognosticator, someone who reveals something about the future, much like a fortune teller (Lewis). George traveled to Leeds to warn the people that what Mary Batemen’s egg had said was true. George gave a speech saying, “I am commissioned by heaven to announce that whit-monday in the year 1806, the world would be destroyed by torrents of fire,” (Lewis). George is telling the people of Leeds that he is sent from heaven to warn the people that on a christian holiday called whit-monday, the world would end. George Hey increased the fear of the mass hysteria in Leeds. Very similar to the men on the court of Salem, particularly a man that goes by the name Judge Danforth. Judge Danforth increases the hysteria because although no one is truly a witch, he forces those who are convicted to either confess or be hanged. “I cannot hear you, what did you say? Mary utters again unintelligibly. You will confess or you will hang! he
The Salem Witch Trials were a series of prosecutions of men and women who were accused to practice witchcraft or have associations with the devil. The first Salem witch trial began with two girls in 1692, Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams who started to have “fits”, in which they would throw tantrums and have convulsions. The random outburst of the girls threw the town of Salem into a mass of hysteria. Although historians have not found a definite reason or cause for the witch trials, they have taken different approaches to explain the hysteria that took over Salem. Some historians approach a psychological theory by proposing the girls suffered from diseases that made them act out. Other historians refer to factors such as religion, economics, and weather to explain the beginnings of an unforgettable time in Salem, Massachusetts. For over 300 years, historians have tried to reveal the truth about the beginnings of the Salem Witch Trials, but in order to do so historians must look at both the way of life in Salem in the seventeenth century and use knowledge that is available now to explain the phenomenon.
In “The Crucible”, the author, Arthur Miller, conveys what he believes Senator Joe McCarthy is doing during the Red Scare. The Salem Witch Trials were true events, while this play uses these trials and adds a fictional twist to show a point. Witchcraft was punishable by death during this time. Once names started flying in town it was like a chain reaction, people were accusing others of witchcraft because they were not fond of them or they had something they wanted. Some definitions state mass hysteria as contagious, the characters in this play deemed it true. In this play, innocent people were hung because some of the girls in town cried witch.
Hysteria was a very obvious theme shown throughout the play, The Crucible. It was all started by a few young girls in Salem, Massachusetts. They were all dancing in the woods one night and were caught by Paris, the reverend in that small town. The next day two of the young girls were sick and would not move, talk, nor eat . The town began to start talk of witch craft because of the forbidden dancing that took place the other night. When the girls heard of that at first they denied it, but then they realized they could get out of being punished if they put the blame onto someone else. The began to shout out the names of people they clamed to have seem with they devil. It seemed like a logical explanation to the people in the town, so they had the people accused of being witches arrested. The whole town was in an uproar crying out witch craft to gain respect and power in the town and to get revenge on those who they were jealous of . Everyone began to thrive on this hysteria in particular Abigail Williams. She was having an affair with Elizabeth Proctors husband, John Proctor, when she had lived with them as t...
During the early years of the colonies, there was a mad witch hunt striking the heart of Salem. Anger, reputation, and even religion play an important part during the play of The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. The author allows us to witness the vivid idea of the hysteria taking place in Salem, Massachusetts, and why it was so vulnerable during the time.
Throughout Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, situations that present the characteristics of mass hysteria, otherwise known as a crowd mentality, greatly affect the lives of the characters as they continue through the witch trials. A crowd mentality is achieved as emotional excitement builds and leads to someone acting differently from the way they normally would if they were alone. Many instances of crowd mentality are witnessed throughout the plot of The Crucible. Without these powerful incidents of unusual behavior, the Salem witch trials would have never occurred, and many lives would have been saved.
“Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion, and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it.” – Elia Kazan. In the crucible, Arthur Miller describes the witch trials and the hysteria that was caused by it. The fear of the devil overwhelms reason and makes the town of Salem even more afraid. In the story, Marry Warren falls under hysteria and through her, Arthur Miller explains that fear causes people to leave behind all their logic and reason.
Hysteria is a mental disorder marked by excitability, anxiety, or imaginary disorders. It can play an important role in people’s lives. Hysteria supplants logic and enables people to believe that their neighbors, whom they have always considered highly respectable, do things they would never expect them of doing. In “The Crucible”, hysteria causes people to believe their friends are committing deplorable acts. The townsfolk accept and become active in the hysterical climate not only out of genuine religious piety but also because it gives them a chance to express repressed sentiments and to seek reparations from grudges. Hysteria suspends the rules of daily life and allows the acting out of every dark desire and hateful urge under the charade of righteousness. In “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, the hysteria due to the paranoia of witchcraft causes Abigail to lie in order to save herself, Danforth to ruin the community, and Proctor to be convicted of witchery.
In Arthur Miller's famous play The Crucible, innocent people are falsely accused of witchcraft and are killed as a result. Even the thought of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts in the late 1600s would put the whole village into mass hysteria. Mass hysteria refers to collective delusions of threats to society that spread rapidly through rumors and fear. This is the main reason why so many people were arrested and killed for witchcraft. One way people could save themselves was by falsely confessing to having performed witchcraft.
The Crucible: Hysteria and Injustice Thesis Statement: The purpose is to educate and display to the reader the hysteria and injustice that can come from a group of people that thinks it's doing the "right" thing for society in relation to The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I. Introduction: The play is based on the real life witch hunts that occurred in the late 1600's in Salem, Massachusetts. It shows the people's fear of what they felt was the Devil's work and shows how a small group of powerful people wrongly accused and killed many people out of this fear and ignorance.
The Crucible is the story about how Salem started the witch trials, written by Arthur Miller. The story says that the young girls were practicing witchcraft when the Rev. Parris found them. The town believed the girls that there was more witches in Salem and started to place blame on almost everyone. The main girl was in love with a farmer that she had committed adultery with, so she found a way to blame his wife of witchcraft from the start of the trials. The girls knew that known of the accused actually did witchcraft and as did the ones hang. The Crucible is filled with pride that hides the secrets of the town.
The crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is about the Salem witch trials and how people react to hysteria created from the fear of witches. In the play, after hysteria breaks out, the Salem government starts persecute and hang people it believes are witches. This prompts people to start to accusing people of witchcraft. Some people who accuse others of committing witchcraft are Abigail Williams and Thomas Putnam. They do not accuse people of witchcraft to stop witchcraft, but for personal gain or to hurt others. Thomas Putnam, one of the many characters who takes advantage of the witch trials, is able to use the fear of witches to bend the court to his will. Hysteria causes people to believe claims that are clearly false. This allows Putnam to persecute his enemies. He and many other are able to get away with this because hysteria driven persecutions are not run like regular courts and the fact that witchcraft is an invisible crime allows evidence to be made up. The theme of The Crucible is when any persecution is driven by fear and people can and will manipulate the system so they can gain and hurt another.
In The Crucible, the mass hysteria surrounding the witch trials caused paranoia amongst the people of Salem. Miller uses the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 as a symbol and allegory of the fear surrounding the spread of communism during the 1950s in America. The community’s sense of justice was blinded by the mass hysteria and for some, a desire for vengeance and personal gain. The Putnams
Throughout The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, fear is used as a control tactic. Fear escalates quickly through the responsible parties – Abigail Williams, Reverend John Hale, and Deputy Governor Danforth – and soon the town succumbs to it. Fear is not used by all of the responsible parties for control, as in controlling the people in order to be the “top dog” so to speak, but as a way to prevent their own accusation or conviction of witchcraft. They each used their own methods of creating fear in order to beat the stakes.
The way many events in the world today are depicted although entertaining and good news stories are not necessarily true. We must go beyond the news and find the real facts of what happened before jumping to conclusions and panicking. As with all popular culture people believe what the news tells them, whether it is true or not, it is a crucial that the true facts are provided to prevent events of mass hysteria such as the Salem Witch Trials and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Salem Witch Trials in "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller and the Cuban Missile Crisis are both great examples of widespread panic leading to mass hysteria, major events of chaos in history, and two situations that eventually were resolved whether the outcome was bad or good.
Parris: "Aye, a dress. And I thought I saw – someone naked running through the trees.” The play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller had very many themes in it. Some of these themes stood out more then others. These themes would be hysteria, reputation, and hypocrisy. These themes were present throughout the entire play, from the beginning till the end. When you think of a Puritan religion you may think of a very good, morally perfect society. This wasn’t the case in Salem, Massachusetts. It was actually the opposite in the play, there was lying, cheating, stealing and just about everything else you wouldn’t want in your society.