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Essays on the salem witch trials
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In the Puritan New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, a gathering of young ladies goes moving in the timberland with a dark slave named Tituba. While dancing, they are gotten by the nearby clergyman, Reverend Parris. One of the young ladies, Parris' little girl Betty, falls into a trance like state like state. A jam accumulates in the Paris home while gossipy tidbits about witchcraft fill the town. Having sent for Reverend Hale, a specialist on witchcraft, Parris questions Abigail Williams, the young ladies' instigator, about the occasions that occurred in the backwoods. Abigail, who is Parris' niece and ward, confesses to doing nothing past "dancing." While Parris tries to quiet the jam that has accumulated in his home, Abigail converses with a portion of alternate young ladies, letting them know not to confess to anything. John Proctor, a neighborhood agriculturist, at …show more content…
A great part of the group surges upstairs and assembles in her room, contending about whether she is beguiled. A different contention between Proctor, Parris, the pugnacious Giles Corey, and the well off Thomas Putnam soon results. This debate focuses on cash and land deeds, and it proposes that profound blame lines gone through the Salem people group. As the men contend, Reverend Hale arrives and looks at Betty, while Proctor withdraws. Solidness tests Abigail about the young ladies' exercises in the woodland, becomes suspicious of her conduct, and requests to address Tituba. After Parris and Hale examine her for a short time, Tituba admits to communing with the demon, and she madly blames different townsfolk for associating with the villain. All of a sudden, Abigail joins her, admitting to having seen the fallen angel planning and romping with other townspeople. Betty goes along with them in naming witches, and the jam is tossed into a
The floor creaks between each one of their pauses. The silence is deadly. Should I dishonor my lord? The pressure I just can’t stop pacing back and fourth, my skin is tender and sweaty. Salem’s gone mad! All the women be crying witchcraft! But the only one that bewitching is that whore Abigail Williams. Reverend Parris caught her in the forest leading the young ones into the depths of sin, yet I am the one to blame. Its as if I’ve gone crazy myself. They all be believing the devil is loose in Salem. But the Lord may not shine through the unfaithful. She be confessing that my Elizabeth Proctor be practicing witchcraft. I will not believe none of it. She is the biggest sinner in the house of the lord, a liar. How may she call heaven? She may think God sleeps, but God sees everything. God knows a sinner.
During the time of the Salem Witch Trials the intertwining of religion and government did not allow citizens of Salem, Massachusetts the right to a fair trial, so it was the states responsibility to separate the two. In the 1600’s the Puritan religion was greatly enforced by the government. It wouldn’t be until many years later that separation of church and state became a law.
In the Town of Salem Massachusetts, 1692, a group of adolescents are caught dancing in the forest. Among the adolescents in The Crucible, Abigail Williams and Mary Warren. The girls are horrified that they have been caught dancing, a sinful act, therefore they devise a story to evade punishment: they claim to have been bewitched. The first person who they accuse of witchcraft is a the black maid, Tituba. This results in her jail sentence as well as fearful suspicion throughout the town. Arthur Miller demonstrates the impact of lying as the girls recognise and manipulate their power in the town. Lead by Abigail, they go further, claiming countless others guilty and dooming them to exile. Miller demonstrates that there power is so great that even when Mary attempts to stand against her friends, she is quickly overwhelmed and once again plays along with their trickery. As the girls’ conspiracy continues, controversy arise over their truthfulness; people choose sides often lying themselves to support their side, further altering the lives of all involved.
Reverend John Hale is summoned from Beverly to look upon Betty and research the incident. He is a self-claimed expert in occultist phenomena and is eager to use his acquired learning. He questions Abigail, who accuses Tituba of being a witch. Tituba, afraid of being hanged and threatened with beating, professes faith in God and accuses Goodwives Sarah Good and Osbourn of witchcraft. Betty, who has by now woken up, claims to have been bewitched and profess her faith in God, too. Betty and Abigail sing out a list of people whom they claim to have seen with the Devil.
Hysteria took over the town and caused them to believe that their neighbors were practicing witchcraft. If there was a wind storm and a fence was knocked down, people believed that their neighbors used witchcraft to do it. Everyone from ordinary people to the governor’s wife was accused of witchcraft. Even a pregnant woman and the most perfect puritan woman were accused. No one in the small town was safe.
The town the story takes place in is governed by a theocracy. A quote from The Crucible says “For good purposes, even high purposes, the people of Salem developed a theocracy, a combine of state and religious power whose function was to keep the community together, and to prevent any kind of disunity that might open it to destruction by material or ideological enemies.” All the events that led up to the execution of innocent people also led to the breaking apart of the theocracy. The story takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692. It starts after a couple of girls have been caught dancing in the woods by Reverend Samuel Parris, the town’s minister. Two of the girls are related to him. Abigail is his niece and Betty is his daughter. When Betty gets sick, rumors start to spread that there is witchcraft involved in her illness because they were out in the woods all by themselves. Salem is a very tightly sheltered town that is pretty much run by the church, which is against the devil and all forms of the devil such as witches , and it is also against enjoyable acts such as dancing. Not only that but in the book the town is described as the following, “They had no novelists--and would not have permitted anyone to read a novel if one were handy. Their creed forbade anything resembling a theater or ‘vain enjoyment.’ They did not celebrate Christmas, and a holiday from work meant only that they must concentrate even more upon prayer.” The town was very strict when it came to following the church. This is why when the girls were caught dancing in the woods, they lied to protect themselves and their reputation by saying that the devil took them over and influenced them to dance. The girls also say that they saw several other members of the town standing along side of the devil. Abigail says, “I want to open myself! I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand.
	In act one, the corrupt, self-serving Reverend Samuel Parris is first introduced. In this scene, Parris' daughter Betty is ill and even the doctor cannot determine what is ailing the girl. Strangely enough, instead of worrying about the fate of his daughter, Reverend Parris seems more concerned about the rumors flying accusing Betty of dealing with the devil, leaving her unconscious. Parris denies all witchcraft accusations, and refuses to believe his household was involved in dealing with the devil. Showing that he is solely consumed with thoughts regarding his reputation, Parris says to his neice, Abigail Williams, "They will topple me with this"(Miller 17). This displays Parris is obviously insecure with his place among the people, and concerned with the effects this event many have on him rather than his daughter. Parris wants to stop the rumors, and therefore calls upon Reverend Hale, a supposed "witch-craft expert" to mediate the controversy surrounding the town of Salem. Parris says, "He's not coming to look for devils" (Miller 28), but most are aware that Hale is coming to find the source of the evil, which will most likely be determined as dealings with the devil.
Also important to the play is how Arthur Miller depicts how one selfish, evil person like Abigail Williams can bring others down and make others follow her to commit evil acts. These evil acts affect even the most honest people in the town like John and Elizabeth Proctor, and Rebecca Nurse who cannot fight the accusations made against them by those following Abigail. Those following Abigail are considered to be holy men that are full of honesty and justice, but the play shows that even those who are thought to be respectable and right, like people of government or community leaders can bring death to innocent people if they are driven by something wrong. II. Plot: The plot begins with the inciting incident where Rev. Parris finds his niece Abigail Williams and his daughter Betty along with his slave Tituba doing some dance in the forest.
Salem is a Puritan town and when some girls were caught dancing in the forest by the town minister, two of the girls fall into a coma- like state and it isn’t long before rumors of witchcraft fill the town. The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller that is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials, which took place in Salem, Massachusetts. One of the girls caught dancing was Abigail Williams. Not wanting to get into trouble, Abigail blames Tituba, a black slave, for enticing her to sin. Tituba confesses to seeing the Devil and also tells the court that she saw people with the Devil. Abigail and the other girls join in and start accusing people in the town of witchcraft. If one is accused of witchcraft and denies it, they are hung, but if that person confesses, they are free to go after they tell the court the names of other people they saw with the Devil. One of the characters in this play is a man named John Proctor. He is a farmer who lives just outside of Salem. Soon we learn that he and Abigail had had an affair while Elizabeth Proctor, John’s wife, was sickly. When Abigail accuses John’s wife of witchcraft, John goes into the court and tries to save her, but soon the tables turn on him and he is accused of witchcraft. John Proctor changes greatly throughout the play, and in the end he finds goodness in himself, in light of this goodness his death is tragic.
In the play, there were many situations that in return caused new developments and even more problems in the town of Salem. The problems and situations that happened can all be tied back to perception, or the way someone regards or interprets a situation or event. Perception can be terrifying and have devastating effects on people and places. “Parris: Now then, in the midst of such disruption, my own household is discovered to be the very center of some obscene practice. Abominations are done in the forest” (1030). Parris had caught the girls dancing in the forest and viewed it as witchcraft. He could have believed Abigail that it was just sport and the whole situation in Salem could have been prevented. This one perception is what caused everyone to believe that the devil was loose in Salem. Many other perceptions took part in leading to the devastating situations that happened in
During the early winter of 1692 two young girls became inexplicably ill and started having fits of convulsion, screaming, and hallucinations. Unable to find any medical reason for their condition the village doctor declared that there must be supernatural forces of witchcraft at work. This began an outbreak of hysteria that would result in the arrest of over one hundred-fifty people and execution of twenty women and men. The madness continued for over four months.
Reverend Hale first starts to question the girls when John Proctor’s wife Goody Proctor gets accused of being a witch. When it comes time for the trial John Proctor tries to alert the court of Abigail and her friends deception. Mary Warren who was once Abigail's friend speaks out against the girls in court. In a turn of events Abigail accuses her of being a witch! Mary confesses to being a witch, but she accuses John Proctor. After seeing this Reverend Hale storms out of the room refusing to believe this nonsense. John Proctor played a key role in helping Reverend Hale finding out about Abigail and her friend
In the puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts. Several young girls claim to be afflicted by witchcraft, starting with Reverend Parris's daughter Betty. Parris was a minister in Salem. Betty had been unconscious and appeared sick after coming from the woods. Mr. and Mrs. Putnam daughter Ruth is also ill, she had also been in the woods. Rumors of witchcraft had spread through the town. The afflicted girls accuse people in the town of witchcraft, often choosing victims who they or their families disliked. The main antagonist Abigail Williams, who wasn't your typical puritan, falls in love with married farmer John Proctor, having an affair. When Proctor tells Abigail he no longer is in love with her, Abigail states that John's wife Elizabeth has bewitched Abigail. Proctor realizes that he has put his wife in danger and eventually confesses his affair with Abigail, to Deputy Governor Danforth attempting to clear his wife's name. Ruining his reputation. Rebecca Nurse is accused of killing the babies of the Putnam family. Another character accused of witchcraft is Martha Corey, third wife of well-liked Giles Corey. Giles Corey ends up getting pressed to death because he refuses to identify an informant who said Thomas Putnam is accusing people of witchcraft to gain their land. Proctor, changes his mind as he realizes he needs to keep his name
As Reverend Parris worries about his daughter he makes it clear the consequences of lying about witchcraft. “Now tell me true, Abigail. And I pray you feel the weight of truth up on you, now my ministry is at stake, my reputation and perhaps your life as well.”(Act 1, Lines 113-116). Reverend Parris cannot reveal that he found his niece, Abigail dancing in the forest. Reverend Parris tells Abigail that he has enemies who will use that knowledge against him. He is particularly terrified because he could be implicated in the witchcraft accusations and scapegoating. Betty is accused of witchcraft, Abigail as well accuses Tituba of witchcraft. This would mean that three people of supposed witchcraft would all be living under Mr. Parris roof and that is a huge NO within the Salem community. Reverend Parris is terrified of his overall future and reputation within the town of Salem. Being terrified is the reason why so many lives were taken away. His fear has spread and will ultimately affect the town of
As soon as Reverend Parris is appointed to the church in Salem John Proctor begins to resent the minister's superior attitude and greed. An outspoken man, Proctor takes every opportunity to criticize Reverend Parris and the now corrupt church. This resentment leads John to use his wife Elizabeth's illness as an excuse to stay away from Sunday services, a decision that will come back to haunt the Proctors in the future. On the very first day that the town starts buzzing about witches, John questions Reverend Parris' motives in front of several of Salem's most prominent citizens when he learns that Parris has sent for the Reverend John Hale, an expert on witches, without calling a